Orphaned toddler in legal limbo Child removed from foster home, hospitalized with injuries

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)

Author: MARY ZAHN; Staff Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Orphaned in Guatemala, Martha, 2, was brought to the United States and adopted last year by a Pennsylvania couple who decided they didn’t want her after all.

Today she is in a Milwaukee area hospital with a skull fracture, wrist fractures and injuries that doctors reported were "too numerous to count."

Placed with a Milwaukee area couple in February, Martha was removed from their home a few weeks ago after her injuries were discovered. The couple was moving toward adopting the girl, working with a private adoption agency in New Berlin.

That same couple, who were licensed foster parents, were allowed to adopt an infant boy in July, just weeks before Martha’s injuries were discovered. Both children have been removed. The boy showed no signs of injury, records show. He has been placed in a foster home.

"The child (Martha) has been exposed to severe physical abuse and emotional abuse," doctors at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin wrote. "She used to be happy and interactive. . . . Her current affect is flat and suggestive of environmental deprivation and abuse. . . . Almost every body surface has several marks or injuries."

Meanwhile, authorities are scrambling to figure out whether anyone has legal responsibility for the little girl. The Pennsylvania couple filed papers terminating their parental rights earlier this year, but that action was apparently never finalized by a court order. The Milwaukee couple never completed the required paperwork for her adoption.

While some of her injuries appear to be old, doctors wrote "with reasonable medical certainty" that fractures to Martha’s wrist, skull and jaw had occurred since February 2005 and would have likely been caused by "severe forces."

"We don’t agree with those doctors’ opinions, and we are having our own doctors take a look at that," said Victor Plantinga, an attorney who represents the foster mother.

He said the foster parents had been proactive in seeking medical treatment for the child’s chronic feeding problems.

"They did everything they could for this child," he said.

Last week, the parents appeared before Children’s Court Commissioner Kevin Costello regarding their infant son. Costello was told that a relative of the parents may have witnessed some of the alleged abuse, along with a teenage daughter who lives in the home. Both parents were ordered to undergo psychological examinations. They are allowed supervised visits with the boy but have been banned from visiting Martha.

Jeff Greipp, an assistant district attorney, said he is reviewing the case for criminal physical abuse or neglect charges and expects to have a decision in the next week.

In addition, the state Department of Regulation and Licensing has opened an investigation into the way the case was handled by the Evangelical Child and Family Agency, the private adoption agency that placed the girl with the Milwaukee area couple, according to Jennifer Jones, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Children and Family Services.

The private agency has closed the foster home and has issued a notice of intent to revoke the foster home’s license, she said.

State officials will "continue to work with the appropriate authorities in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to find a permanent, safe and loving home for the child," Jones added.

A spokesman for the Evangelical Child and Family Agency said the agency was "shocked and saddened" by the girl’s condition.

"The agency received a glowing report from a family pediatrician on the care the child was receiving in mid-June," said Stephen Hayes, the attorney representing the agency. "There was no sign that this child had been abused."

Martha’s guardianship has temporarily been transferred to the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare. A court hearing involving her case has been scheduled for next month.

Described by medical personnel as exhausted and anxious, Martha remains in a hospital bed, in legal limbo as a ward of the state. Authorities said the abuse may have left her with permanent brain damage.

March 2004: Martha is adopted by a Pennsylvania couple.

August 2004: Couple decide to terminate parental rights. They search adoption agency Web sites with profiles of people who want to adopt and settle on a Milwaukee area couple working with the Evangelical Child and Family Agency. Apparently healthy, Martha is placed in their home.

September 2004: Pennsylvania couple ask that Martha be returned.

January: Pennsylvania couple sign papers terminating their parental rights.

February: Martha is back with the Milwaukee area couple, who are also caring for the infant boy who had been placed with them in December 2004. The couple complain to doctors that the girl is not eating, has changed dramatically since they last cared for her and is "not the happy toddler that she had been before."

March: Martha is admitted to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin for dehydration and failure to thrive while doctors try to find a cause for her eating problems.

July 14: A citizen reports she saw the foster mother at a rest stop in Illinois telling the girl to stop crying. The citizen says the woman twisted the girl’s arms and then "smacked the child on the butt before shoving her in the direction of a man that was traveling with her." The couple deny the report, and there is no apparent injury to the child; the investigation is closed.

July 25: Couple’s adoption of the boy is finalized.

Aug. 5: A friend of the family reports to the Evangelical Child and Family Agency that the foster mother was seen forcing Martha to eat a sausage at the Wisconsin State Fair by grasping the child’s chin aggressively.

Aug. 7: A citizen reports that Martha was seen at church with an apparently broken arm and that the foster parents gave inconsistent stories about how the injury occurred. Case managers investigate and within hours have the child examined by doctors. She is admitted to Children’s Hospital.

Source: Milwaukee County Children’s Court records