NUBIA DOCTER - 10 yo twin/ Accused:Jorge Barahona - Palm Beach FL

Judge Denies Bond For Mother Charged With Murder

Police: Nubia Barahona Found Dead In Bag


MIAMI -- Carmen
Barahona, 60, stood silently before a judge Sunday, charged with
murder, almost three weeks after her 10-year-old adopted daughter was
found dead.In addition to a charge of first-degree murder, Barahona faces seven-counts of child abuse and neglect.On
Friday, she was seen leaving her home for questioning. Hours later,
she was in handcuffs exiting a police van and headed for jail.On Sunday, Carmen was sent back to jail with no bond after her court appearance.
Special Section: The Barahona Investigation


Her husband, Jorge Barahona, 53, remains in a Palm Beach County jail.Authorities said on Feb. 14, he was found in a pest control pickup truck on the side of Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County.Also in the truck was his severely burned 10-year-old son, Victor Barahona. He'd been burned with an unknown chemical.In the back of the truck investigators found the body of the boy's twin sister, Nubia Barahona, inside a bag.Since then, a disturbing story of abuse has put the Florida Department of Children and Families under the microscope.An investigative panel has been appointed to look into the DCF's actions in the twins' case.Days before the twins were discovered, calls had been made to the Florida Abuse Hotline to report suspected abuse.The adoptive father, Jorge Barahona, was charged with aggravated child abuse and attempted murder.Victor Barahona was released from Jackson Memorial Hospital on Tuesday. He has been placed in a therapeutic foster home.Miami-Dade police Director James K. Loftus is expected to address the new charges on Monday.
Previous Stories:
http://www.justnews.com/news/27099210/detail.html

• March 3, 2011: Panel Reviews Thousands Of Documents In Barahona Case
  
• March 3, 2011: 2nd Call Reported Suspected Abuse Of Twins
  

Aunt, uncle hope for custody of abused boy

March. 9, 2011 at 2:25 PM

Related Stories

Judge: Open files of twins' alleged abuse

• Adoptive mother charged with murder
  
• Agency partly blamed in abuse death
  
• Transcript details abuse of dead child
  

MIAMI, March 9 (UPI) -- A 10-year-old Florida girl might still be alive if her aunt and uncle had been allowed to adopt her several years ago, a lawyer said Wednesday.

Steven Grossbard, a lawyer representing Nubia Barahona's aunt and uncle, said after a hearing in Miami that Isidro and Ana Reyes still hope for custody of her twin brother, Victor, The Palm Beach Post reported.

The Reyes, who live in Texas, tried to adopt the twins several years ago after the children's biological parents lost custody.

Nubia's body was discovered Feb. 14 in the back of her adoptive father's pickup truck. Barahona, 54, and his wife, Carmen, 60, were charged Monday with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and neglect.

Victor Barahona is recovering from chemical burns, officials said.

The Barahonas had two other adopted children, the Department of Children and Families filed a motion Wednesday to strip the couple of custody of all three.

Grossbard said Nubia and Victor would have had "a different reality" if the Reyes had become their parents.

Two days before Nubia's body was discovered, a DCF report found "moderate risk" of neglect to the Barahonas' children.

A 10-year-old Florida girl found dead last month suffered severe
abuse at the home of her adopted parents, a transcript released by
authorities indicates.

The transcript of a call to a child abuse hot line details how Nubia
Barahona and her twin brother Victor spent most of their days in a
bathtub with their arms and legs bound with tape, The Miami Herald
reported Tuesday.

The 6-year-old granddaughter of Carmen and Jorge Barahona told a
school counselor that her grandmother only untied the twins for meals.


The counselor alerted the Florida Department of Children and Family Services Feb. 10 and police were called.

Jorge Barahona, 53, was apprehended Feb. 14 after a road ranger found
him passed out in the back of his truck in West Palm Beach.
Nubia's twin, Victor, was in the truck suffering from severe chemical
burns. The decomposing corpse of Nubia was later discovered stuffed in a
garbage bag inside the truck.

Barahona remains in the Palm Beach County Jail on charges of
attempted murder and aggravated child abuse. Carmen Barahona hasn't been
charged.

Last week police dug up chunks of the Barahona's backyard after a neighbor complained of a "death" smell.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/03/01/Transcript-details-abuse-of-dead-child/UPI-64531298998976/#ixzz1GGYoynRd

Panel's Report Rebukes DCF In Barahona Children's Case

Organization's Communication, Urgency CriticizedMIAMI -- In a stern and stinging rebuke, a panel investigating the case of Nubia
Barahona, who was found dead in her adoptive father's truck last month,
outlined how the Department of Children and Families failed to protect
the girl and her twin brother."A child has died, and a child
didn't need to die, and we could have done one hell of a lot better,"
said David Lawrence, a member of the investigative panel.

Watch: Video

Nubia was found dead Feb. 14 in the back of the pickup truck of
her adoptive father, Jorge Barahona. Her brother, Victor, was found
doused in chemicals and convulsing in the truck's cab. He has since been
released from a hospital. Jorge Barahona, 53, and his wife, Carmen
Barahona, 60, each have been charged with murder in Nubia's death.So
apparent were the mistakes and missteps that, according to
investigators, led to the death of 10-year-old Nubia and years of abuse
she and her twin, Victor, endured in their adoptive home, the panel
investigating the case issued its findings days early.The panel
released its report Thursday after 15 hours, 24 witnesses and thousands
of pages detailing the twins' eight years in foster and adoptive care.
Its essential findings were that a court-ordered psychological
evaluation recommending that Carmen and Jorge Barahona adopt the twins
was done in a vacuum, that the doctor who conducted the evaluation never
knew about abuse concerns, and no case manager ever noticed
discrepancies."You would insist that you put information in a
system that can actually be pulled out, pulled out immediately so we see
this and this and this and this. What does this now mean?" Lawrence
said.DCF and its contractors have no central information center
for the reams of documents on the twins' eight-year ordeal. The panel
said workers on the case ignored many red flags and wrote inaccurate and
incomplete documentation."Checklists nor technology,
state-of-the-art -- none of that is a substitute for the exercise of
critical thinking, sound judgment and common sense," said Roberto
Martinez, another member of the panel.The three panel members did
not hear from Victor's longtime court-appointed guardian, Paul Neumann,
who had raised red flags until Thursday, when they sought his advice."The
one thing I told them: Everybody has to do their jobs. All the
organizations, whether it's DCF, private organizations, the guardian ad
litem program, whatever it is -- do the job you're paid to do," Neumann
said.The report focuses on the employees and raises concerns
about their lack of urgency, as well as their responsibility and
accountability.
http://www.justnews.com/news/27153378/detail.html

"A child has died, and a child didn't need to die, and we could have done one hell of a lot better,"
said David Lawrence, a member of the investigative panel.


Well said! And when a worker or the police go to a home to investigate they should not just leave a calling card if no one is home.

Florida to overhaul abuse hot line after Nubia Barahona's death

Changes in the works after child's death
"This tragedy was more than just mistakes and
poor job execution by selected employees. It was a total systematic
failure of the child welfare system."

That statement from David
Wilkins, the Secretary of the Department of Children and Families, came
at the start of a news conference in Miami Monday spelling out the
department's response to the death of 10-year-old Nubia Barahona who was
found dead, doused in chemicals, in the back of her father's truck
along I-95 exactly one month ago. He said 19 changes are in place or being put in place this week
to prevent another tragedy like that of Nubia and her twin brother,
Victor, who allegedly suffered years of abuse at the hands of their
adopted parents, Carmen and Jorge Barahona. Days before Nubia's
death, someone called the abuse hot line to report the twins were being
bound by their hands and feet and locked in a bathroom. The call was
flagged to be followed up within 24 hours instead of immediately. A
child protective investigator that followed up on the call searched
futilely for the twins for four days, but never called police. That
investigator was fired, Wilkins said. Wilkins said hot line
operators - effective immediately - will no longer be rewarded by how
quickly they handle a call, but how effectively. He said the abuse hot
line had "major issues" and other changes will mean adding a supervisor
who will monitor the calls in real time to ensure calls receive a proper
emergency response. DCF will now work closer with law
enforcement on child abuse cases. The most serious abuse calls will
immediately be forwarded to police. Calls that can be responded to
within 24 hours will be given to law enforcement twice a day - a change
from once a week. DCF plans to get new technology to streamline
their abuse hot line, make sure workers are better trained and hire
eighty new child investigators, all the while cutting costs. Secretary Wilkins says he'll do so by cutting from the department's administration and reorganizing other positions. A fund has been set up to help Victor and his two surviving adopted siblings. Wilkins
is also working on long-term changes, trying to shift the agency away
from procedures and checklists that may provide a false sense of
security, despite poor quality. Children's case files tends to be
unwieldy mounds of documents, often with incomplete data, that make it
difficult for caseworkers, doctors and others involved to get a clear
picture of what is going on in a child's life. Wilkins says,
"Nubia's tragic life will not be a hidden sadness. We all owe a debt to
her memory and all children to learn and do the best we can to protect
what God has given us.
"http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/florida-to-overhaul-abuse-hot-line-after-nubia-barahona%27s-death

A judge in Florida set a Jan. 30 trial date for the man who, along
with his wife, is accused of killing their adopted daughter and abusing
her twin brother.
Palm Beach County Judge Karen Miller also approved moving Jorge
Barahona to Miami-Dade County, where he faces multiple criminal charges,
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday. Barahona, 54, is charged in two
counties.
Palm Beach County is where investigators found Barahona, his son,
Victor, 10; and deceased daughter, Nubia, whose chemical-soaked,
decomposing body was in a black trash bag inside Barahona's truck. West
Palm Beach police charged Barahona with attempted murder and aggravated
child abuse for injuries to the boy, who was found alive inside the
truck but covered in chemicals and experiencing seizures.
The girl's death occurred in the Barahona family's home in Miami-Dade
home, the Herald said. Miami-Dade authorities charged Barahona and his
wife, Carmen, 60, with murder.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/03/22/Trial-set-for-Fla-killing-abuse-suspect/UPI-82441300803803/

The father charged with killing his adoptive daughter and abusing her twin brother was transferred back to Miami-Dade Wednesday jail officials said.
Jorge Barahona was transferred from a Palm Beach County jail and booked into the Miami-Dade jail around noon, a corrections official said.
Barahona, 54, and wife Carmen, 60, face first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges
in the death and alleged abuse of 10-year-old twins Nubia and Victor.
The body of Nubia Barahona was found wrapped in plastic inside a truck on the side of I-95 in Palm Beach County on Feb. 14. Twin brother Victor was found covered in chemicals, badly burned and with broken bones in the front seat.
Jorge Barahona, who was also found near the truck,
told police he was distraught over Nubia's death and had planned to kill
himself. He was later arrested and cafes attempted murder charges in Palm Beach County.
Reports allege the couple had abused the twins for years inside their Miami-Dade home. Carmen
Barahona is also being held in a Miami-Dade jail.
Victor Barahona was hospitalized and later released into a foster home.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Barahona-Transferred-to-Miami-Dade-Jail-118512079.html

Grand jury hands up 18-count indictment against Carmen and Jorge Barahona


MIAMI — Jorge Barahona and his wife, Carmen, are scheduled to appear in Miami-Dade circuit court Monday, when state prosecutors are expected to announce whether they will seek the death penalty against the couple accused of murdering their adoptive daughter and seriously injuring her twin brother.
In addition, a Miami-Dade grand jury on Wednesday indicted the western Miami-Dade County couple on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and child neglect in the death of their adoptive daughter, 10-year-old Nubia.
The 18-count indictment accuses Jorge and Carmen Barahona of repeatedly locking Nubia and her twin brother Victor in a bathroom with their hands and feet bound and hitting or torturing them with a shoe, broom and whip. The couple also forced the twins to stand or sit in a corner of a room for hours, and stuck them in a recycling or garbage container, according to the report.
The couple was also accused of placing a plastic bag over Victor's head, "causing a loss of conscious or restricting his ability to breathe," the report says. Jorge was also charged for allegedly hitting Victor in the mouth.
The indictment also added neglect charges against the Barahonas related to their oldest son, who is autistic.
The couple is expected to be arraigned before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel for the death of Nubia, whose body was found in the back of Jorge Barahona's pick-up truck on Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach Feb. 14. Victor was sitting in the front seat, seizing and covered in unknown toxic chemicals.
On Thursday attorneys for the couple, as well as a state prosecutor, discussed in court whether the Barahonas should be present for future hearings.
Defense attorneys for Carmen and Jorge said they would prefer the Barahonas not appear, given the media attention the case was attracting. But prosecutor Gail Levine said it was important that Carmen and Jorge Barahona "see the gravity of the court proceedings."
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel said the Barahonas should appear for Monday's arraignment, but would not have to appear at future hearings.

read more>
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/grand-jury-hands-up-18-count-indictment-against-1343747.html

State To Seek Death Penalty In Barahona Case


MIAMI (CBS4) – MIAMI (CBS4) – Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against Jorge and Carmen Barahona who are accused of torturing two of their adopted children and killing their adopted daughter 10-year old Nubia.
Originally the Barahonas had been charged with first degree murder in the death of Nubia and seven counts each of aggravated child abuse and neglect for their treatment of her and her twin brother Victor. Last week they were indicted by a grand jury which brought three more charges including a new count of neglect involving another of the couple’s adopted children, an 11-year old boy.
The couple was formally arraigned Monday before Judge Sarah Zabel, both pled not guilty. In the courtroom, Jorge Barahona was wearing a green padded gown worn by prisoners on suicide watch. Both Carmen and Jorge Barahona had tried to waive this appearance, but Judge Zabel wanted them present so prosecutor Gail Levine could announce the state’s decision concerning the death penalty in front of them.
Carmen Barahona stared silently during the announcement while her husband shed tears; his public defender described him as emotionally unstable.
Also in attendance at the hearing was Joanne Muniz who said she came to represent Nubia who used to go to Blue Lakes Elementary School with her son.
“It’s horrible, it’s horrible,” said Muniz. “It’s terrible I was thinking I’m sitting in a court room waiting to see two people to come out, and waiting to hear what they’ve been charged with, people who have done something terrible to a child.”
The Barahonas will likely remain behind bars until their trials because the murder charges against them carry no bond. A trial date of July 18^th has been set.

read more>
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/03/28/34162/

Fla. Teacher Warned Of Girl's Abuse Before Death


MIAMI -- Nearly four years before a 10-year-old girl was found dead in her adoptive father's truck, a teacher told a Miami-Dade judge the girl was being abused at home and hit on the bottom of her feet in a way that wouldn't leave bruises, a child welfare lawyer said Tuesday.

School officials warned a judge who was considering whether to let Jorge and Carmen Barahona adopt the girl and her twin brother that the girl came to school dirty and was very thin and hoarding food in her desk in 2007.

A kindergarten teacher also testified that the girl, Nubia Docter, had wet her pants one day at school, which is common for children of that age.

When the teacher told the girl she was going to call her then-foster mother, Carmen Barahona, the girl became hysterical and begged her not to call, child welfare attorney Christey Lopez-Acevedo on Tuesday told a panel investigating the child's death.

"Momma is going to hit me with a (flip flop) on the bottom of my feet," the girl said when asked why she didn't want her mother called, according to Lopez-Acevedo, an attorney for the court-appointed guardian whose concerns prompted the mid-2007 hearing.

Lopez-Acevedo said at the time she didn't understand the seriousness of the girl's allegation.

"I am (now) fully aware from what the experts tell me that is a sign of torture. No bruises are left," Lopez-Acevedo said through tears.

An expert panel is trying to piece together how child welfare officials missed several red flags in the twins' adoption, despite serious abuse allegations from a school teacher and principal.

The case has highlighted glaring mistakes by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) after the girl's body was found Feb. 14 in plastic bags in the back of the truck of her father, Jorge Barahona. Her brother Victor was in the front seat doused in a toxic chemical. Jorge Barahona has pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the attack on his son.

No charges have been filed in the girl's death. Child welfare officials have said they expect charges will be filed against Carmen Barahona, but police have not released any details because it is an open investigation.

Child advocate David Lawrence, a former Miami Herald publisher, said the case raises troubling questions.

"These are signals of the highest order. How seriously did folks take what the principal was saying?" Lawrence asked. "It just seems stunningly tragic to me. It makes you cry."

Born to a drug-addicted mother, the twins were placed in foster care in 2004 after their biological father was arrested for allegedly fondling a neighborhood child. He was later accused of sexually assaulting the twins. Agency officials said they did not know if he was convicted of a crime in either case.

A biological aunt and uncle from Texas tried desperately to adopt the twins in 2005 before the Barahonas were granted full custody. Caseworkers, psychologists and therapists gave glowing reports about the Barahona home, saying the children were thriving there and had bonded with the family.

The Barahonas were serving as foster parents in the spring of 2007 when the school contacted Lopez-Acevedo with the abuse allegation. The child welfare attorney immediately asked for a hearing to look at the twins' placement with the Barahonas and whether they were fit parents.

Several hearings were held over the next few months as therapists, school officials and guardian ad litems weighed in on whether the Barahonas should be allowed to adopt the twins.

A psychologist completed an evaluation and recommended approval for the twins' adoption by the Barahonas in February 2008, child welfare officials said. The psychologist concluded it would be "detrimental" to remove the children from the Barahonas' care. If they did, the children would never bond with adults again.

However, the psychologist did not include any information about the school's abuse allegations when she made her evaluation and she did not reach out to school officials, child welfare officials said.

A case manager and two child welfare attorneys, including Lopez-Acevedo, read the psychologist's report that was given to the judge and saw that it didn't include the school's abuse allegations, but never said anything.

A short time later, Judge Valerie Manno Schurr approved the adoption, basing much of the decision on the psychologist's opinion.

Child welfare officials said Tuesday they were not certain if she was the same judge who was informed of the abuse allegations in mid-2007. Manno Schurr did not return a phone message Tuesday afternoon.

Attorney Roberto Martinez, one of the panelists investigating the girl's death, said during Tuesday's meeting that the abuse allegations should have been brought up again in 2008, when the judge was weighing the adoption.

"That was a mistake several times repeated," Martinez said. "Nobody that read this brought it to the attention of the judge. It appears to be a pretty glaring red flag for whatever reason. Somebody dropped the ball."

When asked whether child welfare officials asked to have the children re-evaluated considering the school's allegations, Lopez-Acevedo said one of the psychologists involved in the case said it was too soon to do another evaluation.

It's common for agency experts to complete thousands of evaluations in a year. DCF typically relies on the same experts, Lopez-Acevedo said.

One child advocate wondered if adoptions are getting the kind of review they should.

Lawrence asked Tuesday: "Are we moving these through and even jamming these through because we have such a boatload of cases that we have to get these things moving?"

A father accused of murdering his adopted 10-year-old daughter told
police the little girl had tried to poison him by putting baby oil in
his soda, court documents say.

Jorge Barahona, 53, claimed his daughter Nubia and her twin brother
Victor wanted him dead, according to the documents released today.
The claim was revealed in shocking court papers that revealed
nightmare details of the twins’ lives with their adoptive parents.


Manacled: Jorge and Carmen Barahona have
both pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering their ten-year-old
adopted daughter but face death if convicted

The schoolgirl’s naked body was found drenched in a toxic chemical
and hidden in a black trash bag in Barahona’s truck parked alongside a
busy South Florida highway in February.


For the last nine months of Nubia’s life, the twins had been tied up
and locked in the bathroom of their adoptive parents’ home where they
were whipped with shoes and a blue wire cord, Victor told detectives.
Nubia’s hands and feet were allegedly bound by Barahona’s wife, Carmen,
and she was left like that in the bathtub for days.
On Friday, February 11, the boy said Nubia was taken by Barahona from
the tub and he told police he heard his sister scream as she was beaten
to death, said a police report obtained by the Miami Herald.
Barahona allegedly turned up at his sister’s house after the murder claiming
that Nubia had run off when he stopped his truck.
‘I’ve lost a child,’ he told her. He claimed he had tied up the children because they tried to poison him.
Laura Barahona said she went to three police stations appealing for
help and even contacted child welfare workers, but nobody came to help.
Two days later, Barahona was found by police slumped over the wheel
of the truck with Victor saturated in chemicals in the front seat next
to him and Nubia ‘s horribly mutilated body dumped in the flatbed.
The girl wasn’t discovered until hazardous materials workers cleaned the truck.
The legal files show investigators focused on the couple's Miami home in the days after Nubia's murder.
Investigators took DNA samples from the walls of a bedroom and dining
room, towels and mop head, a couple of bloodstained items, clothes, blankets and rolls of tape.


Horrific: Nadia's body was found wrapped in a
rubbish bag and covered in corrosive chemicals in the back of a pick-up
truck in Florida

A search warrant shows that Barahona told investigators he was so
distraught after his daughter's death that he placed her body in a
plastic bag, drove north and planned to commit suicide by setting himself on fire.
Although he said Nubia had died at his Miami home, ‘he did not admit
to killing her or elaborate as to how she expired'.
Jorge and Carmen Barahona have pleaded not guilty to first-degree
murder and several abuse and neglect charges. They face the death
penalty if they are convicted.
Their lawyers tried to seal the evidence before trial, saying it
would taint the jury pool. But the state attorney's office in West Palm
Beach decided to make 930 pages of documents public.
The twins had lived with the Barahonas since 2004 when they were
removed from their birth parents.
Their mother was a homeless drug
addict and the father had recently been accused of molesting a neighbour.
They were legally adopted in 2009, but in the seven years with the
couple they were the subject of at least six calls to the state’s child abuse hotline.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391402/Father-Jorge-Barahona-murdered-adopted-daughter-claims-tried-poison-him.html#ixzz1NWUu2E9s

All the while their blood relative was fighting in court for custody. I will never understand this.

The state's Public Employees Relations Commission dismissed an appeal
filed by Andrea Fleary, the state child abuse investigator fired in
March for "poor performance and negligence" in her handling of abuse
allegations at the home of Nubia Barahona.

Fleary, a 22-year veteran of the state Department of Children and
Families, said during an April interview that her dismissal was
inappropriate because she made no mistakes in her investigation, even
though the 10-year-old girl's body was found in the back of her adoptive
father's truck in West Palm Beach four days after Fleary visited her
home.

In the June 7 final order, the Public Employees Relations Commission said DCF "had cause to discipline Fleary."

Fleary has 30 days to appeal the commission's decision to the District
Court of Appeals. Fleary's lawyer, Matthew Ladd, said Friday that he was
not surprised by the commission's ruling. He said they would consider
their options before deciding whether to appeal.

DCF Secretary David Wilkins said he agreed with the commission.

"I think we made the right decision. We expect excellence in everything
we do," he said Thursday in Orlando, where he launched projects to
reform the agency's child abuse investigative process.

Fleary's performance was criticized by an independent review panel
charged with finding out if more could have been done to keep Nubia and
her brother safe. The panel said Fleary filled out a report stating the
Barahona home was safe for the twins without even contacting the
children.

A Miami-Dade family court judge also was critical of Fleary when she
said she did not follow-up with the Barahonas the day after the first
abuse call came in because she was not allowed to work weekends.

Jorge and Carmen Barahona, the twins' adoptive parents, are in jail and face murder and child abuse charges in Nubia's death.





http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/pb-dcf-worker-loses-appeal-20110617,0,7849438.story

She should also have been charged and served jail time. IMO.

Guess she wants her job back so she can be responsible for more deaths and abuse.

Gripped by "a persistent, insidious bias of trust," caseworkers and
investigators gave Jorge and Carmen Barahona a pass every time concerns
were raised that the couple was abusing and neglecting their adoptive
children, a Miami-Dade grand jury said in a report released Monday.

So trusting was a state Department of Children & Families
investigator that, on Feb. 10, when the agency received a report that
adoptive twins Victor and Nubia Barahona were being tied up and locked
in a bathtub, she left the Barahona home without ever seeing the
children, the report said. She later wrote that the twins were at little
risk of harm.




"Were Nubia and Victor in the house tied up in that bathtub at that very
moment?" grand jurors asked in a strongly worded 25-page report. "We
will never know."

Four days after the abuse report was filed, and before any
child-welfare worker could see the children, Jorge Barahona was found
passed out next to his pickup truck along Interstate 95 in West Palm
Beach, Nubia's decomposing body in a garbage bag in the flatbed. Victor
had been doused with deadly chemicals and was slouched in the cab.

Prosecutors say the couple kept the 10-year-old twins bound in the
bathroom of their west Miami-Dade home for months, beating and starving
them. The Barahonas were indicted on charges of first-degree murder,
aggravated child abuse, and neglect for Nubia's death and her brother's
alleged abuse. The husband and wife face the death penalty.

DCF, which had custody of the twins before they were adopted, already
has implemented 19 recommendations from a report by a three-member task
force appointed by Secretary David Wilkins shortly after Nubia was
killed, said Lissette Valdes-Valle, a DCF spokeswoman in Miami. The
agency also is moving forward with four long-term reforms suggested by
the panel, including revamping the state's abuse hotline, hiring more
child-abuse investigators and improving relationships with law
enforcement agencies and other community groups.

"We appreciate the hard work and effort that the grand jury put into
their report and recommendations. The tragic death of Nubia affected
everyone in our community," Valdes-Valle wrote in a prepared statement.
"We are thoroughly reviewing the Grand Jury's recommendations in order
to see what supplemental actions we can incorporate to prevent a similar
tragedy from occurring in the future."

Fran Allegra, who heads the Our Kids foster care agency that oversaw the
Barahona children before their adoption, thanked the grand jury for its
service, and vowed to "review every facet of our procedure anew in
order to give due consideration to the grand jury's recommendations and
comments."

Among concerns also raised: Grand jurors decried the fragmentation of
the state's child-welfare system, in which poor information-sharing and
inadequate technology prevent workers from seeing the "big picture."

Together with the tendency to place too much trust on foster or adoptive
parents, DCF's inability to centralize information gathering "combined
to exponentially raise the risk'' to children in the state's care, the
grand jury wrote. "In the world of child protection, this combination is
a recipe for disaster. As to Nubia and Victor, it allowed murder,
torture and child abuse."

The grand jury listed a litany of red flags from the twins' foster care
records and asked: "How could anyone have missed the looming disaster if
they had read all of this information in one place and at one time?"

"Patterns were still recognizable early on, and increasingly, as time
went by," the report said. "Immediately prior to the finalization of the
adoption, alarm bells should have been going off for all to hear."

The grand jury recommended that DCF require all privately run
foster-care agencies to handle some case management responsibilities
in-house. The change was prompted by the grand jury's examination of Our
Kids, the lead community based care agency in Miami-Dade with a $100
million contract with DCF. Our Kids itself acts like an umbrella and
contracts out to several separate case-management agencies that provide
actual services such as intervention, shelter, prevention and group
care.

The report said Our Kids' equivalent in Broward County,
called ChildNet, used to act in a similar, umbrella-like way. But it
moved toward having more work done by ChildNet itself after finding the
setup had three advantages: It gave ChildNet a better understanding of
the work done in the field, it improved consistency in performance and
it saved money.

The credulity of caseworkers and investigators, the report said, became
particularly acute after Jorge and Carmen Barahona, then foster parents,
announced their decision to adopt the twins, and then adopted them in
May 2009.

Bestowed with the agency's seal of approval as foster parents in good
standing, caseworkers and investigators glossed over repeated reports
that the children were afraid of their caregivers, were missing too much
school, had missed doctor's appointments and complained they were not
getting enough food.

"The sad reality," grand jurors wrote, "is that if the Barahonas had
been the biological parents of Victor and Nubia, a more thorough
investigation probably would have been conducted following the various
reports called into the Hotline."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami-dade/mh-nubia-barahona-grand-jury-20110725,0,7688353.story

JURY TRIAL 30-JAN-201209:30 AM MAIN BRANCH COURTROOM 10F MILLER, JUDGE KAREN

http://courtcon.co.palm-beach.fl.us/pls/jiwp/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt_frames?backto=P&case_id=502011CF001709AXXXMB&begin_date=&end_date=

TomTerrific0420 wrote:Gripped by "a persistent, insidious bias of trust," caseworkers and
investigators gave Jorge and Carmen Barahona a pass every time concerns
were raised that the couple was abusing and neglecting their adoptive
children, a Miami-Dade grand jury said in a report released Monday.

So trusting ...
... conducted following the various
reports called into the Hotline."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami-dade/mh-nubia-barahona-grand-jury-20110725,0,7688353.story

All the while, blood relatives who would have loved and cared for these children were fighting a losing battle for custody.

I still can't figure out why DCF fought against their relative having them. Piss poor judgment is all that comes to mind.

Investigators have released more details about the lives of the Barahona family.
Jorge
and Carmen Barahona are facing first degree murder and child abuse
charges after their adoptive daughter, Nubia Barahona, was found dead in
the back of a pickup truck in West Palm Beach in February.
A
search warrant released Thursday shows disturbing evidence of abuse in
the home, including photos taken after the children were found.
Some
of the pictures show an adult size bloody t-shirt, as well as hazardous
chemicals and prescription medicines. Experts say these pictures may be
the first sign of what it was like to live in the Barahona home.
"This is a very challenging case, the facts, they're awful," said legal analyst Michelle Suskauer.
Suskauer poured over the pictures.
"I think that these pictures are very powerful when you present them in a trial to a jury," she said.
Armed with a search warrant for the Barahona residence, investigators say they found blood and bodily fluids on several walls.
Police
think Jorge and Carmen Barahona used rolls of clear tape to tie up
their adoptive 10-year-old daughter, Nubia, and her twin brother,
Victor, then they allegedly left the children in a bathtub for days
behind a locked bathroom door.
Investigators combed through the
home and say they also found sex toys and a business card from a
detective with the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Unit. It was dated 2005,
and Jorge Barahona's name was on it.
"This is not something that was just going on in February," said Suskauer. "This is something going on for years."
Documents
alleged that between January 1, 2010, and February 14, 2011, the
children were intentionally beaten, willfully tortured, and maliciously
punished and caged.
The state wants the death penalty for the
Barahonas. Suskauer says the defense faces a monumental challenge if the
case goes before a jury.
"It's very hard to present a case like that to a jury and defend it," she said.
Jorge and Carmen Barahona have plead not guilty to first degree murder charges.

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_c_palm_beach_county/west_palm_beach/new-details-in-horrific-barahona-case#ixzz1cl3KqzjR

A Miami-Dade judge will decide whether Carmen and Jorge Barahona,
charged in the torture-murder slaying of their adopted 10-year-old
daughter Nubia, should be tried separately.
It is not unusual for
co-defendants to be tried by jury separately if they give statements to
police that could incriminate the other. In this case, prosecutors have
not decided whether they will use the Barahonas’ statements, although
Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Gail Levine told the judge Tuesday
she “is leaning toward not using” them as evidence.
Carmen and
Jorge Barahona are accused of torturing and murdering Nubia, their
adopted 10-year-old daughter, inside their West Miami-Dade house. Her
twin brother, Victor, was starved, tortured and beaten, prosecutors say.




Defense attorneys for the Barahonas had asked Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel to try the two separately.
Nubia's
chemical-soaked body was found in the back of Jorge Barahona's pickup
truck on Feb. 14 along Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach. Victor was
severely injured, and Jorge Barahona was found passed out nearby.
Nubia's
death cast a harsh spotlight on the Florida Department of Children
& Families, which had received numerous abuse complaints against the
Barahonas.
Prosecutors and a lawyer acting as a guardian for
Victor said they don’t want separate trials because of the toll it could
take on Victor, who is living with relatives in Texas. Victor could
also testify in the attempted murder case against Jorge Barahona in Palm
Beach County.
The children in this case, especially Victor, “have
been through such horrible circumstances that everything possible to
minimize any additional trauma should be considered,” Frances Feinberg,
of Florida’s Guardian Ad Litem program, wrote in a court motion.
Although Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel told lawyers she may rule by late Tuesday, a trial is likely years away.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/08/2492498/miami-dade-judge-considers-trying.html#ixzz1dDyDnfSm

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/barahona-records-neighbor-says-jorge-barahona-was-super-2022168.html

MIAMI — Jorge Barahona was given to paranoia and fears of conspiracies around him that he expressed to a neighbor, according to investigative materials released this week by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office, fears that may have led him to murder his adopted daughter and almost kill her brother, Victor.

James Sheppard, 49, who lived next to Barahona and his wife, Carmen, for years before they were arrested and charged with murder in February, said the couple mainly kept to themselves, but that he did have occasional conversations with Jorge from yard to yard.

“He was always talking about conspiracy, about people breaking in, or keeping your gates locked,” Sheppard said according transcripts of his interview with investigators. “He was really paranoid, super paranoid.”

The Barahonas are facing first degree murder charges, accused of killing Nubia Barahona, 10. Jorge is also accused of trying to kill Nubia’s twin brother, Victor, and both he and Carmen face charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect. The two children were found by police Feb. 14 in pickup truck owned by Jorge, an exterminator, parked on the side of I-95 in West Palm Beach.

Nubia was dead, found in plastic bag also filled with pesticide chemicals in the back of the truck. Victor had been badly burned with chemicals, but survived.

In another interview released this week, Yovani Perez, formerly married to Carmen Barahona’s daughter, Jennifer, and the father of the Barahonas’ 6 –year-old granddaughter, said the girl, who often went to the Barahona house after school, came back with frightening stories in the days before the twins were found.

She said the twins were bound hand and foot, tied together and placed in the bathtub of the Barahona home where they spent hours. Perez asked his daughter why that was done to them and, according to Perez, the girl said Carmen had explained it to her:

“Because those are bad kids and they want to poison (Carmen) and Jorge,” the girl allegedly said. “And that those kids have already put alcohol and some poison in their food.”

In interviews with Carmen, released earlier, she told investigators that her husband was afraid because the children had threatened to kill him with rat poison and they had also put baby oil in his soda.

After hearing his daughter’s account, Perez arranged to have the girl taken for counseling and that meeting led the therapist, Lisa Reis, to call the hotline of the Department of Children and Families to report the possible abuse.

That was Feb. 10, but DCF was not able to find the twins in time to save Nubia, who police believe was beaten to death by Jorge, probably on Feb. 11.

Sheppard told investigators that on the morning of Feb. 12, his daughter, 14, whose bedroom faced the spot where Jorge parked his truck, told him she had been woken up at about 4 a.m. because Jorge “was making a bunch of noise."

“It sounded like he was loading something in his truck,” Sheppard’s daughter told him.

Nubia’s body was later found shoved into the farthest corner of the bed of that truck.

Sheppard told investigators of strong chemical smells that he experienced in his house at times that had no apparent cause.

At another point Sheppard described Jorge physically. He said his neighbor appeared to be possibly “high on something because he was always jerking around. His hair was always a mess, his eyes were always glazed.”

These POSs. These beautiful children had blood relatives fighting in court for custody. DCF fought it all the way. I've never heard an explanation for the STUPID decisions DCF made that led to the brutality of these children and the heinous murder of the precious little girl.