"John" RUSH - 3 yo (2003) Now 12/ Accused: Melody Clayton - Cincinnati OH

A case of child 'torture'

11:27 PM, Feb. 25, 2012


Bud and Jessica Strudtoff of Delhi are photographed with their
12-year-old foster son. Bud was the 12-year-old's social studies teacher
when it became apparent that the boy was abused.
The Enquirer/Carrie Cochran


Five times in eight years, Hamilton County social workers responded to complaints that a boy was being abused or neglected.Every time, a worker walked away convinced the boy was safe.
They were wrong.

Police, in fact, say the boy was “tortured.”

He had been burned on the nose, face and head with cigarettes; hit in the
mouth, which broke his teeth, and was hit on the head with a glass,
according to court records.

The 12-year-old’s cousin and legal guardian, Melody Clayton, is in jail
awaiting trial on assault charges related to that abuse and abuse to a
17-month-old girl she was babysitting.

The Enquirer began investigating the case after receiving an anonymous tip
saying Job and Family Services had failed the boy. The investigation
found abuse and neglect complaints that date to 2003. JFS workers were
never able to find evidence of either.

It wasn’t until the sixth complaint – made last November – that the agency
found evidence of abuse and took the boy away from Clayton.

Prompted by Enquirer questions, Hamilton County Job and Family Services director
Moira Weir reviewed the case and last week suspended two workers who
investigated a February 2011 complaint. That meant 10 months went by
before the agency helped the boy. That help finally came in response to
another complaint and intervention by the boy’s school.

The person who finally forced JFS to take action: Bud Strudthoff, the boy’s teacher and now his temporary guardian.
He says Job and Family Services didn’t do enough.

“You have to remember there is a child out there,” Strudthoff said. “On an
individual level I don’t think they’re forgetting that, but children get
lost in the bureaucracy of the establishment.”

The boy’s biological mother, Stacey Rush, also blames Job and Family
Services for not helping sooner. She said she made one of the first five
complaints, but was ignored.

“They should have been in that house and checking,” Rush said. “And because
they didn’t, look at where my son is and the abuse he’s been through.
“It is beyond awful.”

SNIP

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120225/NEWS01/302260039&Ref=AR

Complaints date to 2003


May 2003: Abuse complaint
no evidence found
April 2006: Abuse complaint
no evidence found
May 2007: Neglect complaint
no evidence found
January 2010: Abuse complaint
no evidence found
February 2011: Abuse complaint
no evidence found
November 2011: Abuse complaint
arrest made, child removed
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120225/NEWS01/302260039&Ref=AR

On Nov. 28, the boy came to school with a swollen nose, which alarmed
Strudthoff and the school’s counselor. They reported possible abuse to
Job and Family Services.Two-and-a-half
days later, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center notified
Delhi Township Police that the 17-month-old girl Clayton babysat during
the week had a broken leg, broken arm, had been burned with a cigarette
on the foot and had a bruise on her head, according to JFS and court
records. That case would be investigated separately, but JFS said
workers knew both involved Clayton.
SNIP

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120225/NEWS01/302260039&Ref=AR