EMMA MORRISON - 6 weeks - Lake Worth, FL

DCF under fire after 7-week-old baby dies in Lake Worth


Thursday, February 14 2013, 10:13 PM EST
By Chuck Weber/CBS 12 News

LAKE WORTH, Fla.-- Local and state agencies say they are investigating the death of a seven-week old baby. The infant died in January, in an apartment near downtown Lake Worth.

On Thursday, a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said the department is still waiting on a toxicology report. At this point, the cause of the baby's death remains a mystery. There have been no arrests.

But also on Thursday, the state Department of Children and Families confirmed it has had past involvement with the baby's mother, Lisa Lamoureaux. In fact, DCF staffers visited her days before the baby died.

The baby's death made the front-page of the The Miami Herald Thursday. The article questioned whether DCF failed to follow some of its new policies.

"It is way too early to be drawing conclusions," said DCF communications director Joe Follick. "Some others have chosen to do some second guessing hindsight, but I think it is reckless to do so at this time."

No one was home when CBS 12 visited Lamoureaux's apartment.

http://www.cbs12.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_5217.shtml

Tragedy as baby girl who was left with drug addict mother and violent father dies after family is subject of ELEVEN reports to abuse hotline

• Little Emma Morrison was just 49 days old when she died on January 17
  
• Her mother Lisa Lamoureaux, 33, has a long history of drug abuse and had already had her four other children removed
  
• Child's father, Dwayne Morrison, 48, had been arrested 35 times and was taken into custody on December 13 for slapping Lamoureaux while she was holding Emma
  
• Florida Department of Children and Families under fire after ignoring protocols to protect babies born into families that are already known to be abusive or neglectful
  

PUBLISHED:

10:57 EST, 14 February 2013

UPDATED:

11:08 EST, 14 February 2013

A baby girl is dead after the Florida Department of Children and Families failed to remove her from her drug addicted, violent parents, who had already been the subject of more than 10 reports to the state's abuse hotline.

Little Emma Morrison was just 49 days old when her mother, Lisa Lamoureaux, 33, found her lifeless in her crib at around 9:30 a.m. on January 17 after putting her to sleep nine hours earlier and failing to check on her.

The murky circumstances surrounding her death are still being investigated by Palm Beach County sheriff's Office and the medical examiner.

Lamoureaux had a long history of drug abuse, she had been arrested nine times and her four older children had been permanently taken from her by the state, according to the Miami Herald. But the newspaper reported DCF's only action after Lamoureaux gave birth to Emma late last year was to refer her to parenting classes that she turned down or was unable to get access to.




Tragic: Emma Morrison, pictured, was just 49 days old when her mother, Lisa Lamoureaux, 33,
pictured left, found her lifeless in her crib on January 17, after putting her to sleep nine hours
earlier and failing to check on her

Authorities also failed to ask whether the woman was still abusing drugs before deciding to leave the baby in her care.
Emma's father, Dwayne Morrison, had an even more worrying past.

The 48-year-old had been arrested 35 times since 1992 with charges including kidnapping, robbery, battery, aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, fraud, contempt of court, escape, and drug charges, the Herald reported.

Records show the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office had made 'numerous' calls to the home Lamoureaux shared with Morrison and, while the woman was pregnant with Emma, he had been the subject of two domestic battery calls and was arrested twice.

But on both occasions, Lamoureaux dropped charges against him.

On December 13, the mother called the DCF's abuse and neglect hotline after Morrison slapped her in the face while she was holding the newborn, but, as in the past, she dropped the charges and Morrison was released from jail.








History: Lamoureaux, left, had a long history of drug abuse and Emma's father Dwayne Morrison, right, had been arrested 35 times. Neither have been charged in Emma's death as the investigation continues

The Herald reported that DCF referred the case to three service providers and then stopped monitoring the family. But none of the programs - Family Preservation Services, Boys' Town and Triple P Parenting - had a chance to act before Emma's tragic death.

DCF spokesman Joe Follick told the Herald that it was 'very easy for others to indulge in hindsight second-guessing.'

'The threshold is very high for the state to remove a child from his or her mother, especially when there are no clear signs of imminent danger or abuse,' he said. 'The reality of making decisions on separating an infant from his or her mother is a much more complex process that every employee at the department takes very seriously.'

He added that every death 'affects us deeply' but refused to release any details on the investigation surrounding Emma's death.




Failings: The state failed to remove the child despite Lamoureaux's four other children being
taken off her and the couple's previous drug abuse and arrests

'We have reviewed the history of this family and the investigation of this case. It would be entirely premature and reckless to speculate on the cause of death while local authorities investigate,' he told the newspaper.

After a similarly harrowing infant death in 2008, Florida introduced a policy called the Ludwig Protocol that requires DCF staff to look closely at infants born to parents already being investigated for abuse or neglect.

But in a January 24 email, DCF's top child welfare attorney, Mary Cagle acknowledged that the protocol had been overlooked in this case.

The investigators 'never set a Ludwig staffing with (Children's Legal Services) before the baby was born... as is required,' Cagle wrote, according to the Herald.

The newspaper quoted a review that found any record of Emma's mother's history of drug abuse was 'missing' from her file as was the family's long history with DCF - her parents had at least 11 prior contacts with the department. It said that 'there is not an assessment of the (agency's prior history with the family) or criminal history' in any records before the little girl's sad death.

Neither Lamoureaux or Morrison has been charged in Emma's death and the investigation into what happened is continuing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2278680/Emma-Morrison-death-Tragedy-baby-girl-left-drug-addict-mother-Lisa-Lamoureaux-violent-father-dies.html

The DCF spokesman states it's very easy for
others to indulge in hindsight second-guessing? Multiple kids
permanently removed from her, 35 arrests since 1992 followed by the
threshold is very high for the state when removing an infant from its
mother. What exactly does that mean - there has to be a dead baby in
order to have to have the authority to remove the next baby?
Second-guessing, my behind. It was an 'accident' waiting to happen and
they let it go? The red flag alert was in their faces that whole life
of that poor child.





-

Stiggs
,

any town, United States,
15/2/2013 00:52

This was a comment I thought was good.

No new developments. Can't understand why.