2 Month Old Infant Starves to Death at Homeless Shelter in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — Two family caseworkers have been suspended after a 2-month-old boy starved to death at a Philadelphia homeless shelter.

Tanya Williams, 32, is charged with murder in last month's death of her son, Quasir Alexander. Police, though, say they are exploring whether criminal charges should be filed against any social-service workers involved with the family.

"Even though there's been an arrest, someone's been charged, we're also internally looking at some of the establishments that were involved in overseeing their case," Homicide Sgt. Tim Cooney told The Associated Press on Monday.

The infant, a twin, weighed less when he died on Dec. 23 than he did at birth, and had nothing in his belly, Cooney said. An autopsy concluded that he died of both starvation and dehydration.

So we can't even take care of kids when they are in a homeless shelter in this country now???
What the hell is happening here in America?
Obviously their "parenting skills program" lacks. Severely.
As well as their screening program for those who they hire!!
This child weighed less at his miserable death than he did when he was born...
May God have mercy on ALL those who failed him...


www.huffingtonpost.com...

There is no excuse for this child having to die like that! My God, there are so many horror stories like this. I can hardly believe we live in such a world.

Poor child! It makes me mad that he was starving at the homeless shelter rather then getting fed. Unfortunely there are millions of children who are starving right now.Its makes me really sad thinking about it. He deserves the right to live rather then starve it horrid thinking about it. He did'nt even get fed while he was starving.

His twin also was malnourished and treated at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for several days after the death, police said.

Williams and her six children had been living at the Traveler's Aid shelter in West Philadelphia since September. She had nearly completed a 90-day program, funded by the city, to help her with parenting skills. Her last session was Dec. 21, according to Richard Gitlen, executive director of Lutheran Children and Family Service, which had a city contract to run the program.

In the wake of Quasir's death, two case managers involved with the family were suspended, Gitlen said.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

This seems to me to be a huge, fundamental failure on the part of this agency! If they were taking responsibility of this family, then how in God's name did this happen???
I am at a loss here. The family lived there, for crying out loud!

I can not believe this would happen. I do not think a mother could intentionally do that to her baby. The article said she was paying the shelter to stay there? Seriously? Christians

reply to post by thegoodearth


There were caseworkers involved? WTH were they doing??? They should definately be charged or at the very least lose their licensing and jobs, forever!!!! When the stupid government nazis fail, the only one getting charged is the mother? And this will probably be the only person they handcuff, you know the government is protected with a bunch of loopholes, they also have union protection, I think in Philadelphia.

reply to post by Tsubaki


The city also had a contract with these people.
I really hate some of these "social" programs...

I am having a very hard time wrapping my mind around this...

All I can think of is those old films of the mafia when the goods would come in the front door and
go out the back for the black market, while the people they were intended for would be shafted...

reply to post by ldyserenity


I think the caseworkers should be charged with manslaughter too, at the very least.

reply to post by thegoodearth


Too bad their jobs are protected, I am surprised that two were suspended, they are probably suspended with pay and will be let to keep their jobs and do it all over again. But, I thought this was the city child services, I misread the piece they were a private lutherin charity that had a city contract? So they are still protected by the government I guess. This is just crap. I cannot beleive anybody would let this happen. How dumb was the mother for not feeding them? I mean really, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that people need food and water to survive. I mean was it intentional? And on whos part, was the mother in charge of feeding them solely or was there anybody else supposed to oversee it or what?

I am so sick of hearing this stuff! You have social services, CPS, and DFACS.... What in the name of all that is holy is going on. Most of the time lately when a child is murdered or dies unaturally these agencies had prior knowledge of danger to the children yet they have allowed the child to remain in the home. Take your child out toWallyworld without a jacket in 50 degree weather then Bam! They are knocking on the door (happened to my sister in law) and threatening to take your child. Beat them half to death and that's ok because we are understaffed and can't send someone out until next month.

This is so ridiculous it is sickening. Do your job, do it right. Or GTFO!

There is no handprint so small that it doesn't leave a print on the world....

The way the article reads, she was in residence there since September,
learning basically "how" to care for her existing children and was pregnant
with these twins and had them while in residence there.

One would think that the people monitoring this situation would be making sure
she was capable of caring for these kids!!
And the well baby exams... wouldn't they show failure to thrive... et al?

The article is sketchy on these details. But she was a resident there.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


No kidding- they are only too eager to crawl up one's nose with a microscope
if they aren't guilty of anything...

Then we hear of this kind of thing...

It is horrible.

Originally posted by thegoodearth
reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

 

No kidding- they are only too eager to crawl up one's nose with a microscope
if they aren't guilty of anything...

Then we hear of this kind of thing...

It is horrible.

Oh how I know the horror of that, even when it seems evident that it is someone actually using their services as a revenge/harrassment tactic, and that it is the same person calling, where it is totally blatant they are being used to generally just harass someone just because, they will still crawl up your A$$ and on top of it, they refuse, refuse to press charges on the one making the unfounded accusations, or even tell you WTH it IS! I hate these people they should be disbanded totally!!!

This is so ridiculous it is sickening. Do your job, do it right. Or GTFO!

If the mother can't look after her own children, then she shouldn't have had kids in the first place.

All this blame on the staff, which is right but the buck stops with the mother.

It is her child that she let die.

She's an adult for Christ's sake, the buck stops with her.

And it's not just her, it's this whole mentality of poppng kids out for the hell of it.

If you cannot support a child, do not have one!

There would be no starving children if people didn't bring them into the world to starve in the first place.

A mother with 6 kids didn't know how to care for them? Eating is pretty basic! The ones looking over this woman and her twins should be up for manslaughter!! And the mother of all those kids should have the others taken away from her!

I wonder if he had a undiagnosed illness that made him not eat?Or was it just lazy people who didn't care?

reply to post by Chadwickus


Oh, I completely agree with you. And anything that they may do to her will never be harsh enough. I am pretty sure if they starved her she would beg for food and scream in pain. Death is too good for the one person in the world that should have died to protect her child.

Originally posted by Chadwickus

This is so ridiculous it is sickening. Do your job, do it right. Or GTFO!

All this blame on the staff, which is right but the buck stops with the mother.

edit on 4/1/11 by Chadwickus because: (no reason given)

Again I agree the buck stops with the egg donor...

However, -I don't know about you, but I PAY the salaries of these social workers and by God I atleast want them to do what we pay them to do. IF they can't do the job, they should quit. And if they can't do that then fire the whole lot of them and give me back my money.

Do you get to keep your job if you don't work? I sure as hades don't. So I stand by my opinion. The staff should get equal time compared to the egg donor. They didn't show up late for work or drop food on the floor and people want them fired. They did worse and we ALL paid them to watch that child die and that gets me pretty pi$$ed off....

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


For sure, these people need to be made accountable as well, but they can't be there 24/7.

What I'd like to know is the qualifications of these carers, are they just any old person off the street, or are they properly trained or what.

reply to post by Chadwickus


I realize they can't be there 24 hours a day for all children. But these workers were staff there. At the very least they saw the child everyday or every other day and it takes longer than that to starve anything to death.

In my state a college degree is needed to be a social worker. I am not sure if the same law apples to every other state.