She’s long gone, but the shift that Phylis Gilmore and Sam Brownback put into the Kansas Department of Children and Families left consequences of an anti-life, pro-save money agenda that put Kansas children at grave risk.
Today, the state announced they will settle a lawsuit over the 2012 death of Jayla Michelle Haag Watters. Her case is truly horrific, from the Wichita Eagle:
An 18-month-old girl who lived in an El Dorado meth house died after the Kansas agency that investigates child abuse did nothing, a 2014 lawsuit had said. Her brain had swelled, her teeth had been forcibly removed and she had tested positive for meth.
On Monday, Kansas officials described the 2012 death of Jayla Michelle Haag Watters as “horrific” and said she had been tortured as they approved a $75,000 settlement with the girl’s father, Steven Watters.
Her teeth were forcibly removed. Her brain had swollen from abuse. Her life was ended at 18 months. Aware and informed, but also underfunded and understaffed, DCF “missed” and the child was lost.
In the same article, Republican Senate Leader Susan Wagle noted that this case helped make changes in the DCF.
The case “is something I’m ashamed of,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita. But as a result of the death, DCF changed its policies to prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future, she said.
But did it? Were policies changed after this 2012 incident as Wagle seems to contend? 3 years after this incident, in a Kansas City suburb, something shockingly similar occurred.
The story of Mekhi Boone — which happened three years later — supposedly began the discussion on the lack of services being provided by DCF. Admitted to a Kansas City, Missouri hospital, doctors described him as the “worst case of abuse I’ve ever seen.” Teachers, school nurses, and other community members had all reported incidents of abuse; in one instance, a DCF worker witnessed the young boy with two black eyes and was told he had simply “fallen” onto a futon.
“Children’s Mercy personnel including a medical doctor who had observed approximately 15,000 victims of child abuse, described (Mekhi’s) injuries as the worst ever seen for a child that age, and that there was not two inches of (Mekhi’s) body that did not have bruising on it,” the lawsuit reads.
The injuries were so serious the doctors in the case say they struggled to go back to work, heartsick over what they had seen.
Wagle’s pronouncement that the 2012 incident settled today changed things was apparently in error; Department of Children and Family Services continued to drop the ball.
The lesson learned from both of these incidents? Go cheaper. From the Topeka Capital Journal
Kansas is using unlicensed workers to investigate suspected child abuse and neglect -- with the only formal education requirement that they have a high school diploma
So much for changes post 2012 to prevent similar problems. Reading the father’s claims in the Eagle, you know that the small settlement offered by the state is little in comparison to the anguish of knowing your child is being abused and no one will listen:
According to the lawsuit, “DCF was informed that Jayla was being abused and did nothing to protect her. The only action it took concerning Jayla was to cash the child support payments” from her father.
In effect, the state gave financial and medical help to the girl’s mother, Alyssa Haag, allowing her “to continue her meth habit and the abuse of her daughter. The DCF social worker knew that Jayla was living in a meth house,” the petition said.
The lawsuit said that calls about Jayla to the DCF hotline were ignored.
On the morning of March 21, 2012, another resident of the duplex where Jayla was living heard the girl crying. A short time later, the crying ended and the resident heard “what sounded like Jayla being choked and gasping for air. Jayla began to have seizures and convulsions later that day,” the lawsuit said.
The next day, El Dorado police went to the hospital to investigate a report of possible child abuse of Jayla. When the girl was brought to the emergency room, she was “so limp she had to be carried.”
This is the anti-life agenda. Diminishing social services, using unqualified inspectors, hiring bargain basement contractors. Supposed pro-life conservatives need to recognize that if you are truly pro-life, you must defend those who are living. And, if that has a cost, it is a cost you must be prepared to pay.
Our children deserve better.