Well before 10-year-old Barway Collins was reported missing, then found dead, Hennepin County child protection services had found his father responsible for mistreating four of his other children.
Yet Barway remained in Pierre Collins' care.
Two years ago, the father of six children had been ordered to stay away from four of them after they claimed he'd touched them in a sexual way and beat them, Hennepin County child protection reports show.
The documents offer little to no information about Barway, who was living with his father during and after the abuse.
Hennepin County now is in the process of terminating Collins' parental rights to his youngest child, a 1-year-old boy he had with Yamah Collins, his current wife. Barway was living with Pierre, Yamah, the 1-year-old and another child Yamah had before meeting Pierre when he disappeared March 18 after being dropped off after school in front of their Crystal apartment. His body was found April 11 in the Mississippi River. Pierre Collins, 33, has been charged with killing Barway.
Rex Holzemer, assistant Hennepin County administrator of human services, said Wednesday that the county is legally obligated to file a petition to terminate parental rights "in any case where there's egregious harm."
"Bottom line is the reason we are filing [the petition] is because ultimately of the alleged murder of Barway," Holzemer said. "So we got a requirement to go in and file that on the other kids, frankly, regardless of whether there had been abuse or not in the past."
Collins' ex-wife, Jennifer Beaver, told the Star Tribune in April that their "wonderful" relationship turned into a messy divorce after Collins physically or sexually abused her and their four children.