Cases where family assessment did not stop the cycle of abuse

After reviewing over 400 Minnesota child abuse cases since 2005, the Star Tribune found dozens of cases where family assessment failed to stop the cycle of abuse and neglect. In addition to Key'Ontay Peterson, here are nine other cases

Children who died:

Mercedes Mayfield, age 6

Circumstances: The child froze to death on the steps of her Bemidji apartment complex on Feb. 27 this year. Her baby sitter, Rachel Downer, has been charged in the death.

How family assessment was used before the death: Downer was reported for neglect sometime between October 2013 and January 2014 after her 2-year-old son was found left alone with a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old. Beltrami County offered services to Downer, but she declined.

Adrian Medrano, age 3 weeks

Circumstances: Adrian's mother, Toni, had been drinking before she fell asleep on top of her son in November 2011, suffocating him.

How family assessment was used before the death: Washington County opened four family assessment cases for Medrano from May 2006 to March 2011. The first was in response to a report that Medrano's 5-year-old child was being left home alone. The second came after a report that Medrano was leaving her kids alone. The third came after police found five children ages 1 to 9 alone in Medrano's home. The last was a response to Medrano's children missing significant amounts of school.

Amonte King, age 6

Circumstances: The boy was thrown from a car and killed after his mother, who was driving drunk, got into an accident in March 2012.

How family assessment was used before the death: Faribault-Martin human services received a report of lack of supervision.

Byron Carlson, age 9 months

Cause of death: The boy's mother put him in a car with a drunken driver, who got into an accident in December 2011 and submerged the car in water. Byron and the driver drowned.

How family assessment was used before the death: Child protection had been involved with the family since 2001. In September 2011, St. Louis County opened a case on Carlson's mother, Cindy Rewertz, after getting a report that her chronic use of drugs and alcohol was endangering Byron, and that she shot heroin in front of him.

Children who are alive

8-year-old Hennepin County boy

Maltreatment: In June 2012, the boy's mother, a vulnerable adult with an IQ of 61, allowed an HIV positive convicted sex offender she had just met to take the boy into a public restroom and rape him. The boy subsequently required testing and treatment for HIV exposure.

Why family assessment case was opened: In 2010, Hennepin County received a report that the mother and child were living in a home with drug dealers. In July 2011, the county opened a family assessment case after getting a report that the boy, then 6, was unsupervised at a park. In March 2012, the county opened another family assessment case after the boy missed 12 days of school.

6-year-old boy, 6-year-old girl and 4-year-old girl, all from Hennepin County

Maltreatment: The children were physically and emotionally abused, including being bitten and having their hair pulled. As punishment, the 4-year-old girl was ordered to jump in place and told by the mother, "You don't deserve to look at me because you disgust me."

Why family assessment case was opened: The county offered services to the parents three times from 2011 to 2013 after getting reports that the kids were being physically abused, unsupervised, and, in one case, locked in a bedroom with no access to food or a bathroom while the parents took another child to a mall.

19-month-old Olmsted County girl

Maltreatment: Mother could not care for or adequately feed the girl. She was removed from her mother's custody in December 2013.

Why a family assessment case was opened: The girl was brought to a police station in May 2013 by caretakers who were concerned that she was not getting enough food, that the girl's mother was working on a porn website while the girl was home, had abandoned the child for weeks at a time, and had threatened to kill the baby.

7-year-old Ramsey County boy

Maltreatment: The child accused his mother of beating him on the face and arm, he missed about a third of a school year in 2013, and came to school in June 2013 with a painful and untreated yeast infection.

Why a family assessment case was opened: The mother admitted to biting the child in May 2013.

Four children, ages 5 to 10, in St. Louis County

Maltreatment: Children shot with a pellet gun by their father, who beat their mother in front of them

Why family assessment case was opened: The children were reported to have performed oral sex on each other; child protection received another report that the father threatened to kill tenants in their apartment building; numerous reports that the parents kept the children in filthy conditions

Source: County and juvenile court records

Brandon Stahl • 612-673-4626