| Oct. 23, 2003
Note: I broke this story, which ran on front
pages across the state and sparked four separate investigations into
Raffy's death. The director of the state's Children's Administration
later resigned, partly in response to problems identified in this
story.
Foster family mourns child's
death, demands answers
By REBECCA COOK
Associated Press Writer
EPHRATA, Wash. (AP) _ When Rafael Gomez's parents carried him into
the emergency room last month, the scars on his limp, unconscious body
testified to a lifetime of pain jammed into two years.
He had endured two broken legs, burns, bruises and two skull fractures -
all while living with his biological parents.
Every
time he got hurt, the state sent Rafael to live with a foster family who
nursed him back to health. But the state always returned him to his
biological parents.
His
foster mother warned a judge last spring that reuniting Rafael with his
biological parents once more might kill him.
He
died Sept. 10, one day after being flown to Spokane's Sacred Heart
hospital. His biological parents told doctors their son choked on a
piece of food and passed out; police are investigating his death as a
possible homicide.
State
officials refuse to release any information about the case. His foster
family wants answers, and justice.
"If
this happened to Raffy, it's happening to other children," said Char
Wellner, the mother of Rafael's foster mother. "How could all those
people see this child with all these injuries and believe it was an
accident?"
Rafael was born on Aug. 7, 2001, with cocaine and amphetamines running
through his veins. The state Department of Social and Health Services
took him into protective custody, and sent him home three days later
with foster parents Denise and Bruce Griffith.
The
Griffiths live in the central Washington town of Royal City with their
three children. Bruce works for the county, and Denise is a stay-at-home
mom who cleans houses part-time while her kids are at school. Raffy, as
they called him, was their first foster child.
He
wasn't an easy baby. Addicted to drugs in his mother's womb, he was
hypersensitive to noise and light. Denise played soft lullabies in the
nursery, and soon discovered Rafael's favorite: John Denver.
Rafael grew stronger and healthier, and the foster family thought
everything was going well. Then at 11 months, the state decided Rafael
should live with his biological parents in nearby Ephrata.
"Family reunification is a priority item," said DSHS Secretary Dennis
Braddock, explaining his agency's policy. He would not discuss the
specifics of Rafael's case. Braddock added, "Child safety continues to
be the highest priority."
About
two months later, the Griffiths' phone rang at 1 a.m. Rafael was in the
hospital with a fracture to his right shin bone, and DSHS wanted the
Griffiths to take him back.
As
they drove to the hospital with their 16-year-old daughter, Denise and
Bruce wondered if Raffy would even recognize them. But as soon as they
walked up to his bed, Wellner said, the boy stretched out his arms and
tried to hug them.
Police investigated, and their reports describe the biological parents
as "evasive." First the parents said they didn't know what happened,
then they said the injury occurred while Rafael's uncle was watching
him.
An
Ephrata police officer questioned the uncle, who said Rafael had fallen
off a toy truck, the kind children sit on and push across the floor with
their feet.
Ephrata Police Chief Joe Varick decided there wasn't enough evidence to
pursue a child abuse case. After four days with the Griffiths, DSHS
returned Rafael to his parents in Ephrata.
This
reunion lasted about two months. Again, it ended in the emergency room.
This
time, Rafael's other leg had been broken, his left femur snapped cleanly
in two. His biological mother said he slipped and fell on a freshly
mopped floor; Rafael came home to the Griffiths in December in a
half-body cast that weighed more than he did.
There
was more. Rafael also had two red, infected sores on the back of his
head, burns on his tongue, and round burn marks on his hand. His ears
were bruised and cut. A CT scan showed an old skull fracture.
Dr.
David Cook, who treated Rafael at Central Washington Hospital in
Wenatchee, wrote in his discharge summary that the boy's wounds
"together constitute serious concern of child abuse and leaves no doubt
on my mind that this child has been physically abused."
An
expert who reviewed Rafael's medical records at The Associated Press's
request said Dr. Cook's warning should have been heeded.
"The
picture together is extremely suspicious that this kid was badly and
repeatedly abused," said Dr. Howard Dubowitz, director of the Center for
Child Protection at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Police referred the case to Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell. But he
did not file charges. Knodell said he consulted Dr. Ken Feldman, a child
abuse expert based in Seattle, who saw reason for "concern" but no
definite proof of abuse. Feldman has declined to comment further.
"These cases almost by definition are circumstantial in nature. They
depend almost entirely on expert testimony," Knodell said this week. "We
did not have probable cause to charge anybody."
Knodell said he never saw Dr. Cook's report. He's not sure it would have
made a difference.
"It's
too bad we didn't have something more definitive," Knodell said.
Again, the Griffiths nursed Rafael back to health. Wellner remembers
celebrating Christmas 2002 with her nine children and two dozen
grandchildren. Rafael, olive-skinned and dark-haired, fit into her
family of blonde and redheaded relatives like the missing puzzle piece.
His favorite present was a family picture, which he smudged with kisses.
"He
was just so happy and so smiling," Wellner recalled. "He was the light
of everybody's eyes."
Griffith and her husband wanted to adopt Raffy. But DSHS was still
pushing for reunification with the biological family.
At a
March 18 family court hearing on Rafael's future, Griffith wrote a
two-page caretaker's report detailing Rafael's history, with photos and
medical records attached.
Griffith warned that this could be Rafael's "final, fatal time in this
system," and pleaded with the judge not to return Rafael to his
biological parents.
She
said her family loved Raffy and would gladly raise him, "But we will
also gladly allow him to go to any other adoptive home that is safe so
he can go on with a normal healthy life."
"Please," she wrote, "do not let this child fall through the cracks
again."
DSHS
caseworkers told a different story. The hearing was closed to the public
and records from it remain confidential. But Grant County Superior Court
Judge Kenneth Jorgensen said caseworkers strongly supported reuniting
Rafael with his biological family.
"The
mother had done everything she was told to do - parenting classes, drug
classes," Jorgensen said. "I suppose they were encouraged."
In
fact, caseworkers said both biological parents had received drug
treatment and had provided clean urine tests, according to an internal
memo from the office of state Sen. Alex Deccio, whom the Griffiths asked
for help in the case. The memo, based on a Deccio staff member's
conversation with a DSHS worker, said the parents were also getting help
from a state-funded "home support worker." Rafael's father had a job and
the parents were living with their four other children, who appeared
healthy when authorities interviewed them.
After
hearing the DSHS recommendation, Jorgensen signed an order sending
Rafael back to his biological parents - a decision he called a mistake
in a recent interview.
"I
guess from this perspective," the judge said, "it wasn't the right
decision."
Denise Griffith and her kids were showing hogs with their 4-H club at
the Grant County fair on Sept. 10 when her cell phone rang. Raffy was
dead.
An
autopsy found two skull fractures, enough to launch a homicide
investigation. The coroner has not yet determined the cause of death,
and no charges have been filed. Varick, the Ephrata police chief, is
waiting for the results of tests on the toddler's brain tissue, which
may show whether Rafael suffered repeated abuse.
"Once
we get those reports, we'll see," Varick said. He expects it will take
about two more weeks.
Denise Griffith has retreated into the solace of her immediate family.
Always outspoken, she now says talking about Rafael hurts too much.
"I'm
very overwhelmed at the moment and just need some time to heal," she
wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Wellner, her mother, said she feels compelled to tell Raffy's story.
"He
was this happy, beautiful, smiling, kissing baby. He was as bright as
any little kid could be," she said. "I wake up in the middle of the
night, over and over again, and I think this can't really be happening.
But it is."
Rafael's biological parents did not return messages left at their home.
The AP is not identifying them because they have not been charged with a
crime. DSHS has put their four other children into protective custody.
Braddock, the DSHS director, said his agency will investigate the
handling of Rafael's case. He doesn't believe investigators will find
any systemwide failures.
"The
decision of whether a child should be removed from home, or returned to
family members, can be one of the most difficult decisions," Braddock
said. "The people making these decisions - which are not made in
isolation - do not have the benefit of hindsight. They apply their best
judgment in consultation with other partners in the child welfare
system."
Caseworkers investigate abuse and neglect allegations involving more
than 45,000 children a year in Washington. About 11,000 children are in
state-supervised foster care.
And
this state is not unique. Child welfare agencies in New Jersey, Florida
and other states have drawn harsh criticism in recent years over cases
in which children were harmed.
"Sometimes you can follow the law and every regulation, and something
tragic happens," DSHS spokeswoman Kathy Spears said.
Two
separate investigations, one by a panel of child welfare experts and
another by the state ombudsman for families and children, both
independent of DSHS, will probe the circumstances of Rafael's death.
Meanwhile, Rafael's foster family clings to a handful of photographs and
memories. The last picture they took of Raffy, on March 17, shows a
smiling boy holding a soccer ball and wearing a yellow T-shirt printed
with the words "Best Friends."
The
family held a "Mass of the Angels" for Rafael last month. They put his
baby blanket beneath the altar and played John Denver's "Annie's Song,"
one last time for him:
"Come
let me love you
Let
me give my life to you
Let
me drown in your laughter
Let
me die in your arms
Let
me lay down beside you
Let
me always be with you
Come
let me love you
Come
love me again." |
