FL - Tamiyah Audain, 12, disabled, starved to death, Lauderhill, 25 Sept 2013

The last time anyone from the state saw Tamiyah Audain alive, she was covered head-to-toe in clothing, “moaning” as she sat on the lap of her caregiver. The attire concealed a terrible secret: the severely disabled and sickly 12-year-old had lost more than half her weight, and her lower body was pocked with bed sores and wounds — one so deep her bone was exposed.

The apparent cause of her death in a Lauderhill apartment: suspected starvation. All right under the nose of ChildNet, the privately-run Broward foster care agency paid by the state to protect her.

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However, documents also show that Patterson repeatedly asked for help in caring for Tamiyah and made it clear that she hoped someone else would care for the child permanently, but received little assistance.

An investigative report says “The Child Advocate made frequent home visits to the family, but there is little documentation that any direct services were provided even though there were opportunities to assist the caregiver of this medically-complex child with concrete services.”

For instance, the girl’s caregiver said she needed money to buy adult diapers for the girl but, despite guarantees from ChildNet, no money came through. In another instance, despite a judge’s order to assist with the child’s insurance and medication needs, there was no follow-up by the Child Advocate, the report says.

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A grand jury has charged a child welfare caseworker and three other women following the death of a severely disabled girl who died while under state care...

Latoya Patterson faces life in prison after being charged with felony murder...

Department of Children and Families caseworker Jabeth Moye faces second-degree child neglect charges... two psychologists involved in the girl's care are charged with failure to report child neglect.

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Charges have been dropped against two psychologists indicted for failing to report the neglect of a severely disabled South Florida girl.

Prosecution of the psychologists ended shortly after it began on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale when the state attorney's office abandoned the charges, citing a series of prosecution-related mishaps.

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“During the investigation of Tamiyah’s death, investigators subpoenaed the treatment records of the two psychologists who were not the target of the state’s investigation at that point,” the statement said. “The fact that the records were obtained under subpoena, and that counsel for the two psychologists invoked the psychologists’ Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, gave them use-immunity from prosecution.”

“That effectively barred the state from using those records against them in further proceedings.”

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Latoya Patterson... is asking Broward Circuit Judge Michael Ian Rothschild to set bail so she can remain free while awaiting trial...

Patterson has claimed she was in over her head when she agreed to take custody of Tamiyah, who never spoke a word in her life and, in addition to being autistic, suffered from tuberus sclerosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on the brain, eyes, heart, kidney, skin and lungs. The same illness killed Tamiyah's mother, Constance Bryant, in 2012...

"You bathed her daily. Did she look like this?" Johnson asked, showing Patterson a photo taken after Tamiyah's death. "Either she wasn't getting a bath every day, or you were obviously ignoring this really big issue… This is a problem."

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The Herald learned of the death through sources and sought details from DCF. Agency administrators refused to discuss it.

But an incident report describing Tamiyah’s final days later helped fill in the gaps. It was provided to the Herald in response to a public records request. The details were grisly: Though Tamiyah was supposed to be under the protective supervision of a private foster care caseworker, she had become mortally malnourished. Her body was covered with bedsores, one of them a crevasse deep enough to show her bone. Police described a “stench” that pervaded her caregiver’s home.

An autopsy concluded that both the cause and manner of Tamiyah’s death were undetermined. But it also detailed a pervasive infection, a healing rib fracture and multiple wounds and bedsores. The episode was deeply embarrassing to DCF, which was already reeling from a series of child deaths that had caused DCF’s top administrator to resign.

In the ensuing weeks, records show, child abuse investigators in the Southeast Region’s five counties ceased filing child death incident reports, which are required by DCF policies.

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