TX TX - Madisonville, UnkFem 2-6, UP15905, feeding tube, in suitcase, clothes, blankets, Sep'16

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Texas... Hannah Overton and her foster son Andrew? Not sure about the feeding tube part in that case but I remember the salt. Her conviction was overturned.
 
watergirl62 said:
Texas... Hannah Overton and her foster son Andrew? Not sure about the feeding tube part in that case but I remember the salt. Her conviction was overturned.
Click to expand...

Oh, wow, I had not heard of that case. That's different from the Spears case: supposedly Hannah Overton was feeding her little boy salt as PUNISHMENT?

But then
"Multiple inconsistencies and errors plagued the state’s case against Hannah. Rather than being force-fed salt, evidence strongly suggests Andrew had undiagnosed pica, a condition known to develop among foster children that’s characterized by the consumption of non-food items and other inappropriate substances. "

But even if the little boy DID have pica, it still suggests a level of neglect, because 1) Pica often indicates nutritional deficiencies, and 2) If she knew he was eating non-food, she should have been watching him more closely.

So sad what happens to foster kids, and kids with disabilities. There needs to be better funding for agencies overseeing these kids, so when kids die (or are murdered!), the authorities KNOW that something's gone WRONG. Horribly disturbing that there are so many unidentified dead kids. :(
 
I've been thinking about this case and potential ways to solve it and I'd like to ask if people from the US could clarify some things. I'm from a country with a largely different medical and education infrastructure so I'm not quite sure which ones could be applied to this case. Thanks in advance!

1) Is there any official record for school-aged kids? In other words, is there an authority who keeps track of children who should attend to a school and will they actually act somehow if some child doesn't? Does this apply to children with special needs?

2) Are there city/state/other -run organizations that supply families with disabled children with essentials like diapers and feeding tube -related items? Or do people purchase them individually?

3) If the family/caretaker receives disability payments, do they have regular meetings/updating patient data with any official about those?


Some things (other than these questions) that have come to my mind are the child's mobility (or immobility) and her ethnic profile. I've been wondering, based on the evidence, if the girl was disabled in some way that affected her mobility. It would be a great extra identification info to know if she, for example, needed a wheelchair or other (maybe custom-made) aid technologies. What would I give for a couple of descent X-rays...

The other big idea is this: if a child is disabled enough to require diapers and a feeding tube, it is very possible other aspects of life require a lot of extra attention and care as well. Thus it is very common for the parents of a special child to make their lives easy whenever possible: easy to dress and undress - clothes, easily washable textiles, short hair. The fact that this girl's hair was so long means something. But what? My best guess is a cultural background where long hair is an important part of a female identity. Other ideas: Caregiver (probably a mother) with a strong sense of aesthetics or a very neglecting environment where nobody cared much about getting the kid a haircut. The condition of the hair would give some seriously useful information. Was it recently cut (cultural or aesthtic reasons)? Was the hair very damaged or tangled (Neglect)? Did the girl have pierced ears, any kinds of hairclips or braids (cultural clues and a hint about a female caregiver (probably mother or other close relative) being present not too long before her death.)
 
Long hair as cultural tradition? Latina is my first instinct. Doesn't preclude other options, but not unusual to see very long hair on Mexican American or Mexican National girls, teens, or women (to a lesser degree) in Texas.
 
The feeding tube is a big clue to help identify the little girl.

[FONT=&amp]According to [/FONT]mic-key.com, "Enteral feeding is required when a patient has a functioning gastrointestinal (GI) tract but cannot get enough nutrients by mouth and becomes at risk for malnutrition. A number of diseases and medical conditions, and sometimes their treatment, can lead to inadequate nutrition and the need for enteral feeding. Among them are GI disease, cancer and its treatment, neurological disease, and failure to thrive."
[FONT=&amp]

It sounds like the police are tracking the stock number to identify the little girl and her parents.

Such a tragedy that anyone would give up on a little girl with such a serious health problem. [/FONT]
 
My nephew has a feeding tube. The internal device itself is a button that is registered with a Chicago hospital. The external tubing itself comes from a local home health supplier and he gets two a month. The lot numbers should be fairly easy to track down.

This is heartbreaking. :(
 
I used to work as a maternal/child case manager for the City of Houston. Someone like this would have been *very* on my radar, as most of my cases qualified for the program due to more socioeconomic issues. That being said, the caseload was so large that after three failed attempts to call and/or do a home visit the case was "lost" and shelved. I might have assumed that the family had simply moved away. I wonder if something like this happened with this little girl. She obviously had caregivers, but sometimes the caseloads are so overwhelming and the population so mobile that it's hard to keep track of even the most fragile patients and their families.
 
This is the smurfette girl. I'm new here but I work with children that are mentally and physically disabled. All of the information about her points to this theory. I think she could have been a foster or a child that is now in a group home. I'm sure there is a way more seasoned sleuths can find out where to look. But the teeth, feeding tube, the bones all look to be birth defects.
 
I was unfamiliar with this case until I was browsing NamUs not even an hour earlier. I'm surprised that a facial reconstruction of her hasn't been released... That would really help.

Also, in addition to her feeding tube, NamUs says this about the girl:
"The skull was deformed and flattened on one side. The girl's head and face would have been asymmetrical. The left side of her face would have been more prominent"
Makes me think that her facial deformity would have made it difficult for her to eat and that's why she needed a feeding tube.
 
Could this have been a severely disabled child born in Mexico whose parents "jumped the border" to get her better medical treatment that didn't wind up saving her?

If that's the case, I'd think that it would be nearly impossible to determine the identity of either the child or the parents. Would people illegally in the US use their real names if they sought medical help? I sure wouldn't if I were them, especially in light of today's political climate.
 
hollye said:
AUTOPSY REVEALS DETAILS ABOUT CHILD FOUND IN TRASH BAG NEAR I-45

http://abc13.com/1756599/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

So according to this article, the little girl likely died approximately 6 months prior to when she was found. (i.e. ~April 2016)
According to NamUs, she likely died ~4 months before she was found. (i.e. ~June 2016).
 
They would use their real names when seeking medical attention most of the time. Especially when dealing with their kids. HIPAA doesn't allow doctors to give out information about patients without a court order, which ICE wouldn't be able to get absent some serious crimes, fwik.
 
This is a major long shot, but stay with me. The child had severe medical needs. It's likely the child was a foster child. I say that because in my own experience, parents of special needs kids reach out for help...either support groups, facebook, or therapies. And so I think if the child wasn't a foster kid then there would be some people wondering about her. The straight black hair makes me think the child is Mexican, or Native American. Straight black hair isn't super common for Caucasian children, and I don't think it would be common among African American kids either.

Here's where I need you to stay with me. IF the child is a foster kid, non white, with medical needs then there is a good chance the child was free for adoption. I wonder if starting with Waiting Children would lead any results. The difficult part would be sleuthing because you couldn't post their info on here. However, a lot of times their pictures and some medical information is posted on their online profile.
 
Even if this child was as young as 3, she may have been involved with or evaluated by a school district for services. I think it would be worth sending a detailed description to districts in the state- especially to their special education and developmental pre-school level programs. They could suggest informing school psychologists, OT's and PT's, just to see if the description of the child rings any bells. I also agree with others who have said that, even at her tiny size, she could have been as old as 7 or 8 (or even older). Severely handicapped children do move away from one area to another, but most of the folks who work with them- even for a short time- tend to remember the child, their unique combination of disabilities and needs. Perhaps asking districts to check their inactive files on students who never had records requested to be sent elsewhere?
I realize that is a long shot since the child may never have been engaged with a school district, but it would be much easier than trying medical records.

I'm thinking that the best likelihood of identifying this child is reaching out via media. Asking people to think if they had a neighbor or family member of this description who they have not seen since last year or longer. Perhaps the story was that the child was sent to live in a state facility, was at respite care, a camp, or even, sadly, died and was given no funeral. I think it's going to be someone who already thought a given story was hinky who will crack this case.

One last, also long-shot, idea... It is possible this child was being raised by a single parent alone. Are there any UID women located in the right time frame? What if a woman was murdered, the child was dumped, and she just sadly hasn't been reported missing? Unlikely, but may be worth ruling out....
 
Ambitioned said:
My nephew has a feeding tube. The internal device itself is a button that is registered with a Chicago hospital. The external tubing itself comes from a local home health supplier and he gets two a month. The lot numbers should be fairly easy to track down.

This is heartbreaking. :(
Click to expand...

Wanted to address this. IF you're discussing a Mic-Key device, it is not 'registered'. The actual button has a serial number, but they are sold in large quantities and (my experience as a PICU nurse) stocked in a storeroom. One grabs one off the shelf and it is not matched to a particular patient. The Mic-Key device (the actual 'button' that goes through the skin into the stomach) can and often is replaced by parents on a quarterly basis- thus they are ALSO distributed by DME suppliers. So, the device can be tracked as afar as a distributor and from there some serious legwork would be involved that may or may not lead to the child.

Case in point: We've had parents show up in our Peds ER while on vacation from parts unknown- the kid's button has a burst balloon or whatever and they need a replacement. No way is the medical record going to be even on someone's radar to check. Sticky, very sticky.
 
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