Hearing Held Too Late for Dead Girl

Hearing Held Too Late for Dead Girl
By RICK CALLAHAN


INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A child advocate had planned to ask a judge to remove a
3-year-old girl from her mother's care the same day that authorities say the
mother and her live-in boyfriend beat the toddler to death, newly released
documents show.

A court hearing on TaJanay Bailey was scheduled for Nov. 27, at which a
counselor and child advocate planned to ask a judge to take her from the
home, e-mail correspondence indicates.

That hearing never took place because TaJanay had been found injured and
unconscious in her mother's apartment and died hours before. Authorities say
she was repeatedly beaten by her mother and her mother's live-in boyfriend
for wetting her pants and soiling herself.

Gov. Mitch Daniels said Friday that when he heard the circumstances of her
death it ``broke my heart.''

State workers had made eight visits to the household within the last three
weeks of TaJanay's life, Daniels said.

``Eight visits in 21 days still did not eliminate the possibility that after
a lot of discussions someone made a tragic error in judgment and whoever
made that error is probably the most heartbroken person around right now,''
he said.

TaJanay was returned to her mother Oct. 31, despite evidence of earlier
abuse. Charity Bailey and Lawrence Green, both 20, have pleaded not guilty
to murder and neglect charges. Court documents show each blamed the other
for beating the child with a belt.

Bailey and Green had been appointed public defenders, but the public
defenders' office did not accept phone messages after hours.

Some 1,500 pages of court documents released Thursday by the DCS revealed
numerous worrisome signs that TaJanay had been left in a potentially
dangerous household, including evidence of domestic abuse and drug use.

Those documents show that caseworkers were worried that Charity Bailey was
uneducated, had no job and lacked the parenting skills needed to care for
her daughter and her younger son, 6-month-old Lawrence Green Jr.

An e-mail sent Nov. 19 by a DCS worker states that both Bailey and Green
were no longer working and that Bailey had no tickets to use Indianapolis'
bus system.

``It speaks to their inability to provide for their most basic needs,''
states that e-mail, which concludes, ``My recommendation is for the removal
of the children as soon as possible.''



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Chid killed after returned to mother
    ... Charity Bailey and Lawrence Green had not completed all of the steps the Marion County juvenile court and state Department of Child Services required for them to get their children back, but on Aug. 30, a magistrate approved unsupervised trial visits with the children. ... It was during one of those visits, less than three months later, that 3-year-old TaJanay Bailey was fatally beaten by her mother and Green, according to police. ... Juvenile court records released Friday shed some light on how the Child In Need of Services case involving TaJanay was handled by the court and DCS, but they still leave many unanswered questions. ...
    (alt.true-crime)
  • Re: Chid killed after returned to mother
    ... > Marion County juvenile court and state Department of Child Services ... > 3-year-old TaJanay Bailey was fatally beaten by her mother and Green, ... > Need of Services case involving TaJanay was handled by the court and> DCS, ...
    (alt.true-crime)
  • Chid killed after returned to mother
    ... Charity Bailey and Lawrence Green had not completed all of the steps the ... Marion County juvenile court and state Department of Child Services required ... TaJanay was a ward of the state when she died, but she had been returned to ... Need of Services case involving TaJanay was handled by the court and DCS, ...
    (alt.true-crime)