MAY 18, 2001  | FAMILY

Beatings Cause Death of Child In Foster Care
Despite Disclosure Laws, Little Surfaces On Deangelo's Life
By Cheryl Romo, Daily Journal Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - Deangelo Brooks lived in Apt. 302 on the top floor of a three-story yellow structure with gray trim on Nebraska Avenue in downtown Long Beach, a hardscrabble, blue-collar neighborhood where worn Craftsman homes are yielding to drab apartment houses.

        Come Aug. 23, Deangelo would have celebrated his first birthday.

        The 5-month-old baby died on Jan. 20, after allegedly sustaining beatings throughout the nearly three months he was in the care of a professional caretaker employed by Trinity Children and Family Services. Trinity is one of the largest private, nonprofit foster-family agencies in the western United States with offices throughout California, Nevada and Texas.

        According to police investigating Deangelo's murder, the dead baby's 39-year-old foster caretaker has died, leaving in her wake many unanswered questions.

Unanswered Questions

        Although state law was changed in January 2000 to require information about the deaths of foster children to be made public, in recent months attempts to obtain information about the circumstances of these deaths in Los Angeles County has become even more difficult.

        Deangelo's death provides one illustration. This much is known:

        The infant had been in the foster home on Nebraska Avenue since Nov. 1, shortly after he was removed from the care of his mother, Shavone Bars. Her whereabouts are unknown because of her alleged substance problems. Deangelo, who was African-American, reportedly suffered from recurring colds but otherwise seemed to be a healthy child.

        His foster caretaker, Cynthia Adams, had been a certified foster mother employed by Trinity Children and Family Services since June. Since that time, Adams reportedly had cared for four foster children, including another infant who was in the home when Deangelo died.

Hard-to-Place Cases

        A foster-family agency, commonly called an FFA, is under the supervision of the state Department of Social Services and the county's Department of Children and Family Services, whose social workers must visit children in foster care regularly. An FFA is different from a state-licensed foster home because the private company recruits, trains and certifies its foster parents and employs in-house social workers.

        Attempts to reach Julie Bruner, the Southern California director for Trinity Children and Family Services, were unsuccessful. But Trinity's literature indicates the company specializes in "hard to place" cases and offers "short or long-term care for foster children with 'special needs' from birth to 18."

        In California, Trinity has both FFAs and residential facilities, and it is licensed by the state. It has offices in the counties of San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

        On Jan. 19, Adams brought Deangelo to St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center in Long Beach, which is within walking distance of the Nebraska Avenue apartment, because he was having trouble breathing. The baby was treated for a respiratory ailment and sent home. Later that same day, Deangelo was returned to St. Mary's. This time, doctors noticed the baby had a fractured skull and a black eye. He lapsed into a coma and died the next day.

        According to the baby's autopsy report, released late Wednesday by the county coroner's office, Deangelo's cause of death was blunt head trauma and multiple skull fractures. Deangelo (also called Deanora Brooks in the coroner's documents) apparently had been physically abused throughout his stay in foster care.

        He had as many as four skull fractures "of varying ages from a few hours to a few days." And, according to one doctor's report, at least one fracture shows "changes of healing" and is "at least 2 to 3 weeks older than the others."

        In addition, the infant had phenobarbital, a powerful adult barbiturate, in his system, yet the coroner's report, which includes the child's pediatric history, did not indicate whether a physician had prescribed the drug for Deangelo or whether the Los Angeles Juvenile Court had approved the required authorization.

        After hearing reports of Deangelo's death in February, the Daily Journal in March petitioned the presiding judge of the juvenile court for access to the baby's court files. The newspaper also requested access to files regarding Deangelo that are in the possession of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Terry Friedman, the presiding judge assigned the matter to L.A. Superior Court Judge Emily Stevens, who has yet to rule.

        Attempts to reach Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services Director Anita Bock, said to be in Sacramento, were unsuccessful Thursday. One of her representatives declined to discuss the foster-care death and said the Daily Journal must submit media inquiries to the department in the form of written questions.

        Late in the afternoon, the Daily Journal received a fax from Teri Gillams at DCFS, noting she had conveyed the questions to "Ms. Bock who consulted with County Counsel."

        The fax said, "County Counsel advised Ms. Bock that we are prohibited from speaking to you regarding the details of this case until the court grants your petition for access.

        "When your petition is granted by the court, Ms. Bock invites you to contact her office with your questions."

        The Daily Journal requested Deangelo's autopsy results from the county coroner in March and then again in April. After a third request earlier this month, the coroner's office said the file was sealed pending the outcome of a homicide investigation.

        According to a homicide detective with the Long Beach Police Department, the investigators who arrived at the Nebraska Avenue apartment May 10 to question the foster mother about Deangelo's death were startled to be told she had suffered a fatal stroke in April.

        "Last Thursday, we went to the house to talk to her and learned from her daughter she had died," Detective Richard Birdsall said. "She was the prime suspect."

        The homicide investigator said the reason for the months-long delay in interviewing Adams was that "it took a long time to get the autopsy results."

        Birdsall said that, once the police confirmed that Adams had died, they informed the coroner they were closing the investigation.

        "Color it closed," he said.

        Meanwhile, the state Department of Social Services is conducting its own investigation into Deangelo's death. Angelica Lopez, the state licensing program supervisor heading the probe, said Thursday she could reveal no further details. Lopez expects the investigation to conclude by the end of the month.

        A recent Daily Journal review of state documents on Trinity's Long Beach operation, which has 45 foster homes caring for about 60 foster children, indicates that, before Deangelo's death, the state had received numerous complaints about the FFA, most involving the physical abuse of children by their caretakers. The state had substantiated many of the allegations, according to the documents.

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