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Sugar Cookie

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A Brooklyn Park couple have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the November 2017 death of a gravely malnourished foster child.

Sherrie Dirk, 33, and Bryce Dirk, 31, were indicted late Thursday afternoon by a grand jury on charges of first- and second-degree murder that also include allegations of child abuse, endangerment, neglect and “malicious punishment.”

According to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, the couple’s 3-year-old foster daughter’s weight had plummeted from the 98th percentile to the 13th percentile just weeks before her death. The county attorney’s office said Brooklyn Park police found the girl unresponsive and wrapped in sheets after being called to the home when her father noticed she was not breathing.

The girl had one sheet around her neck and was “severely dehydrated,” according to a news release. Bryce Dirk called 911 about 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 6 and the county attorney’s office said no one had checked on the girl after Sherrie Dirk wrapped her in the sheets and left the child in her room with the door closed hours earlier.

The Dirks, through what appears to be a family member, set up a GoFundMe page asking for $3,000 to help with funeral expenses. More than $5,000 was donated. “Any left over funds will be used for the kids,” one of the updates said.

Photos of the girl smiling with the Dirks were posted on the website, but there was no mention about how or when she died.
Continue at Link
http://www.startribune.com/brooklyn...n-death-of-3-year-old-foster-child/488749661/
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I really don't get how this shit happens. Did they sit down and discuss it? Like... "Babe, ya'know we haven't fostered a kid and tortured it to death before, but I think we are ready to take that step with our relationship"...

Why do they do it? I'm assuming that they received some kind of payment? Don't these retards know that having a child around 24/7 is way more work than just getting a fucking job? Or a second job for that matter... and there's a 'w' in 'wrapped'...
 
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I really don't get how this shit happens. Did they sit down and discuss it? Like... "Babe, ya'know we haven't fostered a kid and tortured it to death before, but I think we are ready to take that step with our relationship"...

Why do they do it? I'm assuming that they received some kind of payment? Don't these retards know that having a child around 24/7 is way more work than just getting a fucking job? Or a second job for that matter... and there's a 'w' in 'wrapped'...
For the monthly check!!!!!!

My son lives in this town.
It's a horrible meth town.
 
Exactly.
@Sugar Cookie
Am I right?

There is always a need for foster and pre-adoptive homes for children. This is especially true for teens, large sibling sets and teen mothers and their infants.

The husband and wife could have presented well to the agency and were given glowing recommendations from friends and family.

It is possible they were known to the bio-family and this was considered a kinship placement ( which does not always need to be a biological relative).

It is is also quite possible that the child had behavioral issues that one or both of the parents were unable to cope with and used corporal punishment and withholding of food as a form of discipline.
 
@Satanica
A Brooklyn Park woman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after the death of a foster child in the care of her and her husband, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Sherrie Dirk, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder, and she will be sentenced Dec. 3.

During her guilty plea, which she submitted Oct. 4, Dirk admitted to some aspects of her crime, as well as three aggravating factors, which allowed the judge to set a higher sentence than the sentencing guidelines would normally require.

On Nov. 6, 2017, at approximately 6:30 p.m., Brooklyn Park police officers were dispatched to the Dirk’s home on a report that their 3-year-old foster child was not breathing. Dirk had wrapped the child with three sheets, immobilizing her and then left her in a room with the door closed.

No one checked on the child for approximately four hours. Dirk’s husband, Bryce, 33, found the child with one of the sheets wrapped around her neck. Police and paramedics arrived to find the child deceased.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner reported that the child’s body showed severe signs of dehydration. While in Dirk’s care, medical records show that the child’s weight had dropped from the 98th percentile to beneath the 5th percentile in the weeks before her death.

The Dirks were parents to four other children, who were removed from their home after the 3-year-old’s death. A petition was filed to terminate their parental rights, and that trial has been delayed until the criminal cases against the Dirk’s are complete.

Bryce Dirk also pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in September, and he will be sentenced Nov. 4.
 
“Foster child”...why is this so vague??? What was her name? How long had she been with them? Were the other kids being starved? What about the bio parents? So many unanswered questions-I hate lazy ass reporters
The young girl, referred to only as “A.H.” in court filings,
Her name wasnt released.
 
December 04, 2019
A Brooklyn Park couple has been sentenced for their roles in the death of a foster child in their care.

Sherrie Dirk, 33, was sentenced to 32 years in prison, according to court documents. She had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after receiving a plea agreement in October.

Bryce Dirk, 31, was sentenced to more than 12 years (150 months) in prison. He had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March as part of a plea agreement.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office reports Brooklyn Park police were called to the Dirks' home on Nov. 6, 2017 because a 3-year-old child was not breathing.

According to the county attorney's office, "Sherrie had wrapped the girl with three sheets and left her in a room with the door closed."

Bryce Dirk checked on the child just before the 911 call and found one of the sheets around the child's neck, court documents state.

The child was also found to have become severely dehydrated since arriving in the family home in September 2016, and court documents note the girl went from the 98th percentile in weight to the 13th percentile in the weeks leading up to her death.

https://kstp.com/news/woman-sentenced-to-32-years-in-prison-for-death-of-foster-child-/5569429/
 
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The grandparents of a slain Minnesota toddler have filed a federal lawsuit, naming medical workers and a social services employee as part of the blame for the child’s death.

Star Tribune reports that the lawsuit was filed by Thomas Hunziker and Mary Egan, the paternal grandparents of 3-year-old Arianna Hunziker, who passed away in 2017. The lawsuit alleges that the Allina Health Systems, an Allina Health doctor and nurse, and a Hennepin County social worker failed to act on obvious signs of child abuse and neglect.

According to court documents, Arianna “was starved, dehydrated, bound, immobilized and abandoned in a home littered in trash and smelling of urine,” by her foster parents.

The lawsuit also alleges that the child’s weight and even her height dropped while in the care of her foster parents. She began eating gravel, rocks, crayons, dirt, and trash after the couple starved her. She also became withdrawn and went from a smiling, happy child to one who ripped out her own hair in frustration.

“She was always a happy, smiling little girl,” Thomas Hunziker told KARE 11.
Hunziker and Egan took Arianna and her brother in when their son and the children’s mother lost custody. Worried about their age, however, they thought a younger family would be able to give the children better lives.

The county placed the children with their maternal aunt, Sherry Dirk, and her husband, Bryce Dirk, of Brooklyn Park, who promised the grandparents they could see the children whenever they wanted.

“As soon as the placement was completed, we were cut off entirely,” Hunziker said.

A year later, Arianna was dead and left bound to a bed, tied up with bedsheets.

According to the lawsuit, social worker Patricia Doherty, Dr. Robert Marshall, and nurse practitioner Kristen Medhanie saw the warnings signs of child abuse prior to Arianna’s death but did nothing to intervene. An example included in the lawsuit states that the Dirks routinely “swaddled” Arianna so tightly she couldn’t move.

The social worker, doctor, and nurse were aware of the swaddling, according to court records, but failed to investigate. Swaddling a child at Ariann’s age “is inconsistent with pediatric medical standards of care,” the lawsuit read.

The lawsuit also states that Sherry Dirk’s family members told the plaintiffs that she was not a fit parent, yet when Egan filed a complaint about it, Hennepin County did nothing.

“Egan informed Hennepin County that there were concerns about Sherrie [Dirk] not being a fit parent, which emanated from Sherrie’s own family members,” the lawsuit claimed.

Doherty is accused of making a home visit to the Dirks’ residence, yet failing to investigate further after noting a filthy living environment.

After Arianna was in the care of the Dirks, according to the lawsuit, she began crying often, picking at her skin, having extreme outbursts (which led to swaddling), and refusing to leave school. She didn’t want to go home to her foster family, the lawsuit alleges.

The couple withheld food to the point that Arianna went from the 97th percentile for her age down to the 13th percentile. Dr. Robert Marshall and Kristen Medhanie were aware of the child’s weight loss and signs of abuse but did nothing to stop it, the lawsuit claims.

A child abuse expert reviewed the case found that Arianna had lost additional weight after her final doctor visit, dropping her to the fifth weight percentile. The expert also found bruises, marks, and other signs of child abuse on Arianna’s body.

“[The] suffering continued unchecked and unabated,” the lawsuit read.

In 2019, Sherrie and Bryce Dirk pleaded guilty to plead guilty to second-degree unintentional murder. Arianna’s likely cause of death was listed as mechanical asphyxia.

“[Sherrie] Dirk completely immobilized the child by binding the girl with three sheets and left her in a room with the door closed. Neither she, nor her husband Bryce Dirk, checked on the child until Bryce did [sic] about four hours later. One of the sheets was found around her neck,” the Hennepin County Attorney wrote.
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She began eating gravel, rocks, crayons, dirt, and trash after the couple starved her. She also became withdrawn and went from a smiling, happy child to one who ripped out her own hair in frustration.
After Arianna was in the care of the Dirks, according to the lawsuit, she began crying often, picking at her skin, having extreme outbursts (which led to swaddling), and refusing to leave school. She didn’t want to go home to her foster family, the lawsuit alleges.
:sorry: :sorry: :sorry:
 
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