Could the death of 3-year-old Faith Seaman have been prevented?
As
Kelsey Seaman sits in a jail cell charged with first-degree murder in the death of her adopted daughter, the biological mother of Faith is speaking out.
The Franklin family says they intend to file a lawsuit against the Department of Human Services, and as for the punishment, they'd like it to be severe.
"I think that they should get the death penalty for what they did to her," said Chasity Franklin, Faith's biological mother.
The last time Chasity saw her daughter was about a year ago.
"She always hugged me; she always kissed me," she said.
Faith, named Faithful originally, had been taken from her, she says, due to her struggles with drugs, but at no time was she ever abused.
"She was never abused. She was never abused. Her mother made bad decisions, and that's what got her taken away from me," she said.
While Chasity worked on addressing her drug issues, her father, Edward, says he tried to get custody and agreed to DHS's requirement that he take parenting classes.
"You know, had to go every Saturday for 12 hours, pass the classes, and every time they would come up with some reason why she couldn't come in the home with me," he said.
When he found out Faithful had been adopted, he was heartbroken but tried his best to look at the Seaman family as a bright future for his granddaughter.
"And I'm out bragging on these people. I'm bragging on this couple telling people that my granddaughter's with a nice family. The lady, she's a school teacher; she's going to be a smart young lady one day, and now this, and then they kill her," he said.
Last week, they visited Faithful at Floral Haven cemetery. Heartbreaking enough, if not for the terrible irony of what Edward says he was told by DHS during the time period in which he was trying to get custody of her.
"The reason why they told me that I couldn't take on my granddaughter because I was a diabetic. They said that I probably wouldn't live long enough to even raise my grandkids. That's what they told me. That's what they used to keep her from coming in the home with me. They said, 'You probably wouldn't even live long enough.' I said, 'Well, who made you all God All Mighty to tell me how long I'm going to live?'" he said.
A family broken by loss but bolstered by memories and a renewed sense of purpose.
"But she will have justice. She will get justice for this," said Chasity
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