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Sugar Cookie

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One of Niagara County's 2018 "foster parents of the year" now faces allegations of child abuse.

Kathleen M. Jackson, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree assault of an individual who is less a seven years old.

District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek said a one-week investigation was conducted after Niagara County Child Protective Services, a division of the Department of Social Services, received a report on Nov. 30 that a young child was experiencing pain during a visitation session with the child's biological parents.

A criminal complaint filed by two detectives accuses Jackson of inflicting "substantial pain" and bruising a child by "repeatedly striking him in the buttocks and leg area."

When Jackson was named as one of the 2018 foster parents of the year she was lauded by a representative of the social social services department who told the Gazette that Jackson had previously "taken in many children, especially children with special needs."

At the time she was honored, Jackson had multiple children in her care, including two girls, a 10-year-old and a 9-year-old, and two boys, a 12-year-old and an 18-year-old. It is unclear if those children remain with her at this time.
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That's too many biological definitely too many fosters especially with some of them special needs. I think next time they want to award Foster Parent of the Year a little more investigation should go into it, or they might be embarrassed again.

tho I am glad they responded to a complaint from a biological parent, it would have been so easy to just sweep it under the rug as being petty or revenge on the foster parent.
 
Social workers have to be vigilant in physically observing the interaction between the members of the foster family and the child.

Although it is difficult to sometimes to get these already fragile children to open up a social worker has to form a lime of communication with the child that makes the child feel comfortable to discuss what is going on in the home.
 
October 8, 2019
The mother of a 2-year-old boy who was abused by Niagara County's former foster mother of the year objected Tuesday to a plea deal that would have granted interim probation and a chance for a misdemeanor conviction.

Kathleen M. Jackson, 50, of North Tonawanda, pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to a reduced charge of attempted second-degree assault. Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon said the plea deal would have allowed Jackson to go through interim probation and if she succeeded, get her conviction reduced to a misdemeanor.

Katherine Adams, whose son was covered with bruises inflicted by Jackson, demanded a four-year prison term instead.

"You were supposed to be safer than me," said Adams, whose three children remain in foster homes.

Sheldon said she thought everyone involved had approved the plea bargain. Learning otherwise, Sheldon put off the sentencing until Oct. 25.

No further update.
 
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A North Tonawanda woman, honored in 2018 as foster mother of the year by the Niagara County Social Services Department, was sentenced to probation for three years for assaulting a 2-year-old boy placed in her care.

Kathleen M. Jackson, 51, received the sentence after serving a year on interim probation.

The terms of the 2019 plea agreement allowed Jackson, if she stayed out of trouble while on interim probation, to withdraw her guilty plea to a felony and instead admit to a misdemeanor, third-degree assault.

Defense attorney Barry N. Covert said Jackson entered the new plea before Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III.

The boy suffered bruises on his legs and buttocks in the assault on Nov. 29, 2018, prosecutors said when Jackson pleaded guilty in August 2019. The boy's mother objected to the plea deal last October, but succeeded in only delaying sentencing.
 
Not fair. What did the bio mom do to lose custody? Maybe it was less. Maybe it was more. The bottom line is this child was taken from family to be safe, and the state sanctioned provider who was supposed to be protecting this boy beat him. She beat bruises on a child who was removed for his own safety. And that’s a misdemeanor?

What does this mean for this young victim? Something in your house was so dangerous that you had to be removed and when your appointed protector beat you the state slapped her wrist and said be on your merry way?

This is a great recipe for creating tomorrows angry young man. Will he be his own child’s abuser one day? If so, where shall we lay the blame? You can bet we won’t slap his wrist and say be on your merry way.

I remember a teacher somewhere in grade school who tried to teach us that in spite of attempts to make things equal for everyone, life isn’t fair. Probably inappropriate lesson for a kid, and I definitely didn’t get it, but it always stuck with me. I wonder how old this little guy will be before he understands that life truly isn’t fair?
 
While I am disappointed in the sentence I hope this fuels both the parents and the agency entrusted to protect the child to come up with an appropriate safety plan that keeps this child safe while mom & her partner work on regaining custody.

Without any background information I will assume that the parents have stumbled but want to be reunited with their child and can meet the goals of the service plan.

The original article says the abuser took in "many children with special needs" so I think that she has probably abused other children in her care and has gotten away with it.
 
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