Mom Accused Of Infant’s Fentanyl Death Says Her Research Says Otherwise

[Sugar Cookie]

Sheriff’s detectives believe a 1-year-old girl “ingested” her mother’s fentanyl in an Everett hotel room, leading to the child’s death earlier this month, according to a new search warrant.

The mother, 37, reported she regularly smoked fentanyl in the same bed as her infant while living in a room at the Sunrise Inn at 8421 Evergreen Way, investigators said. She told deputies she kept the drug in her purse, in what a detective described as “an easy to open rubber container.”


Court records show the mother lost custody of two other children in 2019, when family members raised concerns about her longstanding drug, alcohol and mental health issues.

Apparently, she had given birth to another child since then.

Around 10:30 p.m. May 6, the girl was having trouble sleeping, according to the search warrant. Around 2 p.m. the next day, the mother noticed the child was wheezing and had brown liquid coming out of her nose, according to the search warrant.

The mother brought the child to Swedish Mill Creek around 5:30 p.m. because the girl was unresponsive, police say. The mother reportedly told hospital staff her daughter had been exposed to fentanyl. A nurse then reported the incident to police as possible child abuse.

Around 7 p.m., the mother was arrested at Swedish on a domestic violence warrant in an unrelated case.

The child was transported to Seattle Children’s Hospital. The girl had extensive brain damage and “flatlined” multiple times during the transfer, the search warrant says.

Around 2:45 a.m., the child died at Seattle Children’s, wrote Snohomish County sheriff’s detective Myles Bittinger. The mother had “no visible or noticeable reaction” when police informed her of her child’s death, according to the search warrant.

During an initial interview, investigators repeatedly asked the mother how the child could have been exposed to fentanyl. She had “no idea,” according to the warrant.

The mother reportedly told detectives she was a regular fentanyl user but took precautions to protect her child. The night before, she left her child with a friend and went into a different room to smoke, according to her account. She waited about 30 minutes before coming into contact with the 1-year-old, according to a search warrant.

The mom said she did not believe secondhand smoke was “that harmful,” but that she never smoked around her child and always washed her hands before touching her. However, she also told detectives the child usually sleeps in the motel bed where her and her friends usually smoke.

When detectives told the mother the child may have ingested the fentanyl if she smoked close enough, she responded “the research I did online said that can’t happen,” according to court documents.

She also suggested to investigators the child may have gotten a hold of a Tide laundry pod and bitten into it.

The mother has since then been released from Snohomish County Jail, according to jail records. Sheriff’s detectives have recommended charges of third-degree assault of a child and reckless endangerment, claiming she “recklessly possessed fentanyl and used fentanyl in a manner that created a substantial of serious physical injury or death.”

No formal charges had been filed as of Wednesday.

MSN

I am sure she is getting pregnant as I am typing this.

 

[Granmaw]

I am sure she is getting pregnant as I am typing this.

OMG, I literally gagged on my diet coke reading this...

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Avril

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The grandmother of a Snohomish County child who died of suspected fentanyl exposure accuses the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) of not doing enough to protect the young girl, as a new state law raising the standard for removing children from a home is poised to take effect.

Avril, 1, died in early May after Danette Scott says she worked for months to get the state to remove Avril from the care of the baby's mother, who was using fentanyl.

According to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Avril was staying with her 37-year-old mother on May 7 in an Everett hotel room, where “fentanyl was being smoked” when the child became unresponsive. Detectives believe fentanyl exposure likely led to her death, though toxicology reports are pending.

“There was a clear path to protect this child and keep this baby alive,” said Scott, who called Child Protective Services (CPS) in December after she said she observed Avril’s mother smoking fentanyl around her grandchild.

“I needed somebody to help me make sure that the baby was safe," Scott said. “What good did CPS do? Nothing. They didn't do anything to help this child.”

Avril’s mother, who Snohomish County detectives said is a suspect in the “suspicious death” investigation, declined an interview request. KING 5 is not naming her because she hasn’t been charged with a crime.

A KING 5 review of DCYF records revealed Washington state child welfare workers were involved with the family in the months prior to Avril’s death. In March – less than two months before the child died – DCYF closed its case while recognizing Avril’s mother continued to battle fentanyl addiction.

The social worker shared resources for treatment options and urged the child’s mom to “think of Avril’s safety” if she “chose to use” the “extremely dangerous” drug, according to a copy of the CPS closure letter provided to KING 5 by Scott.

“You know that she’s using fentanyl and you just leave the baby with her? How is that supposed to be safe?” said Scott, who hoped she could get temporary custody of the child until her daughter got clean. “Shock just turned to just fury and I couldn’t even believe it.”

MSN

 

[Sugar Cookie]

HB 1227: Keeping Families Together Act​

In 2021 the Washington State Legislature passed the Keeping Families Together Act (HB 1227) in recognition that children and families are best served when children are cared for by their loved ones and in their communities.​

EFFECTIVE: JULY 2023​

HB 1227 raises the standard by which a court may enter an order directing a child be removed from the home to prevent “imminent physical harm“, and mandates that at Shelter Care the court shall release a child to a parent unless the court finds that removal of the child is necessary to prevent imminent physical harm. Further, HB 1227 identifies that the existence of community or family poverty, isolation, single parenthood, age of the parent, crowded or inadequate housing, substance abuse, prenatal drug or alcohol exposure, mental illness, disability or special needs of the parent or child, or nonconforming social behavior does not by itself constitute imminent physical harm.

“Poverty should never be a reason for removing children from homes.”
Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Everett (Bill Sponsor)

The Balancing Test: Threat to Safety vs. Harm of Removal​

HB 1227 requires that the evidence provided demonstrate a causal relationship between imminent physical harm to the child and the particular conditions in the home. Using that evidence, courts will then have to consider whether the danger of imminent physical harm posed by the conditions in the home outweighs the harms of removal that a child will likely experience.
HB 1227 also includes the mandatory consideration of whether there are any prevention services, including housing assistance and other reasonably available services, that the family could participate in that would prevent or eliminate the need for removal. This new line of inquiry regarding child removal is intended to help keep children safely at home whenever possible and ensure that the forcible removal of a child from their home is used as the option of last resort to ensure child safety.

“I have seen their anguish and trauma… and their desire to be reunified with their families. Which screams to me that we should be doing everything in our power to make sure that [removal] is the absolute last resort.”
Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Everett (Bill Sponsor)

HB 1227: Keeping Families Together Act - Family and Youth Justice Programs

Explore Washington State's HB 1227, the Keeping Families Together Act, aimed at reducing unnecessary foster care placements, enhancing kinship care, and addressing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

www.wacita.org