Baby Awarded $1.5 Million After Shocking Abuse

Washington state paid the family of a baby boy $1.5 million after the boy was repeatedly abused by his mother’s boyfriend, even after visits from Child Protective Services. 

The settlement was rewarded after several reports to CPS, beginning in 2011 when a report was received about a man punching a 7-month-old baby in the face during a fight with his mother. CPS told the caller to call police, and the officer who responded told CPS that he was “very concerned about the welfare of the baby that night.”

CPS failed to classify the investigation into the abuse as a high-priority, 24-hour investigation, according to the child’s attorneys. A social worker visited the next day and “id little with the baby other than to casually and briefly observe him in a crib.”

“The social worker spent only a short amount of time at the apartment and then walked away, leaving the baby with the swollen face and head alone with the man police suspected to have punched him in the face,” the attorneys alleged. “CPS’s primary duty should have been to protect the child. One of the express purposes of the CPS investigation at the apartment was to see the baby up close.”

Several days later, the social worker visited once again but did not examine the child closely. The attorneys argued that if the social worker had more closely examined the boy, he “would have seen additional bruising that occurred since his last visit.”

The baby’s mother and her boyfriend brought the child to the emergency room on October 30, 2011, with injuries that included broken limbs, skull fractures and hemorrhaging. 

The attorneys argued that the social worker “ignored all of the red flags” that could have prevented the baby from being hurt any further. 

The boy survived the abuse and is now living with his biological father but “will likely never learn or function at the same proficiency as peers his age,” according to the attorneys.

“We believe this settlement provides the means for this child to get the care and recovery resources he needs to live a healthy life,” DSHS Childrens’ Administration Assistant Secretary Jennifer Strus told KING-TV.

The abuser, DeShawn Little Eagle, was sentenced to 100 months in prison for first-degree assault. 

Glad the baby got some $$. But I think social workers need to be trained more efficiently. This is happening way too often! The baby had a swollen face etc & they didn’t think anything of this??? Why do ppl have children if they don’t want to take care of them? ??” one Mad World News reader commented on the site’s Facebook page.

“I pray for that little one. I hope the court had guidelines for the money given so that the funds are used for only the child ‘s needs. A trust fund with oversight by a neural person. Sometimes the parent or caregiver lives the high life and there is nothing left for the child,” another added. 

Sources: KING-TV, Mad World News/Facebook / Photo credit: KING-TV