FOSTER mother charged in connection with scalding her 6-year-old son

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/06/04/woman_charged_in_connection_wi.html
Woman charged in connection with scalding her 6-year-old son THIS WOMAN WAS THE CHILD'S FOSTER MOTHER, AND SHE DID THIS TO HIM. Edit to add this, because I am outraged, first at the terrible scalding of a child and second that it was done by a woman that took him in to care for him by choice. 

By Claire Osborn | Thursday, June 4, 2009, 07:14 PM

A Travis County woman has been accused of scalding her 6-year-old son, leaving him with second- and third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body.

Angular Adams was charged today with injury to a child. She has not been arrested, said Roger Wade, a spokesman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. Her bail has been set at $750,000.

She and her husband told investigators that they didn’t know what happened to the child. But, according to the arrest warrant, a younger brother said that when the 6-year-old “was screaming in the bath Mommy was there.”

The younger brother, interviewed at the Center for Child Protection, said his mother had peeled some of the burned skin off his brother’s feet.

“She peeled it, and he screamed, screamed, screamed really bad,” the brother said, according to the warrant.

Adams took the 6-year-old to Dell Children’s Hospital on May 22 and told the staff that his feet “were bubbly,” according to an arrest warrant.

It wasn’t until the child was examined that the severity of his injuries was apparent, the warrant said. The burns covered the child’s genitals, buttocks, legs, ankles and feet, the warrant said.

The boy was released and is in good condition, Wade said. The boy was placed in a foster home by Child Protective Services, Wade said.

Adams told a deputy that she didn’t know what happened to her son. She said she discovered that his legs were “bubbly” and his feet were red when she woke him up that morning, according to the warrant.

She told the deputy that she had bathed the boy the night before and that afterward he had played with his younger brother before going to bed at 9:30 p.m., the warrant said.

The younger son, when interviewed by authorities, said his father was not home when the boy was burned in the bath and that it happened at night, the warrant said.
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OMG the terrible pain this child must have endured.  Not just being scalded, but his mother peeling burned skin from him.  Terrible.  And his poor brother will probably always remember the screams of pain.    

[cookie]

how horrible can people be?? that had to be so painful! poor little boy...I have a 6 yr old grand daughter and I can't imagine hurting any child....that is so cruel to even think about! they are still babies at 6....you know that he had to be crying and asking mommy to stop hurting him...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=242448
TOP STORIES
Friday      June      5         2009


Foster mother forces child into scalding water
6/5/2009 2:57 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

Police have charged an Austin woman for injuring her foster child.

Police affidavits say 51-year-old Angular Adams is charged with injury to a child for forcing her 6-year-old foster child into scalding hot bath water.

The boy suffered second and third degree burns on 40 percent of his body.

Adams took the boy to the hospital and told the medical staff that his feet were "bubbly."

She was taken to the Travis County Jail, where she was released on $750,000 bond.

Injury to a child is a first degree felony punishable by life in prison

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This wasn't the child's birth mother, but his FOSTER mother that scalded him.  This boggles my mind.  If she didn't want him or care for him, she could have given him back or not taken him in the first place.      

[MuffyBee]

With each update on this case I read, I see more that just makes me almost lose my mind.  This little boy that was scalded by his FOSTER mom was autistic.  Poor, poor boy.  How could she do this to any child?  And to a special needs child on top of it all?  I just don't know.

Cops: Foster mom burned
boy with water
Boy's younger brother said she peeled
skin off

Updated: Friday, 05 Jun 2009, 6:50 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 05 Jun 2009, 10:33 AM CDT

    * Jackie Vega
    * Josh Hinkle

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An Austin foster mother is charged with injury to a child after police said she immersed her 6-year-old autistic foster son into scalding hot water, causing second- and third-degree burns to about 40 percent of the boy's body.

The Center for Child Protection said the boy's younger brother told investigators his mother peeled off the boy's skin and that "he screamed screamed screamed really bad (sic)."

Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesman Roger Wade, who used to work with the Travis County Sheriff's Office Child Abuse Unit , saw pictures of the boy's burns and said the case is troubling.

"This is the one of the worst child abuse cases I've ever seen," said Wade.

Dell Children's Hospital staff said Angular Adams, 51, arrived at the hospital saying her child's feet were bubbly but told a Travis County Sheriff's Office detective with the Child Abuse Unit she did not know what happened.

Adams said she noticed the boy's legs were bubbly and his feet were red while awaking him and his younger brother. She also noticed the boy's bed was wet with feces all over.

The boy's brother, who is Adams' adopted son, told officials during a forensic interview that his brother screamed in the bath while his mommy was there.

The 6-year-old boy has been in the foster home since 2008, and Adams has been running foster homes since 2005.

Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzalez said the agency placed Adams' adopted son with family members and shut down Adams' foster home licensed through The BAIR Foundation .

Gonzalez said while no other instances or complaints have been recorded surrounding Adams' foster home, the nonprofit Christian foster care agency shut down Adams' foster home indefinitely regardless of the investigation's outcome. Gonzalez added that less than 1 percent of all Texas foster homes have reported abuse.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez said the 6-year-old boy is still in the hospital but in good condition.

Texas Child Protective Services checks a potential foster parent's criminal background and interviews family members and friends, plus looks at financial records and relationships already within an applicant's home.

Gonzales said, "It's a very involved process, and it's one that's intended to help find people who are going to be the best foster parents possible for children who have suffered abuse or neglect."

Adams has not been arrested, but her attorney is working out the details with the Travis County Sheriff's Office.

[Tracygirl]

She hasn't been arrested?

Muffybee it is so sad how many special needs children are victims of abuse. Autistics especially because of difficult behaviors some can have. I don't know though I look at my son and I see a person that is helpless, I can not even raise my voice much less think of hurting him. Why and how people can do this is beyond me.

[cookie]

this is a very sad world that we live in....

who knows what this person did to this child before this?
who could deliberately run hot water and then stick a child into it? that is a sick mind indeed!
and yet, she has not been arrested?