Remembering Miguel

Miguel Humberto Arias-Baca was a little boy who should have been safe. In October 1998, Miguel and his younger brother, Oswaldo, were removed from their mother's care and placed into foster care. The purpose was supposed to be protection. Instead, Miguel was placed in the Westminster home of Ricky and E'von Haney, where only months later he would suffer the injuries that killed him. After Miguel died, his grandmother, Anita Baca, described him simply: “He's a good baby.” His mother, Odelia Baca, called him “a joy.” She spoke about realizing she would never know what her little boy would look like when he grew up. Those words deserve a place on Miguel's memorial because they tell us something an autopsy never could. Miguel was loved.

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Miguel's Story

On January 31, 1999, Super Bowl Sunday, Ricky Haney returned to the family's Westminster foster home after attending a party where he had been drinking. Miguel had soiled his diaper. Haney became angry. According to the arrest affidavit and his later admissions, Haney smeared Miguel's own feces across the toddler's face as punishment. The violence then escalated. Haney admitted picking Miguel up and slamming him onto the floor. Other contemporary reporting based on the affidavit described Miguel's head being slammed repeatedly against the floor. Miguel suffered a catastrophic head injury. But he was not immediately taken for medical care.

Instead, Ricky and E'von Haney waited for hours. When they finally brought Miguel to St. Anthony North Hospital at approximately 1 a.m. on February 1, they told medical personnel that he had fallen from a toilet during potty training. His injuries told a very different story. Miguel had suffered massive head trauma. His body was also covered with bruises. Inside the home that night was another child who realized something was terribly wrong. E'von's daughter, Anna Haney, heard noises coming from the bathroom and heard Miguel crying. After the assault, she found Miguel crying and tried to comfort him. Anna could see that something was seriously wrong with him. Later, she told investigators what she had heard and witnessed that night. Her account helped contradict the adults' original explanation that Miguel had simply fallen from the toilet. There is something especially heartbreaking about that part of Miguel's story. A child recognized that another child was hurt and tried to comfort him, while the adults responsible for his care failed to get him the medical help he desperately needed. Miguel never regained consciousness. On February 2, 1999, he died.

The Warning Signs & System Failures

Miguel's death exposed serious questions about the foster-care system that had placed him in the Haney home. Ricky and E'von Haney had worked with multiple private child placement agencies before Miguel's death. And there had already been warning signs. Ricky had an arrest history that included drunken driving, careless driving and driving with a suspended license. Police had also previously investigated allegations involving the foster home. Most significantly, another private foster-care agency, Synthesis, Inc., had previously stopped placing children with the Haneys. In 1996, Anna had accused Ricky of beating her. Although county investigators ultimately considered that allegation unfounded, the director of Synthesis reportedly believed Anna and decided no additional children would be placed in the Haney home through her agency. Yet the Haneys were able to move through other private placement agencies. Eventually, another agency placed Miguel and his little brother in their home. There were warning signs involving Miguel himself, too. During a visit, his mother noticed bruising on him and questioned what had happened. According to later accounts, she was told some of the marks were from permanent marker. She reported concerns to social services. Miguel remained in the home. Months after entering foster care, he was dead. His death, along with other child fatalities involving Colorado social-services agencies, helped drive state scrutiny and reforms of the foster-care system. Miguel had been placed into a system designed to protect children. That system did not protect him.

Justice for Miguel

Ricky John Haney was initially charged with child abuse resulting in death. Investigators said Haney eventually admitted what he had done after being confronted with the autopsy findings. In May 2000, Haney pleaded guilty to criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death. The plea reduced his potential maximum sentence from 48 years to 32 years. Miguel's mother was consulted about the plea agreement and agreed to it. At sentencing, Haney blamed alcohol for his actions and asked the court for mercy. The judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

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Person convicted: Ricky John Haney
Relationship to Miguel: Foster father
Conviction: Criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death
Sentence: 25 years in prison

​​Forever Remembered

Miguel's story contains one of the cruelest contradictions we encounter on Abuse Angels. He was removed from one home because adults believed he needed protection. He was then placed in another home specifically because the state entrusted those adults with keeping him safe. And that is where Miguel was killed. But Miguel should not be remembered only as evidence of a broken foster care system. He was Miguel Arias-Baca. He had a little brother named Oswaldo. He had a grandmother who called him a good baby.He had a mother who called him a joy and grieved that she would never get to see what her little boy looked like when he grew up. And even in the home where adults failed him, there was another child who heard Miguel crying, recognized that he was hurt and tried to comfort him. nd makes certain that his name and his life are never forgotten.