REMEMBERING STONIE

Stonie B. Bridgeo was only two and a half years old when he died. He was the youngest child in a large family and had four surviving brothers and half brothers. At his age, Stonie should have been spending his days playing, exploring his surroundings and depending on the adults around him to make sure those surroundings were safe. He was too young to understand electrical hazards, the danger of a fire or what could happen when a small child was left without supervision. Those were dangers the adults responsible for him were supposed to understand. On January 30, 2008, Stonie was left at home with his father while his mother took the other children to school. He never made it through that morning.

STONIE’S STORY

The Bridgeo family had previously lived in Mesa County before moving to Delta County, Colorado. On the morning of January 30, Stonie's father, Michael Bridgeo, had recently returned home after working a night shift. Stonie's mother, Jacklyn, left the house to take the other children to school, leaving Stonie in Michael's care. Michael fell asleep. Stonie was left awake and unsupervised. While the two year old was playing, a fire broke out inside the home. The Colorado Department of Human Services fatality review found that the fire resulted from faulty electrical wiring. The danger inside the home had already been identified. Approximately one week before the fire, the landlord had sent a repairman to the house to address the faulty wiring. According to the state review, the family turned the repairman away. On the morning of the fire, Stonie had no awake adult supervising him or able to immediately respond when the fire began. He died inside the home. Stonie was two years and six months old. The Colorado Department of Human Services later concluded that Stonie died as a result of parental neglect and lack of supervision.

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

Stonie's death did not occur in a family that was unknown to child protection authorities. Mesa County Department of Human Services had received several referrals involving the family before Stonie's death. On March 22, 2007, law enforcement found the family's three youngest children wandering and playing unsupervised in a busy street. The children were taken into emergency protective custody and remained in foster care for four days. Jacklyn was issued a summons for child neglect. A safety plan was developed with the family, and on March 26 the children were returned to their parents. The very next day, Mesa County received another neglect referral. The family's four year old child had been left at a bus stop without a parent arriving to pick him up. The referral was given to the family's existing caseworker.

The situation was ultimately characterized as a parental miscommunication rather than neglect. Less than a month after the children had been removed for lack of supervision, the child welfare case was closed. The county documented that the family had completed the safety plan and that the children were being cared for and supervised. Ten months later, Stonie died after being left unsupervised while his father slept. The state fatality review later identified multiple violations in Mesa County's handling of the earlier case. The review found that the department had failed to properly identify and account for all of the children living in the household during its 2007 assessment. It also found that the March 27 referral involving the four year old left at the bus stop was not properly investigated. The assigned caseworker did not review the written referral or contact the mandated reporter and did not conduct the required assessment of the children's safety. The state additionally found deficiencies in the family's safety plan, including assigning responsibility to a person who had never been interviewed or assessed for that role. Mesa County agreed with all three state findings. After Stonie's death, the county changed practices, reviewed the case with supervisors and lead workers, created additional training materials for caseworkers and developed measures intended to improve consistency in screening and investigating future child welfare referrals.

JUSTICE FOR STONIE

Stonie's death was investigated by law enforcement. The Colorado child fatality review identified Michael Bridgeo as the subject of the investigation and stated that criminal charges against him were pending at the time the state report was prepared. Later information preserved on Stonie's original Abuse Angels page states that law enforcement ultimately classified his death as accidental and that neither parent was criminally charged. Because there was no verified criminal conviction in Stonie's death, there is no defendant conviction and sentence block to include here. The absence of a criminal conviction does not change the finding contained in Colorado's official child fatality review: Stonie's death resulted from parental neglect and lack of supervision.

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Stonie was two years old. He could not inspect the wiring in his home. He could not decide whether a repairman should be allowed inside. He could not recognize that a fire was beginning and know how to safely escape. And he could not make sure that the adult responsible for watching him remained awake. Those responsibilities belonged to adults. Stonie's life ended in a fire, but his story did not end there. His death forced another examination of a child welfare history that had included children wandering in a busy street, an emergency removal, another supervision concern the following day and a case that was closed less than a month later. The state ultimately required changes in the way those cases were assessed and documented. But Stonie should not exist only as the reason policies were reviewed. He was the little boy at the center of all of it. He was a son and a brother who had barely begun his childhood. He deserved an ordinary morning of playing safely at home and an ordinary afternoon with his family. He deserved to grow older than two. Abuse Angels remembers Stonie Bridgeo. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.