REMEMBERING DAISAI

Daisai K. Derzon was just three years old when her life was taken in January 2008 in Grand County, Colorado.

Born on August 11, 2004, Daisai was a little girl who had already experienced significant changes in her short life.

When she was approximately two years old, her biological parents were sent to prison, and their parental rights were terminated.

Daisai and her two siblings were placed in foster care.

Within two months, the children were moved to another foster home across the state, where they came into the care of Michelle and Robert Baber.

The placement was supposed to provide Daisai and her siblings with stability, protection, and the opportunity to grow up together.

Instead, Daisai suffered a fatal head injury while living in the foster home.

She was only three years old.

Daisai's Story

After Daisai and her siblings entered foster care, they were eventually placed with Michelle and Robert Baber in Grand County, Colorado.

As foster parents, the Babers received positive reports from a court appointed guardian and social services workers.

Approximately six months after the children entered their home, the Babers were approved to adopt Daisai and her siblings.

The adoption had not yet been finalized when Daisai suffered the injuries that would end her life.

Michelle Baber called 911 and reported that she had discovered Daisai striking her head against a wall while sleeping.

Baber claimed that Daisai sometimes behaved unusually in her sleep and suggested that the little girl had injured herself.

Daisai was taken for emergency medical treatment.

Doctors discovered that she had suffered a severe closed head injury.

Despite efforts to save her, Daisai's injuries were too extensive.

Three days after the emergency call, she was removed from life support and died.

She was three years old.

Following Daisai's death, Michelle Baber continued to claim that the injuries had occurred accidentally.

For several weeks, she maintained the explanation that Daisai had struck her head against a wall while sleeping.

She later suggested other possibilities, including that Daisai might have slipped in a bathtub or that Baber herself might have accidentally dropped the little girl while carrying her.

However, those explanations did not account for the circumstances of Daisai's fatal injuries.

Fifteen days after Daisai died, Michelle Baber admitted that she had struck Daisai in the head.

The little girl who had been placed in foster care for protection had died from an injury inflicted by the adult responsible for caring for her.

Warning Signs and System Failures

Daisai's death raised serious concerns about the safety of children placed in foster homes and the oversight of adults approved to care for them.

Daisai and her siblings had entered foster care after their biological parents were incarcerated and lost their parental rights.

They were subsequently placed with Michelle and Robert Baber, who received favorable evaluations from social services workers and a court appointed guardian.

The Babers were even approved to adopt the children.

Yet before the adoption could be finalized, Daisai suffered a fatal injury inflicted by her foster mother.

The available reporting does not establish that authorities had received earlier allegations of physical abuse against Michelle Baber before Daisai's death.

However, the case demonstrated that favorable evaluations and adoption approval did not guarantee a child's safety.

Daisai had already experienced the loss of her original family home.

She deserved a foster placement where she and her siblings could live without fear of harm.

Instead, the home intended to provide protection became the place where she suffered the injuries that ended her life.

JUSTICE FOR DAISAI

Following Daisai's death, investigators examined the circumstances surrounding her severe head injuries.

Michelle Baber initially claimed that Daisai had injured herself while sleeping.

She later offered other possible explanations before admitting that she had struck the little girl in the head.

The investigation established that Daisai's death was the result of physical violence rather than the accidental circumstances Baber had originally described.

Michelle Baber was prosecuted in connection with Daisai's death.

She was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Michelle Baber

Relationship to Daisai: Foster mother

Conviction(s): Unknown

Sentence: 16 years in prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Daisai K. Derzon was only three years old.

She had already experienced separation from her biological parents and placement in foster care.

Alongside her two siblings, she had been moved into a new home where she was supposed to be safe.

There were plans for adoption and the possibility of a permanent family.

But Daisai never had the opportunity to experience that future.

Instead, her life ended after she suffered a devastating head injury at the hands of her foster mother.

She should have celebrated her fourth birthday.

She should have continued growing up alongside her siblings, making friends, attending school, and discovering the world around her.

The available public records tell us little about Daisai's favorite activities, her personality, or the everyday moments that brought her happiness.

But her life was far more than the circumstances of her death.

She was a daughter.

She was a sister.

She was a little girl who deserved love, security, and the chance to grow up.

Daisai's story reminds us that children placed in foster care deserve the same protection, compassion, and safety as every other child.

Her life mattered.

Her future mattered.

And her memory deserves to remain.

Abuse Angels remembers Daisai K. Derzon.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.