REMEMBERING DAELYNN

Daelynn Foreman was 12 years old when she died.

Daelynn had cerebral palsy and significant physical disabilities. She could not walk independently, but when she was younger, she found her own way of getting around the house, quickly scooting across the floor.

Her step grandmother, Marta Brewer, remembered Daelynn as a once chubby little girl with reddish blond hair often pulled into a ponytail.

Daelynn enjoyed watching Barney.

She recognized the people who were important to her. Marta remembered how excited Daelynn would become when her stepfather came home from work.

Daelynn required more assistance than many children her age, but that did not make her life less valuable.

It made her dependent upon the adults around her for food, medical care, hygiene, mobility and protection.

She should have received all of those things.

DAELYNN’S STORY

When Daelynn was nine years old, she weighed approximately 60 pounds.

By age ten, her weight had fallen to 46 pounds.

Her declining weight should have prompted continuing medical attention, particularly because Daelynn was a medically fragile child who could not independently obtain food or seek help.

In April 2005, Child Protective Services pressured Brandy Foreman to take Daelynn for medical care.

Brandy complied.

The doctor who examined Daelynn recommended that she be seen by her pediatrician and other specialists.

That appointment became Daelynn’s last documented medical care.

Her pediatrician repeatedly attempted to have Brandy bring Daelynn back for treatment during the following months, but those appointments did not happen.

Brandy also stopped sending Daelynn to the Ralph Richardson Center, a school serving children with significant disabilities.

An in home teacher, Cherie Bates, subsequently began visiting Daelynn twice each week.

By April 2006, Bates noticed that Daelynn was becoming dangerously thin.

She reported her concerns to Child Protective Services.

A social worker visited the family.

In June, Bates again urged Brandy to take Daelynn to a doctor.

Brandy reportedly told her she would do so the following day.

There is no record that she did.

During the final weeks of Daelynn’s life, access to her became increasingly limited.

Brandy canceled the teacher’s visits or left her waiting outside a locked gate.

Inside the home, Daelynn continued deteriorating.

She became profoundly malnourished.

Unable to move adequately or care for herself, she developed severe pressure sores.

On July 31, 2006, paramedics were called to the family’s Orangevale duplex.

Daelynn was found dead in her bed.

She weighed approximately 23½ pounds.

Her body showed the devastating consequences of prolonged starvation, dehydration, immobility and neglect.

Investigators determined that Daelynn had been denied adequate nutrition and medical care.

Her death was attributed to severe malnutrition and neglect.

She was 12 years old.

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

Daelynn did not die without warnings.

Child Protective Services received repeated reports concerning her care over a period of years.

Records released after her death documented seven reports alleging severe or general neglect, six in Sacramento County and one in Placer County.

Two allegations were substantiated.

One of those substantiated findings occurred in 2003.

Another occurred in April 2006, only months before Daelynn died.

In 2005, CPS had already needed to pressure Brandy into obtaining medical treatment for her daughter.

Daelynn’s doctor then recommended additional medical care.

Her pediatrician repeatedly tried to have her brought in for follow up treatment.

She never returned.

When Daelynn stopped attending school, an in home teacher continued seeing her.

That teacher noticed her deteriorating condition and contacted CPS.

The April 2006 report resulted in additional CPS involvement.

A social worker visited the home approximately ten weeks before Daelynn was found dead.

Daelynn remained there.

Her teacher continued expressing concern and urged Brandy to seek medical treatment.

Then the teacher increasingly lost access to Daelynn.

By the time Daelynn died, the child at the center of all of those reports had wasted from approximately 60 pounds at age nine to just 23½ pounds at age twelve.

After her death, Sacramento County officials acknowledged serious problems in the handling of the case.

An internal investigation resulted in personnel action.

The county also changed procedures for cases involving medically fragile children. Social workers assessing their care were required to be accompanied by a county nurse, and workers received additional training from a pediatrician about recognizing risks to children with special needs.

Those changes acknowledged an important reality.

Daelynn’s vulnerability required greater scrutiny, not less.

She could not walk away from neglect.

She could not independently visit a doctor.

She could not obtain food for herself.

She could not open the door for the teacher waiting outside.

Adults repeatedly recognized that something was wrong.

Reports were made.

Some allegations were substantiated.

Daelynn still remained in the home until she died.

JUSTICE FOR DAELYNN

Brandy Foreman was arrested after the investigation into Daelynn’s death.

Prosecutors alleged that Brandy had intentionally withheld adequate food and medical care from her daughter while Daelynn slowly deteriorated.

Investigators also discovered a significant quantity of methamphetamine in the home.

Brandy was initially charged with homicide, child neglect and drug offenses.

She ultimately pleaded guilty to first degree murder in Daelynn’s death.

In January 2010, a Sacramento County judge sentenced Brandy to 25 years to life in prison.

Brandy Foreman

Relationship to Daelynn: Mother

Conviction(s): First degree murder

Sentence: 25 years to life in prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Daelynn’s final condition became the focus of the criminal investigation into her death.

Her weight.

Her untreated wounds.

The medical care she did not receive.

The reports that did not save her.

Those facts matter because they show how profoundly Daelynn was failed.

But Daelynn existed long before she became a child protection case.

There was once a little girl with reddish blond hair pulled into a ponytail.

A girl who found her own way to move quickly through the house even though she could not walk.

A child who enjoyed watching Barney and became excited when someone she recognized and loved came home.

Her disability did not diminish her right to childhood.

If anything, Daelynn needed the adults and systems surrounding her to protect that right more fiercely.

She depended upon others for the things most children eventually learn to do for themselves.

That dependence should never have made her disposable.

Daelynn’s death forced Sacramento County to examine how it protected medically fragile children and resulted in changes intended to prevent another vulnerable child from being overlooked.

Those changes came too late for her.

Daelynn should have received medical treatment when her weight began falling.

She should have remained connected to the teachers and specialists who could recognize when something was wrong.

She should have been fed.

She should have been kept clean and comfortable.

She should have been protected.

She should have grown beyond twelve years old.

Abuse Angels remembers Daelynn Foreman.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.