REMEMBERING ERIC

Eric Forbes was 12 years old when he died.

He was a sixth grade student at McClure Middle School in Paulding County, Georgia, and he loved football. He played youth league football and was remembered by his mother, Ashlei Majors, as a loving child who was always laughing.

Eric had a younger sister who also lived with him and their father.

At school, Eric was surrounded by teachers who noticed him, cared about him and repeatedly became concerned about what they were seeing.

Those teachers tried to get him help.

Eric should have had the opportunity to move beyond sixth grade, continue playing football and grow into the person he was becoming.

Instead, he spent years living with abuse that adults outside his home repeatedly suspected but were unable to stop.

ERIC’S STORY

Eric lived with his father, Shayaa Yusef Forbes.

During the final years of Eric’s life, physical punishment became a regular part of life inside the home.

The abuse left injuries that teachers could see.

Beginning in 2012, while Eric attended Frey Elementary School in Cobb County, school employees repeatedly reported suspected abuse to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.

In April 2012, the school reported that Eric had bruises, welts and abrasions and appeared to have been badly beaten.

Eric and his sibling gave differing explanations about whether he had fallen up or down a staircase.

The family was referred for services, but the report did not lead to a finding of abuse.

More reports followed.

Between August and November 2012, authorities received additional concerns about Eric, including a report involving burn marks on his body.

The allegations were again closed without abuse being substantiated.

By November 2012, Shayaa had moved the family from Cobb County into neighboring Paulding County.

Eric eventually began sixth grade at McClure Middle School.

The abuse continued.

In October 2013, Shayaa discovered school papers showing that Eric had received poor grades.

He later admitted punishing his son with a leather belt and a wooden paddle that had metal hooks attached to it.

The beating lasted approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

Eric did not attend school the following day.

On October 11, Shayaa beat him again.

Later that night, shortly before 10 p.m., Shayaa called 911 and claimed he had found Eric partially submerged and unresponsive in the bathtub.

When paramedics arrived, however, the scene did not support that account.

Eric was fully clothed and lying in the hallway.

His clothing was not wet.

The bathtub and bathroom floor were dry.

More disturbing were the injuries covering Eric’s body.

He had extensive bruising, wounds, bite marks, scars and other evidence of repeated abuse.

Eric was transported to WellStar Paulding Hospital.

He could not be saved.

He was pronounced dead that night.

An autopsy documented more than 100 recent and older injuries across Eric’s body.

The medical examiner determined that his death was a homicide.

Eric was 12 years old.

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

Eric’s death came after repeated opportunities for adults and agencies outside his home to recognize that he was in danger.

His teachers did recognize it.

Between February and September 2012, teachers at Frey Elementary School made repeated reports of suspected abuse involving Eric.

School personnel reported visible injuries.

One report described bruises, welts and abrasions and expressed concern that Eric appeared to have been badly beaten.

Another involved burns.

Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services investigated, but the reports were repeatedly closed as unfounded, insufficiently supported or consistent with reasonable discipline.

Eric remained with his father.

After Eric died, DFCS reviewed its handling of his case.

Agency officials acknowledged that workers had failed to recognize the significance of warning signs when they were considered together.

Two management level DFCS employees connected with the handling of Eric’s case were fired.

Eric’s death, along with the death of ten year old Emani Moss only weeks later, brought statewide scrutiny to Georgia’s child welfare system.

The cases contributed to changes in how DFCS reviewed cases before investigations could be screened out or closed and became part of a larger push for child welfare reform and additional child protection workers.

But those changes came after Eric had already spent years showing signs that something was wrong.

His teachers had reported their concerns.

His injuries had been seen.

Reports had been made.

The system had been given multiple opportunities to look more closely.

Eric still remained in the home where he was being abused.

JUSTICE FOR ERIC

Shayaa Forbes initially told authorities that Eric had drowned in the bathtub.

Investigators quickly questioned that explanation after seeing Eric’s injuries and the condition of the bathroom.

Shayaa was initially arrested for cruelty to children.

After the medical examiner determined that Eric’s death was a homicide, the charges against him were expanded.

In April 2014, a grand jury indicted Shayaa on eight felony counts, including three counts of felony murder.

In November 2015, rather than proceeding to trial, Shayaa pleaded guilty to felony murder.

The court sentenced him to spend the remainder of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Shayaa Yusef Forbes

Relationship to Eric: Father

Conviction(s): Felony murder

Sentence: Life in prison without the possibility of parole

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Eric’s teachers noticed him.

That matters.

They saw injuries on a child who came into their classrooms, recognized that something might be terribly wrong and repeatedly tried to get him help.

What happened afterward became part of a much larger examination of Georgia’s child protection system.

Workers were fired.

Practices were reviewed.

Changes followed.

But none of those things could give Eric back what he lost.

He was 12.

He should have been worrying about school assignments, football games and whatever came after middle school.

He should have had years to make mistakes, improve his grades, laugh with friends and discover the person he wanted to become.

A bad grade should never have resulted in terror.

Discipline should never have meant enduring a beating.

Home should never have been a place Eric needed someone else to rescue him from.

The records surrounding his death contain descriptions of more than 100 injuries.

Those injuries tell the truth about what was done to Eric.

They do not tell us who Eric was.

His mother remembered something different.

She remembered a loving boy.

A child who loved football.

A son who was always laughing.

That boy existed before his name became associated with an autopsy, a criminal prosecution and failures within Georgia’s child welfare system.

That is the Eric who deserves to remain at the center of his story.

Abuse Angels remembers Eric Forbes.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.