REMEMBERING HOPE

Hope Jones was only three years old when she died. She had spent much of her very short life involved with Philadelphia's child welfare system. When she was approximately fifteen months old, Hope was removed from her family and placed in kinship foster care with Kiana Casey, a relative of Hope's father. Casey was entrusted with caring for and protecting her. Philadelphia DA's Office Public reporting about Hope focuses overwhelmingly on what happened to her, leaving painfully little information about the little girl herself. She was three. She should have been talking more every day, developing favorite foods and toys, becoming increasingly independent and discovering what made her laugh. Instead, the records that remain tell us about foster care visits, medical appointments, injuries and a little girl whose health steadily deteriorated while adults and agencies were supposed to be watching over her. Hope deserved to be known for much more than that.

HOPE’S STORY

Hope was placed in Kiana Casey's Philadelphia home in November 2020. The placement was arranged through the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, and Northeast Treatment Centers provided case management services. Jendayi Mawusi was assigned to monitor Hope's placement and remained her case manager until Hope's death. Philadelphia DA's Office During the nearly two years Hope lived in the home, her physical condition deteriorated. She lost significant weight. She lost mobility. Two of her front teeth were lost in separate incidents. There were also injuries that, according to prosecutors, should have prompted additional investigation and reporting. Audacy By June 2022, Hope weighed approximately 24.5 pounds, placing her at an extremely low weight for her height and age. Later civil litigation alleged that her declining weight and other warning signs were visible during medical care before her death. Inquirer.com On July 12, 2022, Hope's case manager visited the foster home. It would be her final visit. According to prosecutors, the required photograph taken during that visit showed Hope with glassy eyes and fixed, dilated pupils. Investigators later believed Hope may already have been dying, or possibly dead, when the photograph was taken. Audacy Less than an hour later, emergency responders were called. Police arrived at the home on Holbrook Street at approximately 4:18 p.m. Medics attempted to save Hope and rushed her to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She was pronounced dead at 4:51 p.m. Philly Police Unsolved Murders Hope was three years old. The injuries found on her body told investigators that what happened to her had not begun that day. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner documented numerous contusions and hemorrhages, healing rib fractures and deep hemorrhaging involving her arms and legs. The injuries were in different stages of healing, evidence that Hope had suffered significant physical abuse repeatedly over time.  Other medical testimony described old and new injuries across much of Hope's body, including injuries to her face, chest, abdomen and internal organs.

Her cause of death was blunt force trauma. Her death was ruled a homicide. Kiana initially told authorities that Hope had fallen down the stairs while chasing another child. The medical evidence did not support an accidental fall as an explanation for the extensive pattern of old and new injuries found on Hope's body. Audacy

Kiana was arrested on July 19, 2022. The woman entrusted with protecting Hope was now accused of killing her.

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

Hope's death occurred while she was formally in the custody of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. She was not an unknown child living beyond the reach of the child protection system. The system was already responsible for her safety. A contracted case manager had been assigned to Hope from the time she entered Kiana's home in November 2020 until the day she died. Records reviewed by prosecutors showed that Hope's health and well being deteriorated significantly during that placement. Prosecutors alleged that her case manager failed on multiple occasions to ensure that Kiana obtained medical care that had been recommended for Hope and failed to file incident reports after observing injuries.  Hope's declining weight was another warning sign. By approximately one month before her death, she weighed only 24.5 pounds. Later litigation alleged that medical providers also failed to recognize or report signs that Hope was being starved and abused. There were injuries. There was dramatic weight loss. There were lost teeth. There were changes in Hope's mobility. And there were professionals whose jobs required them to see Hope and monitor whether her placement remained safe. Audacy Then came July 12. Hope's case manager was physically inside the home for a welfare visit shortly before emergency responders were called. A photograph of Hope was taken during that visit. Yet Hope remained in the home. Audacy The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office later took the extraordinary step of criminally charging case manager Jendayi Mawusi, alleging that she repeatedly failed to investigate and intervene despite signs of physical harm. The murder and involuntary manslaughter charges against Mawusi were dismissed at a preliminary hearing. She was later acquitted of the remaining child endangerment charge. Her acquittal matters and should not be erased from Hope's story. But it does not erase the documented warning signs surrounding Hope's placement. Northeast Treatment Centers later paid $6.5 million to settle civil litigation concerning the supervision of Hope's foster care. The settlement was civil rather than a criminal finding of guilt.  Hope spent almost two years in a placement specifically intended to keep her safe. She died there at three years old.

JUSTICE FOR HOPE

Kiana Casey was charged with third degree murder and several related offenses after Hope's death. In January 2024, Kiana pleaded no contest to third degree murder and aggravated assault. A no contest plea does not constitute an admission of the underlying allegations, but for sentencing purposes it carries the same consequences as a guilty plea. The remaining charges were dropped as part of the resolution of the case. In March 2024, Kiana was sentenced to eight to twenty years in prison. Audacy

Kiana Casey

Relationship to Hope: Kinship Foster Guardian

Conviction: Third degree murder; Aggravated assault

Sentence: 8 to 20 years in prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED 

Hope's name feels especially painful in light of what happened to her. She entered foster care because adults and institutions had been given responsibility for making sure she was safe. She was supposed to have people checking on her. She was supposed to have professionals watching her development and health. She was supposed to be protected. Instead, Hope died at three years old while still formally in the child welfare system's care. The records left behind describe what happened to her body in extraordinary detail. They tell us where the bruises were. They document fractures. They measure her weight. They record the exact minute she was pronounced dead. Those facts matter because Hope deserves the truth. But they are not Hope. Somewhere before all of those records was a little girl. A child who had expressions people recognized, a voice, preferences, fears and things that made her happy. Those pieces of Hope received far less documentation than the injuries she suffered. That is profoundly unfair. Hope should have lived long enough to tell the world who she was herself. She should have started school. She should have learned to read her own name. She should have celebrated birthdays until being three years old became something her family could barely remember. Instead, Hope's childhood exists in government records because the adults responsible for protecting her failed to give her the ordinary childhood she deserved. Her story should therefore remember more than how she died. It should insist that the little girl underneath all those records mattered. Hope Jones mattered. She still does. Abuse Angels remembers Hope Jones. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.