Child Left With Caretaker is Dead

by Fatherofeight | More from this Blogger

26 Dec 2006 11:40 PM

Last Saturday, a seventeen year old Dallas mother of two left her children at the home of Detress Richmond in order to go to work. She needed money and she had been hired to braid hair. Richmond had assured her that she would watch her two daughters. The decision to rely on the woman's promise turned out to be tragic.

A nine year old boy, who lived in the home, stabbed her two year old daughter to death with a knife. Apparently, no adult was in the home. Richmond left her fifteen year old daughter in charge of at least twelve children. The daughter was downstairs, while all of the children were upstairs. Richmond allegedly left for the evening to play bingo.

She is the mother of at least thirteen children. None of them could give police an exact count as to how many siblings there were in the home. Her neighbors said that there had been trouble at the residence since she had moved in. They elaborated that her children were unruly and almost always unattended. Another neighbor said that it was not unusual for a large group of the children to play in the street until very late in the evening.

Richmond is unemployed. Her home had been reported to Texas Children's Protective Services for such things as neglecting the children and not feeding them. In twelve years, state investigators had inspected her home a total of eight times.

On each occasion, the home was found to be lacking, but no children were removed. A spokesperson for the state said that in order for the children to be removed, they had to be in probable peril. There never had been a finding that the children were in danger to that degree.

A child is dead. All of the children in this story are in grave danger most of the time. The neglect and abuse of children in our country is a national disgrace.

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Catherine Ipcizade (5617) 26 Dec 2006 10:42 PM

This breaks my heart.

Fatherofeight (2475) 26 Dec 2006 10:49 PM

Me too. The public perception of this sort of incident is to ignore it and maybe it will go away. It will not, it is getting worse. My hope is to raise public awareness to the point that something more is done. Perhaps a child's life can be saved.

Andrea Hermitt (5512) 27 Dec 2006 09:40 AM

Even at age 10 and 12, I am still very wary about who I leave my kids with... This is such a tragic, tragic story. I feel horrible for the mom.

Lessly (57396) 27 Dec 2006 09:52 AM

It is a shame that these kids did not get the help that they needed before this happend. It seems like they were crying out for help and no one listened. It is also a shame that social services has so much red tape and paper work that the workers feel they cannot do much. The system has to change so these things don't happen. One child dying is to much; My heart goes out to the mother of the little girl..who knows what she's feeling right now.

Fatherofeight (2475) 27 Dec 2006 10:31 AM

To make matters worse, they put the mother's other child in foster care, saying that she should have known better than to leave the children at that house. So CPS says she should have known it was dangerous, when their inspections said that it was not.

PATTI (580) 27 Dec 2006 11:42 AM

Ed, this is indeed tragic. Wake up people and take care of the children. These children if they live are our future. PATTI

Pam Connell (2658) 27 Dec 2006 02:08 PM

How dreadful for a child who has lost a sibling to be separated from mother as well!

Fatherofeight (2475) 27 Dec 2006 03:54 PM

A sad story from beginning to end.

Crickett (272) 27 Dec 2006 11:39 PM

This is shocking. I don't understand why her other child was taken away if none of the 12 Richmond siblings are being taken from the home.

Fatherofeight (2475) 28 Dec 2006 07:23 AM

Oh, I'm sorry. the Richmond children were removed also. I mentioned the 2 month old because that was so surprising. I would bet that the 17 year old mom gets the child back when this goes to court.

rsbg (501) 28 Dec 2006 09:21 PM

We live near Dallas. This story truly breaks my heart. I feel sorry for the poor young woman that left to go to work to earn money for her children (for Christmas I would imagine). Such a tragedy.....

Fatherofeight (2475) 31 Dec 2006 12:02 PM

The story has had several new twists. The 20 year old son of Ms. Richmond had a car accident and then jumped 50 feet off an overpass to his death. Afriend said they were doing drugs. The child who committed the murder has not been charged because he is too young. Ms. Richmond has not been charged with anything. She now admits that she was out playing bingo with her boy friend, but they did it to raise money for Christmas presents. OKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

Crickett (272) 01 Jan 2007 12:28 AM

how strange. Keep us informed of any more info that comes out.