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It's a great idea and all for it. Assuming workers do their job. Seems many don't even in cases where they are to stay on track with children now. I agree with a background check this child should have NEVER went to these people. What was her mother thinking? I doubt though she had many choices. And hers sure weren't great or she wouldn't have been in such a boat.Proposed legislation aims to address gaps in kinship care guidelines
Right now, safeguards exist for kids in foster care but not for kids who are in a kinship care living arrangement.
By Kayla Brooks
Published: Jan. 25, 2024 at 4:45 PM EST|
Updated: Jan. 25, 2024 at 6:43 PM EST
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Virginia lawmakers have introduced a bill that would put protections in place for kids who go live with family members after being removed from their parents’ care.
Right now, safeguards exist for kids in foster care but not for kids who are in a kinship care living arrangement. State Senator Mark Obenshain is passionate about this bill after working with Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin and the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office to make sure what happened to Khalessi Cuthriell never happens again.
“I was working very closely with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Office in Augusta County to try and make sure that we put appropriate guardrails on kinship programs in order to protect children who really need those guardrails and protections,” said Obenshain.
When Khaleesi’s mom, Amanda Arey, was arrested, she said Khaleesi could go live with her friend, Candi Royer. After social workers dropped Khaleesi off that October day in 2020, no one ever checked back in.
Checking in on children in kinship placements is not required. If passed, the law would make that a requirement.
“In Khaleesi’s case, this little two-year-old girl was dropped off at that house and the Department of Child Protective Services never checked back in,” Obenshain said.
On top of that, potential caregivers would have to undergo a background check. Royer and her live-in boyfriend, Travis Brown, both had extensive criminal histories when Khaleesi moved in.
“If they’d done a background check, they would’ve determined that this was a highly inappropriate placement.” Obenshain said.
The bill establishes safeguards for the child, but it also allots aid for the caregivers, as well. In foster care placements, the parents are given financial assistance. That’s not the case in kinship placements.
“All too often in these kinship care placements, there just aren’t the financial resources, and the lack of those resources are often an impediment to the family’s ability to accept such placement, and we want to make sure, to the extent possible, that we are making progress, that we are trying to eliminate barriers and increase incentives for more appropriate placements,” said Obenshain.
Even though it was not a requirement for CPS to check in on Khaleesi, her mom filed a wellness check with Shenandoah Valley Social Services. That check went unfulfilled.
WHSV asked VDSS and SVSS why that was, but they said since that is case-specific, they aren’t able to answer.
www.whsv.com
Another one of many where agencies and people in the system need to be charged. It is not finished until that happens.Candi Royer gets life in prison for murder of 3-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell
Khaleesi Cuthriell's body has not been found, but she is believed to have died in January 2021.newsvirginian.com
STAUNTON — Candi Royer offered responsibility Thursday for not preventing the death of 3-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell in 2021 but still received a life sentence in Augusta County Circuit Court for a September guilty plea to first-degree murder.
- Bob Stuart
- Feb 22, 2024 Updated 13 hrs ago
<snip>
Circuit Court Judge Shannon Sherrill said finding words to describe Khaleesi's fate was difficult. Cellphone videos displayed at Brown’s trial in August graphically showed a healthy child who, in a matter of months, deteriorated. At the end of her life, she could barely stand, was bruised, missing clumps of hair, and had scratches on her body. She appeared emaciated. A medical expert testified at Brown’s trial that Khaleesi had been tortured and had suffered neglect and psychological abuse.
Sherrill used several terms to describe what happened, including cruel and barbaric. He said the death brought “righteous indignation,” even though the details and the exact cause of Khaleesi’s death are not known.
Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin told Sherrill before the judge pronounced sentence that Royer was previously convicted of robbery. He said while justice could not be done in Khaleesi’s case, “a life sentence is as close as we can come.”
Outside of the Augusta County Courthouse, Martin said the child protective services division of Shenandoah Valley Social Services also had culpability. “They failed Khaleesi terribly,” said Martin, referring to a lack of any follow-up after the child was placed in the custody of Brown and Royer in October 2020. He spoke of how Khaleesi was placed in the hands of Royer, someone on home confinement, and Brown, a 29-time felon.
“It’s not at all right what child protective services did,” said Martin, who said the child might have lived had the agency done its job.
