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CNN Live Saturday
New Jersey's Child Welfare Agency to Be Grilled in Court About Several Abused Children
Aired January 18, 2003 - 18:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now we have got a CNN exclusive. New Jersey's child welfare agency will be grilled in court about several abused children. The governor is also pressuring the agency to explain how a 7-year-old boy died and his two brothers were abused. Four and a half years ago a 3-month-old girl was killed while under the agency's watch, and her parents are now demanding answers.
Jamie Colby flushes out this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elena Colon trusted the system.
ELENA COLON, MOTHER: They told me if you go to a program and you do what you got to do, you will get your daughter back.
COLBY: She voluntarily placed her newborn with New Jersey's Division of Youth & Family Services or DYFS while completing a three- month substance abuse program.
COLON: And I did everything they told me to do.
COLBY: But just weeks before she was to be reunited with her daughter, Sky, she got an unexpected visit from her caseworker.
COLON: She told me, you got to go to a hospital, and I said why. She said something happened to Sky. She's in the hospital.
COLBY: Sky's foster mother hired a family friend, Rosa Taverez (ph), to look after the baby while attending night school, an arrangement that Elena's attorney says DYFS approved.
STEPHAN MASHEL, COLON'S ATTORNEY: They knew who the babysitter was. They had the babysitter sign various forms, did a fingerprint, check, criminal check and interfaced with this babysitter.
COLBY: At the hospital, doctors told Elena Sky had been so severely shaken she'd suffered a traumatic brain injury.
COLON: How could a child being 3 months to bother a person so much?
COLBY: For two days, Elena held her lifeless baby.
COLON: The doctors told me she had a broken leg, broken ribs, and her arm, and she had damage to her head, to her brain.
COLBY: Until doctors took the little girl off life support. Taverez pled guilty to manslaughter and is serving four years in a New Jersey prison.
(on camera): Elena and the baby's father are suing DYFS, their caseworker, the foster mother, and the woman who killed Sky. DYFS declined to comment on the case. In the lawsuit Elena alleges that during a supervised visit, she told her caseworker she suspected abuse.
COLON: I changed her diaper and I turned her around and she had a big (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the back, and I called her quickly and I said what's this, she was like, I don't know, but I'll tell my supervisor so we can check into it.
COLBY (voice-over): Elena says her caseworker claimed it was just a diaper rash. DYFS, in its response to Elena's lawsuit, denies allegations of abuse. The caseworker and the foster mother are also fighting the case, but declined to comment.
COLON: They didn't believe me. You know, I was a person being bad at that time. You know, why should we believe you I guess.
MASHEL: If the child had remained with her, the child would be alive today. There's no doubt about that. My client's raised five other children, but she did what the state said was best, and she lost her child, and she'll take that to her grave.
COLON: Next time that somebody tells them something, they should listen to them, because if they had listened to me...
COLBY: If only DYFS had listened, Elena says, she'd be holding her daughter today.
Jamie Colby, CNN, Patterson, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
About Several Abused Children>
Aired January 18, 2003 - 18:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now we have got a CNN exclusive. New Jersey's child welfare agency will be grilled in court about several abused children. The governor is also pressuring the agency to explain how a 7-year-old boy died and his two brothers were abused. Four and a half years ago a 3-month-old girl was killed while under the agency's watch, and her parents are now demanding answers.
Jamie Colby flushes out this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elena Colon trusted the system.
ELENA COLON, MOTHER: They told me if you go to a program and you do what you got to do, you will get your daughter back.
COLBY: She voluntarily placed her newborn with New Jersey's Division of Youth & Family Services or DYFS while completing a three- month substance abuse program.
COLON: And I did everything they told me to do.
COLBY: But just weeks before she was to be reunited with her daughter, Sky, she got an unexpected visit from her caseworker.
COLON: She told me, you got to go to a hospital, and I said why. She said something happened to Sky. She's in the hospital.
COLBY: Sky's foster mother hired a family friend, Rosa Taverez (ph), to look after the baby while attending night school, an arrangement that Elena's attorney says DYFS approved.
STEPHAN MASHEL, COLON'S ATTORNEY: They knew who the babysitter was. They had the babysitter sign various forms, did a fingerprint, check, criminal check and interfaced with this babysitter.
COLBY: At the hospital, doctors told Elena Sky had been so severely shaken she'd suffered a traumatic brain injury.
COLON: How could a child being 3 months to bother a person so much?
COLBY: For two days, Elena held her lifeless baby.
COLON: The doctors told me she had a broken leg, broken ribs, and her arm, and she had damage to her head, to her brain.
COLBY: Until doctors took the little girl off life support. Taverez pled guilty to manslaughter and is serving four years in a New Jersey prison.
(on camera): Elena and the baby's father are suing DYFS, their caseworker, the foster mother, and the woman who killed Sky. DYFS declined to comment on the case. In the lawsuit Elena alleges that during a supervised visit, she told her caseworker she suspected abuse.
COLON: I changed her diaper and I turned her around and she had a big (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the back, and I called her quickly and I said what's this, she was like, I don't know, but I'll tell my supervisor so we can check into it.
COLBY (voice-over): Elena says her caseworker claimed it was just a diaper rash. DYFS, in its response to Elena's lawsuit, denies allegations of abuse. The caseworker and the foster mother are also fighting the case, but declined to comment.
COLON: They didn't believe me. You know, I was a person being bad at that time. You know, why should we believe you I guess.
MASHEL: If the child had remained with her, the child would be alive today. There's no doubt about that. My client's raised five other children, but she did what the state said was best, and she lost her child, and she'll take that to her grave.
COLON: Next time that somebody tells them something, they should listen to them, because if they had listened to me...
COLBY: If only DYFS had listened, Elena says, she'd be holding her daughter today.
Jamie Colby, CNN, Patterson, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
About Several Abused Children>
