Here is a sad story out of Kansas (and Missouri). A 7-year-old boy was killed back in 2015 by his father and step-mother following years of torture and abuse (i.e., starved to death, forced to stay naked in a shower stall, forced to sleep outside, shocked with a stun gun). After he was killed, his body was dumped in a pigsty near Kansas City, KS, and left to be consumed by that animals. His father and stepmother were both convicted of the murder and sentenced to life without parole for at least 25 years.
Now Adrian Jones' mother, maternal grandfather, and oldest sister have filed a $25 million lawsuit against social workers and human services agencies in both Kansas and Missouri for their inability to effectively intervene on behalf of the young boy despite numerous abuse assessments over the years:
Now Adrian Jones' mother, maternal grandfather, and oldest sister have filed a $25 million lawsuit against social workers and human services agencies in both Kansas and Missouri for their inability to effectively intervene on behalf of the young boy despite numerous abuse assessments over the years:
The lawsuit, filed in both Jackson County, Missouri, and Wyandotte County, Kansas, said the boy's death was "an entirely avoidable child-homicide." It claims social workers "meticulously investigated and carefully documented the abuse" and generated stacks of reports chronicling the abuse. "But their idea of intervention was limited, almost exclusively, to having A.J.'s father and stepmother sign a piece of paper agreeing to stop torturing the child — the legal equivalent of a 'pinky swear,'" the lawsuit says. "As it turned out, that signed paper might as well have been A.J.'s death warrant..."
The lawsuit says the child service agencies "could have stepped in and rescued A.J. at any point during the child's lengthy, unimaginable ordeal — that was their job, after all. But instead of intervening, they chose to act like disinterested bystanders." Records from Missouri detail several visits to the family and show Adrian told a social worker and police officer that he was being abused. And 2,000 pages of documents released earlier by Kansas detailed contacts with the family going back to 2011. The lawsuit also indicates the boy was sent to therapists and other mental health institutions but was always returned to his father and stepmother.I had the misfortune of reading a more detailed version of the abuse heaped upon young Adrian -- including some horrific pictures. I am sincerely shocked that Adrian was not permanently removed from his father's custody long ago. I understand that the family hopped back and forth between Kansas and Missouri, but that's no excuse. The boy was literally skin and bones as a result of his starvation and his ankles were permanently disfigured due to the abuse that he suffered. I don't know enough about his mother to know why he wasn't staying with her. But if she wasn't available, Adrian should have been placed in foster care years ago and adopted.