FORNEY, Texas — The Texas Department of Family & Protective Services (DFPS) has reversed their decision to make the family of 5-month-old Elizabeth Henson pay for funeral and burial expenses after new details into the investigation of the infant’s death continue to unravel.
FORNEY, Texas — The Texas Department of Family & Protective Services (DFPS) has reversed their decision to make the family of 5-month-old Elizabeth Henson pay for funeral and burial expenses after new details into the investigation of the infant’s death continue to unravel.
The about face decision comes from DFPS officials after the arrest of 37-year-old Natalie Parker who surrendered to the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office on Monday night on felony charges for tampering with a witness, injury to a child, and abandoning or endangering a child. Parker's 19-year-old son, Christian Richmond, also known as "Smokey," was arrested for possession of child pornography in the day's following the infant's death.
According to the family they were made aware of the decision on Tuesday after the public release of Parker’s arrest warrant affidavit.
While they did not want to publicly explain their reversal, DFPS says that the organization is working with law enforcement officials to investigate Kingdom Kids Child Placing Agency and their scope of responsibility in Henson’s death.
“The majority of foster homes are under child placement agencies,” Marissa Gonzalez, a DPFS spokesperson tells inForney.com. “Child placement agencies are licensed and monitored by the department of health and human services.”
Kingdom Kids Placed Children for DFPS
Court records confirm that Kingdom Kids Child Placing Agency was responsible for placement of baby Elizabeth and her older brother after they were taken into Denton County CPS custody in July 2018.
The DFPS public website says Kingdom Kids Child Placing agency is a licensed agency contracted to place children in the CPS system into foster homes. Michelle Marie Williams of Dallas is the licensed administrator records say. DFPS records indicate the agency has been licensed since November of 2015 and its permit is up for renewal in November 2019.
According to their own website, www.kingdomkidscpa.org, Kingdom Kids is responsible for the application process for potential foster families and their responsibilities include background checks, FBI fingerprinting, foster care orientation and training, a 40-hour home study, and approval and payment of an undisclosed monthly figure to foster families.
Kingdom Kids Placing Agency says it is a 501c3 non-profit organization however, according to GuideStar.org, a national database of nonprofit filings with the IRS says, “This organization's exempt status was automatically revoked by the IRS for failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, or 990-PF for 3 consecutive years. Further investigation and due diligence are warranted.” Attempts to confirm this information with the IRS via telephone and email were both unsuccessful due to the federal government shutdown.
Telephone calls to Kingdom Kids went unanswered on Wednesday, while their office doors remained locked. Witnesses and neighbors confirmed employees were inside working despite a posting on the office door that said the agency was closed through January 9 for the “Christmas Holidays”.
inForney.com was able to reach Williams, the agency’s director by telephone on Wednesday. After extending her condolences to both families involved, she said she could not speak on the case. Williams did confirm that her agency was a 501c3 organization and was unwilling to share who the organization’s board members were or when the organization had last had a financial audit.
“That is none of your business,” Williams said before abruptly hanging up the phone.
According to DFPS online records, Kingdom Kids has 24 foster homes that they manage. The agency was last inspected by state officials on November 8, 2018 where no violations were found. Kingdom Kids has been cited in the past for an array of infractions including placing too many foster children in a single foster home. There is still no information available as to how long Parker had been a foster parent with the agency or when the last time her home was inspected by Kingdom Kids or DFPS personnel.
Foster Mother’s Criminal History
Parker is no stranger to jail. Dallas County court records confirm Parker was charged and arrested for felony burglary of a habitation in February 2005. She pled not guilty and the charges were ultimately reduced to misdemeanor criminal trespassing. She completed one year of probation in 2007. At the time she filed court documents to declare herself indigent.
Kaufman county authorities confirm that Parker has filed an application to be declared indigent again and receive a public defender, despite reportedly earning between $4,000 - $6,000 per month while her foster home was operational.
According to Gonzales, DFPS pays the child placing agency for each child they place a specified daily rate depending on their level of care. In turn foster families have contracts with child placement agencies and they pay foster parents. There is no way to determine exactly how much taxpayer money is collected by the agency or ultimately the foster parent.
No CASA Advocate for Children
Denton County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) says that Elizabeth Henson and her older brother were not appointed CASA advocates.
A spokesperson for the agency tells inForney.com while they could not comment on whether the children had been referred by Denton CPS to receive a CASA advocate, they would confirm that they had not been appointed to do so in this case.
Reports of Abuse
“Since the very first day that my kids were there, there has been problems,” Brittany Gastineau tells inForney.com. Gastineau is the child's biological mother.
“I have complained every single week since they took my kids. My daughter slept in a car seat. She didn’t have a bed. My son got picked on by 17 and 18-year old. It was not a safe environment for my kids. My son has not been comfortable the whole time he has been there and has told me so. My daughter couldn’t tell me that,” Gastineau said.
The family says that the day before the baby’s death they noticed a knot on the back of her head. Her brother reported that the child had fallen down the stairs. The incident was reported to the child’s case worker, yet, they say no action was taken.
The family alleges other incidents were ignored and that Henson’s older brother was eventually injured by Richmond. The young boy allegedly had a busted lip after being hit with a remote control.
Law Enforcement Had Previously Visited Home
According to call logs obtained by inForney.com from the Kaufman County Sheriff’s office Parker had called the department for service to her home on Chisolm Trail on 4 separate occasions in the past year
Last March KCSO deputies responded to a call for a burglar alarm going off and the location was cleared. In June they returned to gather report on a runaway child. On December 12 and December 26 Parker reported a burglary of a motor vehicle and deputies were dispatched to the residence on both occasions. Parker filed a report during the December 26 encounter according to the log.
A cause of death has still not been released. A KCSO spokesperson says that the investigation remains ongoing.
Parker remains in custody at the Kaufman county jail on bonds totaling $195,000.