In the Believe Women department, we have a mother who warned Child Protective Services of her ex-husband’s history of abuse and her fear for her son’s safety. They ignored her. The result? Her ex-husband killed their nine-year-old son. The woman is sueing them.
The state’s Failure to Protect:
The death of Nicholas Daniel Braman would have been avoided if defendants had simply done what they were obligated to do by law to protect (the boy) from further abuse and neglect …,” attorney Gregory Wix wrote in the civil lawsuit, filed earlier this month by the boy’s mother.
The suit:
The lawsuit alleges Children’s Protective Services, under the state Department of Human Services, ignored evidence the boy was at risk with his father. Both a prosecutor and the boy’s mother, Rebecca Jasinski of Saginaw, raised red flags.
A month before the deaths, Assistant Montcalm County Prosecutor Misty Davis told CPS that “An investigation should definitely be commenced … . Oliver literally ‘shocked’ his older boys with a cattle prod repeatedly. As you know abuse to one child is abuse to all. In my opinion, there is no justification for the youngest boy to remain in the care of this man.”
Two weeks later, she told authorities that Braman had pleaded guilty to child abuse charges. The response, just hours before the deaths were discovered: “We’ve never felt that Nicholas was at risk.”
Jasinski had “begged” CPS workers in Saginaw to remove her youngest son from Braman’s home, but was denied.
How long will bias continue to harm women and children? This man had a record of child abuse, the mother raised concerns and expressed fear, yet authorities felt this man was a “safe parent.”
Fathers rights do not trump women and children’s safety.
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