Latest news with #DepartmentofChildServices
International Business Times
3 days ago
- International Business Times
North Manchester Parents Charged After 4-Year-Old Mistakes Gun for Flashlight, Dies of Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound
Two North Manchester parents are facing a felony neglect charges after their 4-year-old son died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Mikayla Stanley, 25, and her husband, 26-year-old Nathan Stanley, were formally charged Tuesday with neglect resulting in death after their son died on May 30. They have both been arrested and booked into the Wabash County Jail. Child Picked Up the Gun After Mistaking it for a Flashlight A female family member was watching the couple's two young boys the day the 4-year-old died, court records show. The woman said she and the boys were in the Stanleys' bedroom when the gun went off. She was about to change the younger boy's diaper while the 4-year-old, identified as Charles "Alan" Stanley, played with items on a bedside table, according to court documents. The woman said she heard him say "Oh, a flashlight," and turned to see what he had – that's when she heard a gunshot. Life-saving measures were attempted, but the boy was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy showed he died from a gunshot wound to the torso. His death was ruled a homicide. Child's Mother Told Police Her Husband was Always Leaving His Guns Out Police say the parents arrived back at the home at the same time, with Mikayla Stanley asking police if it had something to do with her husband's guns, adding that he was "always leaving them out," court records show. Nathan Stanley allegedly told police he believed he had three handguns, a shotgun and possibly a .22 rifle in his bedroom, all outside of a safe, court documents say. He told police he took several guns, including the Canik 9mm believed to have killed his son, shooting five days before the 4-year-old died, adding that he did not secure them back in their cases afterward. The father told police he had a safety plan with the Department of Child Services for guns. Mikayla Stanley told police she would periodically move her husband's guns when she saw them out and that she was "always getting onto Nathan about locking his guns up," court records show. She said he would often leave guns on the kitchen counter as well. The Stanleys each face a potential 40-year sentence.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Indiana DCS cut foster care in half — and now claims children are safer
Indiana's Department of Child Services faces a new round of scrutiny following the death of Zara Arnold, a child with extensive DCS history who was killed by her father. Yet, just last year, DCS celebrated drastic reductions in the foster care system and improvements in child safety. Once known for having among the highest rates of children in foster care in the country, Indiana reduced placements by 50% between 2018 and 2024. DCS attributed its 'success' to the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act, a bipartisan federal law enacted during the first Trump administration. FFPSA defunded group home and institutional placements and created a funding stream for "prevention services" as an alternative to foster care. Yet, the interventions funded by FFPSA have been slow to roll out, both because of burdensome regulations and because such dramatic shifts in the continuum of services were never supported by data. To date, there is no evidence of improved child safety or impacts on placements. Indeed, Indiana's flagship service — the Indiana Family Preservation Services program — is described as having "0 favorable effects" by the federal clearinghouse for evidence-based programs. That did not stop DCS from asserting the exact opposite last year. In federal testimony, Deputy Director of Child Welfare Services David Reed confidently pointed to Indiana's family preservation program as 'an intervention that helps keep kids safe and out of foster care.' He further claimed to have reduced racial disparities in foster care entries by two-thirds, relying on a calculation that anyone understanding basic statistics could debunk. But Indiana did reduce its foster care population by 50% — if not through their prevention program, then how? It wasn't because Indiana had fewer concerned residents calling the hotline about suspected child maltreatment. Those numbers have barely budged, aside from a temporary drop during the pandemic, when children were out of the public eye. It also wasn't because Indiana was providing services to more families when abuse and neglect was reported — the number of families receiving services has been in steep decline since 2017. In other words, DCS did not provide more support to reduce the use of foster care. It is not intervening differently — just less. The most likely explanation is that DCS simply raised the threshold for investigating reports of maltreatment and responding to child abuse and neglect, whether through in-home services or foster care. Perhaps intervening less would be good if Indiana was previously over-investigating and over-intervening. If that's the case, then DCS should be honest about it instead of claiming that its new prevention supports keeping children safe at home and, thus, drives large-scale foster care reductions. DCS should release data about the children who previously would have received services but no longer do. Let the public evaluate whether those children should be left with no oversight. Like Zara Arnold, we know that other children continue to die of maltreatment. Children like Gwendalyn Cooksey, an 8 year-old girl with cerebral palsy and a history of physical abuse and exposure to parent drug use, who died of fentanyl poisoning in January. Or 5 year-old Kinsleigh Welty, who was starved to death in 2024 by her mother and grandmother only five months after the courts determined it was safe for her to return home from foster care. New leadership should understand how DCS cut foster care in half without evidence of more, or better, services. The public deserves to know whether the children no longer served by DCS are truly 'safe at home." Sarah Font is an associate professor of sociology and public policy at Penn State University. Emily Putnam-Hornstein is the John A. Tate Distinguished Professor for Children in Need at UNC Chapel Hill. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana foster care cuts leave children at risk | Opinion
Indianapolis Star
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana DCS cut foster care in half — and now claims children are safer
Indiana's Department of Child Services faces a new round of scrutiny following the death of Zara Arnold, a child with extensive DCS history who was killed by her father. Yet, just last year, DCS celebrated drastic reductions in the foster care system and improvements in child safety. Once known for having among the highest rates of children in foster care in the country, Indiana reduced placements by 50% between 2018 and 2024. DCS attributed its 'success' to the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act, a bipartisan federal law enacted during the first Trump administration. FFPSA defunded group home and institutional placements and created a funding stream for "prevention services" as an alternative to foster care. Yet, the interventions funded by FFPSA have been slow to roll out, both because of burdensome regulations and because such dramatic shifts in the continuum of services were never supported by data. To date, there is no evidence of improved child safety or impacts on placements. Indeed, Indiana's flagship service — the Indiana Family Preservation Services program — is described as having "0 favorable effects" by the federal clearinghouse for evidence-based programs. That did not stop DCS from asserting the exact opposite last year. In federal testimony, Deputy Director of Child Welfare Services David Reed confidently pointed to Indiana's family preservation program as 'an intervention that helps keep kids safe and out of foster care.' He further claimed to have reduced racial disparities in foster care entries by two-thirds, relying on a calculation that anyone understanding basic statistics could debunk. But Indiana did reduce its foster care population by 50% — if not through their prevention program, then how? It wasn't because Indiana had fewer concerned residents calling the hotline about suspected child maltreatment. Those numbers have barely budged, aside from a temporary drop during the pandemic, when children were out of the public eye. It also wasn't because Indiana was providing services to more families when abuse and neglect was reported — the number of families receiving services has been in steep decline since 2017. In other words, DCS did not provide more support to reduce the use of foster care. It is not intervening differently — just less. The most likely explanation is that DCS simply raised the threshold for investigating reports of maltreatment and responding to child abuse and neglect, whether through in-home services or foster care. Perhaps intervening less would be good if Indiana was previously over-investigating and over-intervening. If that's the case, then DCS should be honest about it instead of claiming that its new prevention supports keeping children safe at home and, thus, drives large-scale foster care reductions. DCS should release data about the children who previously would have received services but no longer do. Let the public evaluate whether those children should be left with no oversight. Like Zara Arnold, we know that other children continue to die of maltreatment. Children like Gwendalyn Cooksey, an 8 year-old girl with cerebral palsy and a history of physical abuse and exposure to parent drug use, who died of fentanyl poisoning in January. Or 5 year-old Kinsleigh Welty, who was starved to death in 2024 by her mother and grandmother only five months after the courts determined it was safe for her to return home from foster care. New leadership should understand how DCS cut foster care in half without evidence of more, or better, services. The public deserves to know whether the children no longer served by DCS are truly 'safe at home."
Indianapolis Star
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
Micah Beckwith's Christian nationalism is wrong for Indiana
I had the privilege of spending an hour and a half in a room with Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, along with a couple dozen other Christian pastors. He is charming and, as far as I can tell, sincere. He is also dead wrong for Indiana. Beckwith's Christian nationalist theology is being used as an excuse to rob the people of a safety net. When I brought the safety net problem up to Beckwith, he painted a portrait of a future Indiana where the people are all well-fed and happy, because everyone who has means pitches in, generously donating to charity. This is not based in reality — even church people only give 3-4% of their income, on average. While we're at it, why not insist that churches fund and administer Medicaid, the Indiana Veterans' Home and the Department of Child Services? Perhaps youth groups could be in charge of highway repairs during the summer months? Briggs: Micah Beckwith and his Indiana DOGE bros are livin' large Also, have you noticed that not everyone goes to church? Whether Beckwith realizes it or not, he and his fellow Christian nationalists are setting up laws and preaching rhetoric that divides our middle class, ultimately setting up a two-tiered economy where White Christians of a certain variety are preferred over other citizens. In education, government and in courts of law, a so-called Christian Indiana will no longer be a place of liberty and justice for all. Let me offer an alternative. I am a Red Letter Christian, which means I start with the teachings of Jesus — sometimes printed in red — and go from there. The real litmus test of any administration's policy is the question, 'What Would Jesus Do?' Jesus began his ministry in a radical way, by proclaiming that he 'came to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free' (Luke 4:18). This is God's economics, and what is truly right for our great state.
Indianapolis Star
29-05-2025
- Indianapolis Star
'She was brave': Zara's grieving mother hopes girl's killing prompts change
Zara Arnold was a "radiant little soul" whose brown eyes beamed with the wonder and curiosity of a 5-year-old. Her warmth was felt through the way she would sign, "I love you," in American Sign Language (ASL) to her mother, Tiara Finch, who is deaf. The vibration of Zara's laughter is what her mother remembers most. "Her giggle was the kind that stuck with you," Finch told IndyStar. "She was hearing, but I taught her ASL. It was the only language we used to communicate." Zara loved going to school, socializing with her friends, and dressing up as a princess. Although her life was cut short, Finch wants people to know that she made an impact. While the city struggles to understand how so many opportunities to keep Zara safe were missed, Finch wants people to also remember her daughter's smile and pureness. "She was brave in ways small and big and endlessly loved," Finch said. Her pure heart was displayed in the last words she said to her accused killer. Zara Arnold: Prosecutor looking into 'everybody' tied to 5-year-old's brutal killing, abuse Just before 11 a.m. on May 19, 2025, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police were called to a home in the 200 block of North Lasalle Street for an unresponsive 5-year-old girl. The only person in the home was Zara's father, 41-year-old Zachary Arnold. Cold to the touch and her body rigid, Zara was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives noticed she had multiple bruises and abrasions on her arms and face. There was bruising on the side of her neck. She appeared to have dried blood on her face, and nearby in a kitchen sink was a small tank top with blood. According to a probable cause for his arrest, Arnold later admitted to choking Zara two to three times the night before and has choked her on numerous occasions before. He claimed he wasn't trying to hurt Zara, but he was fighting with his ex-girlfriend, Andrea Lopez-Figueroa, and said she made him "go crazy." Later, police found videos on Lopez-Figueroa's phone of Arnold choking Zara and using a noose around her neck. 'Why'd you hurt me? Why'd you hurt me? I love you, Dad," were the last words the 5-year-old said, according to Arnold. He was arrested and formally charged with murder. Lopez-Figueroa was charged with assisting a criminal and failure to make a report for not calling 911. Finch has been facing homelessness and is working with groups and resources to help her get back on her feet and deal with the loss of her daughter. According to court documents, the mother had not seen Zara since September of 2024. Finch left Arnold when Zara was about 10 months old after claims of abuse, and between then and now, there was a long history of court orders, custody battles, and Finch not feeling like her concerns were heard. Despite a spate of subsequent concerns about other possible abuse, a Marion County judge ordered Finch to stop contacting police and the Department of Child Services with concerns about her daughter's safety. Alongside justice in her daughter's death, Finch wants people to take note of how a system tasked with keeping her safe failed. Tiara Finch: 5-year-old Zara was tortured and killed after Indiana judge silenced mom's pleas for help Finch declined to speak to the ongoing case and is instead focusing her attention on funeral arrangements and attaining resources. She has a GoFundMe set up for funeral costs for Zara and MealTrain representatives are collecting donations for the mother. Zara Arnold will be laid to rest on June 7, 2025.
