Friday, Jun. 12, 2009

DCFS will look into Madison baby case; boy was returned to mother after being kidnapped

Agency to examine boy's home situation

MADISON -- The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has been asked to investigate the home situation of Cortez Rose, the baby who was returned to his mother Wednesday after being kidnapped.

The now 6-month-old boy was reunited with his mother, 15-year-old Makeela King, on Wednesday in Fort Wayne, Ind., where police had tracked down the alleged kidnapper, 17-year-old Danielle Medina.

Madison Police Chief Steve Shelby confirmed Thursday that DCFS has been asked to investigate the baby's home situation.

Neither King nor her mother, Joanna Sherrod, could be reached for comment Thursday about the DCFS complaint.

"Calls have been made," Shelby said. He declined to elaborate, and he declined to identify the source of the report to DCFS.

A DCFS investigation can result in a child being removed from a home and placed in protective custody, or in the child's family receiving various forms of support and assistance.

King left her son at her home on Fifth Street with Medina on Saturday. Medina, a friend of King's sister, was supposed to watch Cortez until the child's godmother picked him up.

Medina allegedly left with the infant before King came home. King then notified police Sunday when Medina did not return with the baby, and officials issued a missing-child alert.

King was at the Madison Police Department on Tuesday when she learned her son had been found. She and her mom, her mom's boyfriend and Cortez's godmother, left for Indiana about 9 p.m. to pick up Cortez.

The group's vehicle ran out of gas as they got to Indiana, and they did not have enough money to fill up the tank.

Officials had given King a QuikTrip gas card to use for her trip to Indiana, but the group was unable to find a QuikTrip. When King explained to a clerk at a gas station why she was in Indiana, the clerk gave King the last $8 she had.

The Indiana Department of Child Services official who was watching Cortez gave the family $50 to pay for their trip home. The agency also returned two diaper bags that Medina had taken from King.

A News-Democrat reporter visited King on Wednesday night at the home she shares with her mother. The dark stairway to the second level had ripped carpet, and the stairs sunk at places.

The baby sleeps in a room with a bed that takes up the entire room. There's a large, flat-screen TV in the back. The other rooms are empty, with what appears to be lots of water damage.

But a child doesn't have to be removed from an environment just because it's not a perfect one, according to Roy Harley, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Illinois.

"If there's no neglect or abuse with the child, DCFS really doesn't have any responsibility for becoming involved with that family," Harley said. "While we do, in our society, look for our government to protect children, we also guard against inappropriate invasions, particularly the sanctity of the home. Somewhere in there is the balance."

Harley said it's appropriate that DCFS was asked to investigate, and that the situation of how the child was left with the alleged kidnapper "could be construed at some point as child endangerment."

But he added, "We can't just pluck children from families because we don't like the situation or think it's as healthy as we'd like to have our child in. People get outraged about stuff that doesn't fit their perception about the ideal situation, and there's lots of it out there."

Medina is in custody in Indiana and has been charged in Madison County with aggravated kidnapping.

Medina is from New York but about two months ago began staying in East St. Louis with a boyfriend. She then moved to the Madison residence for the babysitting job through an acquaintance, according to police.