child abuse

Despite efforts to overhaul the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) for the better, two cases of severe child abuse involving malnourishment, neglect and death have made headlines in the Valley recently.

In late May, 3-year-old Alexandra Velazco was found dead in her home in Surprise despite several interactions with DCS before she was even born.

In May 2011, Alexandra and her mother, Rosemary Velazco, both tested positive for amphetamines. She was removed from her parents care for a year after her birth until both Rosemary and Alexandra’s father, Carlos Cruz, completed substance abuse treatment and parenting classes in April 2012. A few months later in July, the case was closed.

However, complaints were made to DCS again earlier this year, and agents removed an infant from their home not knowing that Alexandra and her 6-year-old brother were living there. The two were kept out of sight in a bedroom.

When Alexandra was found, she weighed only 15 pounds, was covered in bruises, lacerations and showed signs of sexual abuse, The Arizona Republic reports.

Joylynne Giebel is another example of a child who died under the watch of DCS. On June 5, DCS got a call that Giebel, 21-months-old, was dead in her home in Mesa. She died six months after DCS received its fifth call for complaints that her stepfather, Andrew Isaacs, abused and neglected her.

She was found with bruises on her face and body, internal trauma and three broken ribs, according to the DCS report.

While this type of extreme abuse most likely isn’t an everyday case for DCS workers, reports indicate that abuse and neglect aren’t uncommon in the state.

Recent data from DCS reports that one out of every 100 children in Arizona is in a form of foster or out-of-home care, and a 2014 comparison of each child protection system in the state by the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranked Arizona’s system 46th in the nation.

Earlier this year, a coalition led by the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest against DCS and Department of Health Services filed a federal class-action lawsuit due to the maintenance of a “dangerous, severely deficient foster care system,” Phoenix New Times reports.

To make matters worse, DCS is also under pressure to take care of 13,000 cases that have been considered inactive and others that haven’t been investigated at all in addition to the active cases workers attend to every day.

Arizona has been working for over a year to improve the system since former Governor Jan Brewer abolished Child Protective Services for a new, cabinet-level system.

Former DCS director Charles Flanagan and current director Greg McKay have made efforts to correct the system by fixing the child abuse hotline, increase staffing and improving the quality of foster families, but the deaths of Alexandra Velazco and Joylynne Giebel bring to light that these changes haven’t been significant enough to overcome the shadow surrounding DCS and child abuse in the state.

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson may face possible bond revocation and jail time as prosecutors allege he admitted to using marijuana, which violates the bail conditions of his felony child abuse charge.

Peterson was indicted on charges of negligent injury to a child by a grand jury in May for hitting his son, who normally lives with his mother, with a switch (thin wooden stick) during his stay at Peterson’s home north of Houston, Fox Sports said.

Police have not released details about the case, CNN said, but Peterson did turn himself in and was released Sept. 12 on a $15,000 bond with one of the conditions including mandatory drug testing.

The Washington Post reports that documents from TMZ and Fox Houston say that Peterson admitted to an employee of the drug testing company Wednesday while giving a urine sample that he had “smoked a little weed,” but it is unclear whether he failed the test.

Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon asked the primary judge in the case, Kelly Case, to arrest Peterson again and revoke his bond for using drugs and violating the conditions of his bail.

Judge Case may raise the bond amount or rearrest Peterson and require him to pay another bond, but it is unclear when Ligon’s request against Peterson will be ruled on because he has also made a request for Case to recuse himself after he made comments that the lead prosecutors in the case were “media whores,” The Washington Post said.

Rusty Hardin, Peterson’s attorney, said in a statement that Ligon’s motion to revoke Peterson’s bond will come up only when it’s known which judge will hear the case, and the defense will respond at that time, Fox Sports said.

Currently, Peterson remains free on bond. He was deactivated by the Vikings on Sept. 17 and continues to receive his full $11.75 million salary although he can not participate in any team activities.

Peterson is considered one of the best running backs in the NFL, according to CNN, and signed a seven-year contract with the Vikings worth more than $100 million in 2011.

Peterson has defended himself saying that he’s “not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser,” CNN reports. Hardin said his client didn’t mean to harm his son, but was disciplining him like “he experienced as a child growing up in East Texas.

Corso Law Group’s Christopher Corso discusses the charges Jerice Hunter, whose daughter Jhessye Shockley has been missing since October 2011, has been rearrested on in Arizona.

Christopher Corso of the Arizona defense law firm Corso Law Group discusses the charges Jerice Hunter, whose daughter Jhessye Shockley has been missing since October 2011, has been rearrested on in Arizona.