D.C. Govt. Definitely Not Responsible when Black Children Turn Up Missing or Dead at their Top Notch Homeless Shelter
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'A racist white person will not do what needs to be done for your children.' [MORE] In photo Black kid plays around a dumpster on the campus of D.C. General, the dilapidated, homeless shelter in D.C. Go there and watch the kids play outdoors - after midnight. From [HERE] Poor communication among several District agencies led to tragic mistakes in the case of Relisha Rudd, with officials failing to act because they wrongly assumed others had, a city report found Tuesday.
The report is the city’s first public accounting of 8-year-old Relisha’s contact with agencies before she vanished in March with Kahlil Tatum, a 51-year-old janitor at the shelter where she lived.
But even with the shortcomings, the report says that “no justifiable government actions would have prevented Relisha’s tragic disappearance.” The 12-page report also says “there was no recent assessment of [Relisha’s] parents’ capacity or of the family’s overall functioning.”
Child-welfare advocates and D.C. Council member Jim Graham, head of the committee tasked with overseeing the shelter, blasted the report, saying that the city wrongly concluded that nothing could have saved Relisha, who remains missing.
This is a sorry “and terribly tragic tale of government failure,” Graham (D-Ward 1) said in an e-mail. “I am totally baffled by the report’s conclusion that ‘no justifiable government actions would have prevented Relisha’s tragic disappearance.’ I think it is now obvious that much more could have been done to protect this vulnerable child.”
On Feb. 26, Relisha’s mother allowed Tatum to take the girl home with him. Authorities first realized she was missing March 19, when a school social worker tried to confront the janitor at the crowded emergency shelter on the grounds of the old D.C. General Hospital. Tatum’s wife was found that day, fatally shot in the head in a Prince George’s County motel. Police said Tatum and Relisha were last seen March 1, and the next day, police said he bought 42-gallon trash bags and was seen at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens. His body was found there March 31.
On Tuesday, child-welfare advocates asked why, if nothing could have saved Relisha, the public should have confidence that it can’t happen again.
Relisha’s disappearance prompted an exhaustive search by D.C. police and sparked public outrage at how a young girl could be abducted by an employee of a D.C.-run shelter and be missing for more than two weeks before anyone in authority noticed. [MORE]
