Child Dies In Foster Care, Taken From Parents Because They Smoked Pot

Child dies in foster care: not something we’re used to seeing, though recent stats reported by Reason.com indicate perhaps we should be.

Referring to a case that was first reported by KVUE in Texas, the website chronicled the case of two-year-old Alexandria Hill, who was removed from the home of her parents because the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) determined that the mother and father smoked pot.

(Alexandria’s father admitted that the couple smoked pot while their daughter was sleeping. The Hills were found to have “limited parenting skills” by officials, noted KXAN in a separate report.)

Only thing is, under the supervision of Joshua Hill and his wife, the child was alive. That would not be the case after she was relocated to a foster home.

“We never hurt our daughter,” Hill said. “She was never sick, she was never in the hospital, and she never had any issues until she went into state care.”

On the night of Monday, July 29, Alexandria was rushed to a Rockdale hospital, then flown to White Children’s Emergency Hospital in Temple, where she was placed on life support.

Alexandria died earlier this week of “severe head injuries,” Reason.com noted.

The foster mother caring for Alexandria at the time is in custody, and has admitted to “slamming” the little girl’s head. She is being charged with murder, authorities stated.

Reason.com added that “child dies in foster care” cases like this one are somewhat frequent occurrences, according to statistics that show children in foster care may be up to 10 times more likely to die than children in the care of their own parents.

A bit more on the Hill case here:

Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a string of child abuse cases that resulted in death throughout the US over the last month.

In July, The Inquisitr reported on Toni Gwynn, a toddler bound to her car seat for 15 hours and suffocated with a blanket when she wouldn’t stop crying. Her parents were arrested for the crime.

Also last month, a teen mom was arrested for killing her newborn daughter with a blow to the head moments after giving birth.

Do you think if a child dies in foster care, officials should be subject to criminal and/or civil charges along with the perpetrator of the crime?

[Family image via KXAN]