Child's death leaves state, mother pointing fingers

AMERICUS - For 14 years, doctors, teachers and others complained that Ramona Ellis could not care for her disabled son. He was hospitalized 21 times, and had pressure sores that developed into infections so bad that both legs had to be amputated. <br> <br> Despite numerous warnings, including at least one predicting Raymond Ellis&#39; death, health officials failed to remove him from the home. Now, prosecutors have charged his mother, a minimum-wage fast-food restaurant worker, with murder for neglecting her son. <br> <br> But her lawyer says the Georgia Department of Family and Children&#39;s Services, the state&#39;s child-protection agency, holds some blame for Raymond&#39;s death. <br> <br> ``There are serious questions that need to be asked,&#39;&#39; William Murray said. ``Ms. Ellis was a marginal person in terms of education, wage-earning capacity ... her knowledge of how to deal with the problems she was faced with. She was faced with overwhelming circumstances we hope the court will consider.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Raymond, 16, died in June 1997 from a massive infection, one of many that plagued him throughout his life. Doctors said Raymond developed pressure sores because he was left in his chair or bed for long stretches of time. The sores went untreated and developed into deadly infections. Earlier, similar infections forced doctors to amputate both of his legs. <br> <br> Raymond was born on Dec. 27, 1980, and paralyzed from the waist down when he was struck by a car at 19 months. He lived with his mother and two brothers in a home that some medical officials said was unfit for someone with his needs. <br> <br> Advocates say Raymond should have been removed years before his death. <br> <br> ``I am angry that all of our systems didn&#39;t work in a way that might have kept a child alive,&#39;&#39; said Sandra Alexander, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia. ``It&#39;s a sad outcome for something that sounds as if it could easily have been prevented.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Ellis was arrested in February after a Sumter County grand jury indicted her for felony and malice murder. The indictment said her failure to provide care demonstrated ``wanton negligence and an abandoned and malignant heart.&#39;&#39; She was released on $10,000 bond on May 16 and is scheduled for trial in September. <br> <br> Special prosecutor Charles H. Weston Sr. said Raymond could have been saved if his mother had provided even minimal care. <br> <br> ``It is the state&#39;s contention that over a long period of time, for whatever reason, Ms. Ellis just wouldn&#39;t take care of the child,&#39;&#39; Weston said during the bond hearing. <br> <br> Weston said several of the physicians who had treated the boy wrote letters to DFACS saying, ``If you don&#39;t take this child out of the home, this boy is going to die.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Then why didn&#39;t someone remove him from the home? DFACS officials say Ellis was difficult to deal with, but her lawyer says it&#39;s unfair to just blame her. <br> <br> ``She was a struggling mother whose child had lost both legs,&#39;&#39; Murray told the Americus-Times Recorder. ``He was in a wheelchair. He was totally handicapped. He was involved with lots of special education teachers and doctors, but no one acted to remove him from his mother&#39;s care.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Records from the Sumter County DFACS office show Raymond was the subject of numerous neglect and abuse reports. Yet, he was removed from his mother&#39;s custody for only one month in 1991. Documents obtained by the Times-Recorder under the state&#39;s Open Records Act indicated the agency never requested permanent custody. <br> <br> Among the documents was a report prepared by Sarah Brownlee, then-director of DFACS&#39; Social Services Section. She said DFACS began getting the first of many abuse and neglect complaints about Raymond&#39;s mother in 1983. <br> <br> ``Her explanations seemed to override any concerns voiced by physicians, school personnel, family members and neighbors,&#39;&#39; she said. <br> <br> Ellis was uncooperative, missed appointments and was even suspected of phoning a bomb threat to the DFACS office in Americus, Brownlee said. <br> <br> ``Raymond&#39;s medical providers repeatedly asked the county to take physical custody of the child,&#39;&#39; she said. ``From Dec. 1994, on, they made it clear that Raymond&#39;s physical condition was life threatening and that it was caused by years of neglect by Ms. Ellis.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> When he was 3, public health officials reported witnessing his mother hit him with her fists. When he was 10, he was found covered in burns and old scars, the report said. One of his legs was amputated in 1994, another in 1997. <br> <br> Brownlee said medical providers wrote letters and telephoned their concerns. During the boy&#39;s last year, the department received more letters and phone calls, but the department failed to seek permanent custody. <br> <br> Gov. Roy Barnes and Attorney General Thurbert Baker, concerned about the deaths of several young children, ordered an investigation of the department in 1999. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents examined files from DFACS offices around the state. Two deaths Ellis and Terrell Peterson of Atlanta resulted in criminal prosecutions. <br> <br> Peterson died in 1998 at the age of 5, his body covered with scars, bruises and cuts. His grandmother pleaded guilty to murder and other charges and was sentenced to life without parole. Outrage over the child deaths, reported in a series of stories by The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, led to the passage of laws, including one that gives doctors the power to take temporary custody of at-risk children. <br> <br> The GBI concluded that bad decisions and sloppy work contributed to the deaths of Ellis and Peterson. <br> <br> Since then, DFACS has created a special unit to investigate deaths or serious injuries to children and holds the staff more accountable, DFACS spokeswoman Renee Huie said. <br> <br> In Sumter County, a case manager was fired, a supervisor was demoted and the county DFACS director received a letter of reprimand. <br> <br> ``In this case, we failed to protect a very vulnerable child from maltreatment,&#39;&#39; Brownlee said. <br> <br> ``One can only imagine how much Raymond suffered throughout the years of neglect by his mother. This ... would have been prevented had he been placed in a caring environment.&#39;&#39;

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