While Colorado has legalized marijuana and other states are moving to decriminalize or legalize its use, Texas takes a hard approach to pot. That was more than evident in the tragedy surrounding the death of a two-year-old little girl named Alexandria Hill who died from injuries in an abusive foster home after she was taken away due to her parent’s use of marijuana.
We have previously seen abuses of the child welfare system like the professor who had his custody taken away and was banned from his own home because his son unwittingly bought a hard lemonade rather than a regular lemonade at a Michigan football game. However, this case resulted in the death of this child who was first put through not one but two abusive foster homes.
Joshua Hill does not deny that he would sometimes use pot after putting his daughter to bed. This might be viewed as a minor issue in most states, but not Texas. Authorities removed Alex from the home and sent her to a foster home where she was abused. On visitations, Joshua Hill would find bruises on her and there would be mold and mildew in her lunch box. Finally, Texas removed her to the foster home of Sherill Small. It would be a death sentence for the little girl.
Alex was taken to the hospital and put on life support in a coma. Alex was hemorrhaging in her brain and eyes from blunt force trauma to the head. Those are classic symptoms of “shaken baby syndrome.” She lasted only a few days and died. They arrested Small for murder. Small and her husband, Clemon Small, reportedly handle five or six children as a source of income.
The case illustrates that the legalization of pot involves a myriad of issues beyond the question of arrests. Pot arrests lead to criminal records that bar employment and family law issues from custody to child welfare proceedings.
Of course, putting Alex in a succession of abusive homes was viewed as better than leaving her with parents suspected of pot use. Problem solved.
Source: KVUE
Jean I disagree totally on your opinion of marijuana.
Absolutely it’s use can be abused by individuals, but this is the exception, it is far removed from the reality.
My anecdotal evidence is (I’m 58) 45 years of having knowledge of its use. 45 years of working, friendships, aquaintance with folks that enjoy it.
Marijuana is very benign,and poses an infinitesmally small risk to 99% of its users. I want to say 99.99% but my example is anecdotal.
On the surface and as it is presented, this is one of the most painful articles I have read on the Turley blog.
Justice Holmes says very well,
“Children are meant to be cared for and loved not “handled” like cattle for money”.
This child got led to the slaughter. Any one know the price of child meat per pound in the Texas foster care system?
Mike Spindell, I believe heaven exists on earth, and hell exists on earth.
I have experienced both in my lifetime. As I age I recognize I can steer my path towards the “Higher Plains” and I can walk out of hell when I find myself near it or in it. Child protective service must be hell on earth at times. I truly think you were one of the better ones. This must be a hellish job.
I wonder if Texas could funnel a little extra oil profits from the Oilagarchs to improve it’s foster care supervision ?
“Child protective service must be hell on earth at times. I truly think you were one of the better ones. This must be a hellish job.”
Davidbluefish,
There was one time as a supervisor I was reading a workers case writeup and I started weeping uncontrollably at my desk on a open floor with hundreds of workers. People rushed to my side to aid what they saw as my pain and it took me perhaps fifteen minutes to regain control of myself enough to explain to those around me. It could well be hell and my children were young at the time so the hurt to children resonated moreso with me. Honestly, to blow my own horn I was recognized as being extraordinary in the field and that was why I was plucked from the Brooklyn Field Office to the Agency’s Central Office. I became the recognized expert on field service delivery and even wrote the Agency’s Reorganization Plan in the 1980’s. When the Deputy Commissioner I worked for, changed that plan in a way that would have allowed for more political appointees who probably didn’t know the job I rebelled. She basically told me that she was sure I would go along with it if I knew what was good for my future. She was wrong. That occurred on a Friday. That afternoon I called up a friend I had made in another Agency and by Monday I had put in for a lateral transfer to that Agency that was accepted.
I was blackballed by Child Protective Services and even after that Deputy Commissioner left they would never let me transfer back in. I loved my time there because I had a deep sense of an important mission, but I took it so seriously I could not tolerate not living up to the highest standards. Oh the stories I could tell………….
Jean,
Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest musicians to ever live, smoked pot every day of his life, and all he did was change the course of music.
I want comment but truly don’t even know what to say. When it comes to Texas (and Florida) nothing is too idiotic, no consequences too grave for them to rethink their policies. Will the death of this child do it? Sadly, I doubt it.
Fitting proof…….. the state only cares about babies, until they are born!
The War on Drugs takes another life. This time it was a young, defenseless girl. When will we declare a war against the corporate take over of this country?
The death of this child is deplorable, but the reasons the state took the child from the parents remain unknown. The parents claim it was their marijuana use, but no state, even Texas, removes children for such a reason. Without in any way defending the Texas foster care or child protection system, it is important to note that because of reasons of confidentiality, the state is unable to publicly report on the neglect that led to the child’s removal. I’m absolutely certain it involved more than marijuana use.
This is what happens in a one party state. There is no accountability and elected officials are immune from consequences to themselves.
Marjiuna does not destroy families or people….Are you freaking kidding me! The destruction to a human life on pot is just to obvious to list. But I’ll give you one…..those who use pot do not live up to their potential! Here’s a few bonus reason…humans on pot usually become lazy, feel sorry for themselves, get cranky….I prefer to not be around them…but that’s just me!
Having spent eight years working in Child Protective Services I can tell you from actual experiences that the Foster Care systems in many, if not all States are broken. While there are some wonderful foster parents, it is a fifty/fifty proposition whether a child removed from their parental home will get one of the good ones. Foster Care institutions suffer from the same problem. While I and the workers I supervised made many removals we had a standing precept which I imposed and that was if the foster situation we took the child to seemed in any way problematic we would not leave the child there. Many foster parents are in it for the money and many foster care agencies despite their pretense of concern for the children are equally and cynically chasing the money. That has to be reformed but sadly it isn’t going to happen soon, if ever.
The direct cause of this child’s death was a removal based on probably a stupid Child Welfare regulation. Many States have adopted rigid removal policies as a tangent to the “War on Drugs”. As someone who has actually had go into home and physically remove children, sometimes under police protection, I can tell you that there are few issues that are clear cut. To do the job right you must make hard and fast assessments as to the fitness of the parent compared to the bleakness of the foster care system. If you have a conscience these decisions weigh heavily on you. It may sound macabre, but the best cases to deal with were those where there was clear and convincing physical evidence of abuse. It was the “grey” areas like drug use, or lack of food in the home that caused nightmares and crisis of conscience with me that still haunt me after more than 25 years away from working in the system.
The use of marijuana should not be a cause for removal in and of itself. There must be actual proof that this use is proximate to actual neglect and I would say that the instances of this are quite rare. Yet we are talking about the State of Texas where draconian solutions to everything, save the excesses of business, seems to be the rule. This case is a true tragedy that can never be made up to the parents. Sadly, I doubt that any of the officials involved, nor the Texas legislature will give anything but a passing thought to it. In the most negative sense “it’s the Code of the West” ruling Texas and the reality is that life is NOT a John Wayne movie.
but yet is it just a religious thing? and religious idiots? i just simply disagree, for no, it’s all about power and money. i’ll try to keep this short, for it would take days if not longer to really have or to trade ideas about the major life changing problem. the whole point of this and many other if not all other problems is that most folks only know what they hear. they’ll repeat it the same ol rumors the rest of their days here upon planet earth. main reason, folks are mainly lazy and are willingly ignorant an or a bunch of dum-masses. folks like i said, they only repeat in what they hear, and never do any searches are any real researching on subject like this. i’ve known folks that only read a headlines of some news article and maybe the first paragraph and they would go to their death arguing with you til kingdom comes, and in their minds thought they were some kinda expert. but to think this is only, or mainly a religious problem is not even close. most doesn’t even know it was mandatory for farmers to grow a certain amount of hemp to pay your taxes. and only back in 1937 is when they really started making laws against buying, growing, selling hemp. hemp has alot of history here in the states, let alone all over the world. it’s said that this is the most useful plant on the face of the earth. over 2,000 uses, and this is not counting the medical uses that just here lately that doctors and scientist or just coming to find out about, an or just now coming back to realizes. you see much of the known uses has been forgotten. i’m an old man now, and i’ve smoked more pot in my younger days than most would ever smoke in a life time, maybe that explains my lack of writing skills, hahaha… but now i don’t smoke it, haven’t in over 35-40 years? ya know it’ll make you to forget? what were we talking about? i guess i have that sometimers crap with me-mind??? just have abunch of flash-back with Cheech and Chong Skits running through-em…
This is just one result of an idiotic, senseless, propagandistic “war on drugs.” Equally moronic are civil asset forfeiture, minimum sentencing, felonies for victimless crimes, Byrne Laws, loss of the right to vote, being locked out of the employment system—the list goes on and on—simply for mere possession.
Such a tragic story. Pot use should not lead to foster homes for children.
“Small and her husband, Clemon Small, reportedly handle five or six children as a source of income.” When foster care becomes a source of income the system is broken. Children are meant to be cared for and loved not “handled” like cattle for money.
This makes me sick as it should every thinking human being. Unfortunately our society is filled with religious people that think pot smoking is worse than death for a child. Am I being harsh. YES. This makes me so mad I could spit bullets. A society that takes away a child for a reason like parents smoking pot is in a sad state of decline. And yes, I blame the religious idiots for this as I know many of them personally.
Stop this madness NOW.
Cannabis doesn’t destroy families, but keeping it a black market substance certainly puts users in close proximity to drugs that do. It’s absolutely moronic to keep adults from using such a potentially helpful, but certainly not harmful, substance.
notonoahidelaws 1, August 5, 2013 at 7:37 am
… build from scratch is what i’d call for.
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The problem with that is that the toxins are in the scratch too. We need to learn how to avoid becoming intoxicated with power.
is it even possible to use anything of our system we have now if “we the people” started to take our nation back? for clearly it seems to me that every facet of our system it utterly broken beyond repair. so surely we should just have a totally knock-down and everything built from scratch. no need to use any of the corrupted parts, and lord forbid to use any of the broken pieces. just scrap-it all and just build from scratch is what i’d call for. maybe it’s just me, but hasn’t our laws been perverted from the beginning, or am i just to jaded and cynical? but folks, crap like this just makes me wanta go into a rage and fix this mess on my own. but of course i know better, it’s gotten bad here on planet earth, folks. where is your out-rage? why should we obey a corrupted system, the corrupted perversion that “they” call “the law”? My God, what and how far will you be pushed until it’s time to push back??? i mean, c’mon folks, when will we be able to use our Constitution? it’s the most thought out and close as human will get to a near perfect constitution, well maybe not near perfect, but a good one at least. but we don’t use it, why not give it to another people, another nation that would use it? another nation that at least will appreciate it. crap, who am i kidding, no-one gives one iotta what i think nor what i say. just blowing smoke here, taking up space. but does this not piss you off? news like this breaks this old man heart, my soul is crying out. ol yeah, for all you writers out there, don’t bother to correct me and my mistakes, i really could sleave-a-git.
May God Have Mercy On the Spiritually Deaf And Blind, and all those in the middle.
Something is broken in Texas.
Drugs destroy families, but apparently they forget that 10 years in prison at taxpayer expense does the same thing.
Deluded taxpayers have been sold a bill of goods on the “War On Drugs”.
Like they say “Pot won’t kill you, but the DEA might”!!
And now we can add family services to the list…
Tragic, and a lot of tragic comes from Texas. Texas killed her in order to protect her, which is similar to the abusive spouse who says ‘I beat you because I love you’…..