Found Deceased IL - Semaj Crosby, 16 mos, Joliet Township, 25 April 2017

[SugarQueen]

What about personal responsibility? Why is 'society' to blame for the many people having multiple children with multiple men/women, and not taking proper care of them? We see 14 and 15 yr olds begin building their families when they do not have an education or any jobs. Is that all on the government? Or do individuals have some accountability? The 30 squatters in that home---should any of them take any personal responsibility in this horrible situation? Or is it all on 'society' to fix it somehow, with more money, as if that would work anyway...:sigh:

BRAVO!! No one wants to see kids neglected or hurt but parents need to step up or stop having babies. I have no problem with people getting help if they honestly need it. We just can't expect/ blame everyone else when a parent fails to do their part. Poverty shouldn't have anything to do with neglect or abuse.

 

[Cubby]

What about personal responsibility? Why is 'society' to blame for the many people having multiple children with multiple men/women, and not taking proper care of them? We see 14 and 15 yr olds begin building their families when they do not have an education or any jobs. Is that all on the government? Or do individuals have some accountability? The 30 squatters in that home---should any of them take any personal responsibility in this horrible situation? Or is it all on 'society' to fix it somehow, with more money, as if that would work anyway...:sigh:

Respectfully, it shouldn't be all on the government, but in this particular case it was multiple government agencies who had the most direct access to the problems.

When it comes to assisting those in need, imho, there isn't one agency or sector who should be providing it. It should come from both public and private entities........ but that's a whole 'nother topic.

 

[Cubby]

Sheldon admits systematic failure with dcfs but states after review he did not see reason to remove Semaj or her siblings from the home.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/dcfs-boss-systemic-failures-preceded-death-of-semaj-crosby/

 

[MSCJgrad]

"The Joliet office of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services offered gift cards to workers closing the most cases just months before a missing 1-year-old girl's body was found under a couch in a home, a report Saturday said."

SMH

http://abc7chicago.com/news/report-...y-cases-before-1-year-old-found-dead/2048622/

 

[TTF14]

"The Joliet office of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services offered gift cards to workers closing the most cases just months before a missing 1-year-old girl's body was found under a couch in a home, a report Saturday said."

SMH

http://abc7chicago.com/news/report-...y-cases-before-1-year-old-found-dead/2048622/

That is shocking to me! Shouldn't that be illegal?

 

[borndem]

Sheldon admits systematic failure with dcfs but states after review he did not see reason to remove Semaj or her siblings from the home.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/dcfs-boss-systemic-failures-preceded-death-of-semaj-crosby/

Unbelievable. How can he admit "systematic failure" and then leave any child in her care, especially in that (IMO) flophouse? That was Semaj's death sentence, right there. Grrrrrrr. JMO.

 

[sallye818]

What I find so appalling is that the majority of the calls/reports made to DCFS were regarded as unfounded. The sexual abuse case--that was confusing to me, it seemed to have merit. Also, the children exhibited obvious injuries and were telling others that they were being hurt, but once DCFS got involved , they often changed their stories. This tells me they were fearful of someone. One very telling statement was the little boy saying that he was afraid of his aunt & grandma, and they hurt him all the time, but he felt safe with his mom I can only wonder if living like this was the root of Semaj's brother's suicidal ideations. This is one family where, if the squatters did NOT move out, the children should've been removed to other family members. There were ways of dealing with this, that may have spared that baby's life.

 

[Cubby]

Unbelievable. How can he admit "systematic failure" and then leave any child in her care, especially in that (IMO) flophouse? That was Semaj's death sentence, right there. Grrrrrrr. JMO.

IDK, but I'd really like for him to explain why, according to the county the home was not deemed fit for occpancy, but according to docs that same environment was ok. It's head scratching, literally. How can it be both? Mr. Sheldon needs to further explain, imo.

 

[ts51]

This!! If not us (society) then who? We should not let babies, who had no choice in what kind of crap life they would born into, fend for themselves..if we allow that, then we would be no better than a third world country, who does not have resources to do what the US could do..I agree, parents have got to be held responsible for their children, stop having kids you cannot care for!! But they do. I have often thought that maybe we should go back to orphanages, thinking we could scoop up all the abused and neglected kids and keep them safe, fed, clean, without the horrors and abuse of yesteryear..like one big daycare..and I would love to work there..but I know this not realistic..just me wanting to scoop them all up.

Once a child is born, it does not matter who their parent is or parental education level or job. The children are here. We could debate or agree on personal responsibility but IT just does not matter. Can we or should we turn a blind eye and not give this generation a shot? I think we must act and spend the resources to break the cycle of poverty and lack of education. JMHO.

 

[perfectingpink]

Attorneys for Semaj Crosby’s mother respond to DCFS report
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/attorneys-for-semaj-crosbys-mother-respond-to-dcfs-report/amp/

 

[MSCJgrad]

"Patel’s statement focused on the report’s conclusions “that 1. Sheri Gordon was and is ‘nurturing and caring’ to her children"

Her attorneys must have missed the part about her beating her child with a shoe and her refusing to provide her suicidal 7 year old with any follow up care, as well as her refusal to comply with orders to take parenting classes, and her surrounding her children with drugs, felons, child molesters, and fellow-child abusers, or her neglect in allowing her children to roam the neighborhood freely. There is more avoidance and finger-pointing in this case than anything i've ever seen, and I'm here to tell you I've seen some s***.

Attorneys for Semaj Crosby’s mother respond to DCFS report
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/attorneys-for-semaj-crosbys-mother-respond-to-dcfs-report/amp/

 

[4SAM]

amazing/shocking case. I couldn't bring myself to read DCFS report. Are the other children placed in foster homes?

 

[2Hope4]

What's so frustrating, no matter how much help is given, no matter how much money an agency has *obviously enough to offer gift card bonuses!*, kids are still killed daily.... I can't comprehend. And I don't know who killed little Semaj, who i just noticed is James spelled backwards, but anyway, someone did, and someone put her under the couch. IMO, I don't think a kid did that.

Find that murderer and arrest them!

As to the debate on what part of blame society, govt etc holds when individuals choose to bring innocent babies into this world, with no means to raise them.... welll IMO the govt has created an entire society that is literally enslaved to the govt. My eyes were really opened to this with the Relish Rudd case. Generations of families who depend on the govt to survive. No cases of someone needing temporary help, nope. Families that are raised to fraud the resources and feel entitled to the govt takign care of their every need, from food, clothing, housing, childcare, medical care... refusing to work or to educate themselves! They fraud the programs designed to educate them to they can get a job! Taking the college money, signing up for a semester, then dropping out and keeping the money. I don't know how they don't get caught, but they don't!

Look at the case with Erica Parsons.... missing for YEARS, and the family continued getting govt assistance as if she was alive! They had murdered the child, and went on with their lives. Disgusting.


This has NOTHING to do with being poor either! I come from a long line of poor people. All hard working people! People that ironed and washed clothes for others, mowed lawns, worked gardens, cooked for the rich, picked gallons of berries to sell, learned trade work, manual labor... each generation wanting better than their previous generation. From grandparents on both sides with no more than 7 grade education, there are numerous college graduates now. Being poor is no excuse!!!

 

[cvaldez1975]

myself, yes I feel that ppl need to be personally responsible and face consequences to their actions... IE if their kid is neglected, abused, God forbid, killed.... they need to go to jail. however, nothing will stop these awful things from occurring... so safety nets (like CPS) need to be in place. yes, arrest abusive parents, but there needs to be something in place that catches this crap before it happens. there is systematic failure, but there has also been children saved.

 

[perfectingpink]

Headline is a little deceiving. He isn't resigning because he is incompetent, he is resigning because he has another job (as we already knew).

With spotlight on Semaj’s death, DCFS director resigns

Earlier this month, Sheldon had revealed that he was considering the offer he eventually accepted – to be CEO of Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe, Inc., in Florida.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/with-spotlight-on-semajs-death-dcfs-director-resigns/

 

[mrsobrien]

What's so frustrating, no matter how much help is given, no matter how much money an agency has *obviously enough to offer gift card bonuses!*, kids are still killed daily.... I can't comprehend. And I don't know who killed little Semaj, who i just noticed is James spelled backwards, but anyway, someone did, and someone put her under the couch. IMO, I don't think a kid did that.

Find that murderer and arrest them!

As to the debate on what part of blame society, govt etc holds when individuals choose to bring innocent babies into this world, with no means to raise them.... welll IMO the govt has created an entire society that is literally enslaved to the govt. My eyes were really opened to this with the Relish Rudd case. Generations of families who depend on the govt to survive. No cases of someone needing temporary help, nope. Families that are raised to fraud the resources and feel entitled to the govt takign care of their every need, from food, clothing, housing, childcare, medical care... refusing to work or to educate themselves! They fraud the programs designed to educate them to they can get a job! Taking the college money, signing up for a semester, then dropping out and keeping the money. I don't know how they don't get caught, but they don't!

Look at the case with Erica Parsons.... missing for YEARS, and the family continued getting govt assistance as if she was alive! They had murdered the child, and went on with their lives. Disgusting.


This has NOTHING to do with being poor either! I come from a long line of poor people. All hard working people! People that ironed and washed clothes for others, mowed lawns, worked gardens, cooked for the rich, picked gallons of berries to sell, learned trade work, manual labor... each generation wanting better than their previous generation. From grandparents on both sides with no more than 7 grade education, there are numerous college graduates now. Being poor is no excuse!!!

Thank you! My family starved in the old country, came to the US and mined coal, boxed in bars for food, and traveled across the country as migrant farm workers during the depression. Each generation since has worked to improve our standings. I don't come from the lineage of angels or anything, but placing value on the idea that we can do better by hard work and steadfastness has made improvement possible.

 

[borndem]

Here's a tidbit from the earlier news article

In four of those incidents, DCFS rejected some or all of the IG’s recommendations. For Kane, that was a change in attitude compared to previous DCFS administrations.

“I think you can say there was a little shift in how much oversight they welcomed,” Kane said. “That’s the first time that’s ever happened.”

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/with-spotlight-on-semajs-death-dcfs-director-resigns/

Shame, shame.

IMO

 

[Kadoober]

I haven't posted here in a bit, and have nothing of value to add. But my goodness guys. A suicidal seven year old? I can't stand that, I can't handle the idea of a suicidal 7 year old. What has to happen in a seven year olds life to bring him to that?

I know bullying is an issue, and sadly I've seen stories of kids not much older than him taking their lives over bullying. Somehow I don't think that was the case here. I can't stop thinking about him.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Cubby]

I haven't posted here in a bit, and have nothing of value to add. But my goodness guys. A suicidal seven year old? I can't stand that, I can't handle the idea of a suicidal 7 year old. What has to happen in a seven year olds life to bring him to that?

I know bullying is an issue, and sadly I've seen stories of kids not much older than him taking their lives over bullying. Somehow I don't think that was the case here. I can't stop thinking about him.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

I've thought about him a lot too. I'm sure his depression is a result of the turmoil of his home life. All we can do is pray for him and pray he is in an environment which can help him succeed to his full potential.

 

[Cubby]

I keep thinking about who put Semaj under the couch. I think the answer might lie in who was inside the house while the others were trying to get the car started for ice cream. All I can think of isthat couch being a temporary hiding spot while the person/s resposible tried to get everyone away from the home so they could take Semaj out from under the couch and dispose of her somewhere else.

More than one persons knows........ Please let someone do the right thing and tell what they know. Semaj deserves justice.