"At the time of those convictions she had her parental rights severed and her children taken away," the prosecutor said. "She did get those children back. Not legally, but from her mother."
<snip>
CBS 5 news has learned that Child Protective Services had been out to Hunter's apartment - this past spring to investigate a complaint of possible child abuse, yet no formal action was taken.
<snip>
CBS 5 asked officials with CPS why Shockley and her siblings weren't removed from Hunter's home.
A CPS official said they could not comment on the case.
http://www.kpho.com/story/16106204/arrested-mother-should-have-never-had-kids-prosecutor-says
So: Jerice is convicted of child abuse/torture while pregnant with Jhessye. CPS places her already born children with Jerice's mother, Shirley Johnson. All this takes place in CA. Jerice goes to AZ where she has some cousins. She gives birrth to Jhessye, leaving her with one of the cousins, and goes back to CA to report for her sentencing. Jerice's parental rights are SEVERED by CPS and the courts.
Flash forward to Jerice's early release from prison. Grandmother Shirley Johnson hands over the children to Jerice, despite the severance. CPS continues to to blindly assume that the children are with grandma Shirley. It does not looking likely that any sort of checking in, home visits, follow ups, or anything at all were being done by CPS in CA to monitor how Grandma and the kids in her care were faring.
After collecting her children from Shirley Johnson in CA, Jerice moves them all to AZ, where she shows up at the cousins house demanding her baby (the now fourish Jhessye). The cousin is unable to proove her rights or claim to Jhessye as the arrangement was never a formal one is forced or intimidated into handing the child over.
Flash forward to April, 2011: A relative contacts AZ CPS with concerns that Jhessye is being abused (perhaps the cousin who raised Jhessye, unclear at this time). CPS goes to the home, and for whatever reason finds no evidence of abuse and does not seem to be aware that Jerice's parental rights were severed in CA and that none of those children should even be with her in the first place. No action is taken.
And now to today which finds us searching a landfill for a beautiful child that knew untold terror and torture at the hands of her own mother.
This one is gonna pizzz me off for a long long time.