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Steve Myers
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Mom declined help days before Rose's death
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Thursday, September 21, 2006
By Ron Fonger
rfonger@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6317
FLINT - Nineteen days before 5-year-old Rose Kelley died in a home so filthy it shocked police, her parents turned down an offer to help them control lice and make their home more sanitary, according to an amended family court petition.
Michelle L. Bowen, Rose Kelley's mother, told a caseworker at Washington Elementary School that the family was "doing pretty good and that they did not need any help," according to the petition from the Genesee Circuit Court.
Caseworkers and police have said Rose Kelley died in squalor in her east side rental home, her hair severely infested with lice, and the "overwhelming stench of stale air, urine and dog feces" inside.
Prosecutors filed the amended complaint this week as they prepared for an Oct. 25 trial aimed at terminating the parental rights of Bowen and Jeffrey C. Kelley.
Rose Kelley's older sister attended Washington Elementary, where the state Department of Human Services has a family resource center with caseworkers offering parents help with such services as cash and food assistance.
The amended court petition says a caseworker offered help in a face-to-face meeting in her office on May 16, 19 days before Rose Kelley died, and was told by Bowen that she would ask for help if she and Kelley couldn't take care of things themselves.
"Michelle Bowen said that both she and Jeffrey were 'working on the problem(s),'" the petition says.
DHS has said in court filings that it previously had been in contact with the family because of medical neglect and chronic head lice.
Officials said Wednesday they could not comment on dealings with a specific family but confirmed Washington has one of 46 family resource centers in Michigan.
Karen Stock, director of DHS' office of communications, said in an e-mail to The Flint Journal that she could not comment on conversations DHS workers may have had with the Bowen-Kelley family.
Kraig Sippell, an attorney representing Bowen in the termination hearing, said he hadn't yet spoken to his client about the new petition filed by the Genesee County prosecutor's office.
"I don't believe the alleged conditions of the home led to this medical condition," Sippell said. "These people didn't do anything to intentionally" harm their daughter.
The Oakland County medical examiner has ruled Rose Kelley's death a homicide and said she died from liver failure compounded by neglect.
Police have said Bowen told them she knew her daughter was sick for days but never took her to a doctor, fearing her children would be taken from her because of lice infestation.
Three other children in the Bowen-Kelley home have been removed by Probate Judge Robert E. Weiss. The Oct. 25 trial is scheduled to determine whether the unmarried couple should have their parental rights terminated
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-39/1158848456129450.xml&coll=5 |
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Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:55 am |
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