CARNATION — Some officials are wondering if the state gave up too soon on its investigation more than three years ago into the possible abuse of a girl whose parents have now been charged with criminal mistreatment for withholding food and water.
Rebecca A. Long, 44, and Jon E. Pomeroy, 43, are scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 27 on charges of withholding their now 14-year-old daughter’s food and water so drastically that she weighed only 48 pounds when state workers took the child from their home in August.
When the father and stepmother were investigated in 2005, a Child Protective Services caseworker found evidence of neglect, but recommended the parents get counseling and closed the case one month after a visit to the home satisfied the caseworker that the situation had improved.
The case had come to the attention of state officials after a Cascade Elementary School teacher called police with concerns about the girl, then 11. A deputy interviewed the teacher, the child and her parents and inspected their home outside Carnation, about 21 miles east of Seattle.
The deputy found no evidence to arrest the parents, said Sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart. But the girl told the deputy that her stepmother would lock her in her bedroom for hours without food and she was ordered not to tell her father.
The stepmother told the deputy she wanted to get some counseling to help her learn how to deal better with the girl’s behavior.
Urquhart said complaints about possible child abuse are fairly common and in many cases turn out to be discipline that is legal but was misconstrued by the child or school officials.
“As I read the report, I think it was pretty well done. He did all the things that he was supposed to do,” Urquhart told The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “It’s exactly the kind of case that we would turn over to CPS and if they came up with something that turned out to be criminal, they would call us back.”
The director of the state office for the Family and Children’s Ombudsman is now questioning whether CPS closed the case before knowing whether the changes were sufficient.
“We can always be second-guessing what we should have done,” said Thomas Shapley, spokesman for the Department of Social and Health Services. “That was 3 ½ years ago, and there was nothing in between. A lot can happen to a kid in 3 ½ years. It’s a very sad case.”
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