Another victory for Child "Protective" Services

[KBCraig]

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2008/12/09/mother-arrested-in-son-s-death-37.php

Mother arrested in son's death
Queen City woman could face up to life in prison if convicted
By: Susan Lindsey and Lynn LaRowe     Published: 12/09/2008
A Queen City, Texas, woman was arrested Monday after the death of her 13-year-old son, authorities said.

Cynthia Hudson, 45, was arrested by the Cass County Sheriff's Office after last Wednesday's death of her adopted son, Samuel Hudson, said Cass County Sheriff James Estes.

"We're aggressively pursuing this case," Estes said.

Estes said the boy's death was the result of foul play but declined to give further details because of the ongoing investigation.

Cynthia Hudson was taken into custody after she was discharged from the hospital Monday. She was admitted to the hospital because of a suicide attempt late last week, Estes said. Child Protective Services is also looking into the death, he said.

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http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2008/12/10/mother-faces-capital-murder-charges-74.php

Mother faces capital murder charges
By: Lynn LaRowe - Texarkana Gazette -   Published: 12/10/2008

Hudson
The charges against a Queen City, Texas, woman accused in connection with the death of her 13-year-old son were upgraded Tuesday from first-degree murder to capital murder.

"Based upon what we understand to be the manner of death, we are charging her with capital murder," said Cass County District Attorney Clint Allen. "With the additional facts that we've developed, we feel capital murder is appropriate."

Officials confirmed Hudson's adopted son, Samuel Hudson, was restrained before he was beaten to death. He died Dec. 3.

Five other adopted children live in the Hudson home, and Texas Department of Child and Family Services public information officer Shari Pulliam said the ongoing investigation shows that "all children had at some point suffered physical abuse." All five children are now in state custody.

Hudson was taken into custody Monday. She was arrested after being released from a local hospital following a suicide attempt, Estes said.

Child Protective Services has taken custody of all the minor children who were living in Hudson's house, Allen said. CPS is a division of Child and Family Services.

"An initial interview with the children was conducted Dec. 3. During subsequent interviews, details of physical abuse were substantiated," Pulliam said. "All five children have been placed in CPS custody and placed in a foster home."

All six, including Samuel, were adopted by Bill and Cynthia Hudson after being placed in their home as foster children, said Pulliam.

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http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2008/12/12/adoptive-father-arrested-in-teen-s-death-31.php

Adoptive father arrested in teen's death
D.A. says he will seek death penalty for Cynthia Hudson
By: Lynn LaRowe - Texarkana Gazette -   Published: 12/12/2008

LINDEN, Texas—Cass County District Attorney Clint Allen announced Thursday he will seek the death penalty for a Queen City, Texas, woman facing capital murder charges in connection with the death of her adopted son just after he told reporters the adoptive father had also been arrested.

William "Bill" Hudson is charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Authorities were called to the couple's home Dec. 3 and were initially led to believe 13-year-old Samuel Hudson had committed suicide, Allen said. Officials confirmed the deceased child was restrained before he was beaten to death.

The Hudsons are being held in the Cass County jail and five other children, two of whom are the alleged victim's biological siblings, are now in state custody. Of the five, three are boys, ages 14, 9 and 7, and two are girls, ages 7 and 14, said DFS Public Information Officer Shari Pulliam.

"Based upon the investigation, we believe that the children were continuously physically abused for a period of several years and were also subjected to other forms of abuse such as confinement to their rooms for very lengthy and unreasonable time periods while being deprived of necessary food, water and bathroom privileges," Allen said.

Pulliam said one reason the abuse was not detected sooner was because the children were not subjected to the scrutiny of public school teachers. Cynthia Hudson homeschooled all five children.

Cynthia Hudson has been involved in the Texas foster care system for years, Pulliam said. From 1999 to early 2005, the accused mother was a certified co-trainer for federally-mandated Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education classes, in which all prospective foster parents must participate.

The boy whose name was changed by William and Cynthia Hudson from David to Samuel was 9 when he came to live in their home in July 2004. His brother was 10 and his sister was 8. The three were finally adopted by the Hudsons in April 2005 and lived in the Hudsons' home in Queen City for four years. The three siblings' first and last names were officially changed when the adoptions became final, Pulliam said.

[KBCraig]

I'm so glad these children were taken away from the Hudsons, and were safely placed in the care of people like the Hudsons, who were trained in "proper" parenting by people like the Hudsons. 

CPS even bullied the biological mother into giving them up to the state's care, so they would "be better off".

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2008/12/12/mother-says-state-broke-its-promise-to-k-46.php

Mother says state broke its promise to keep kids safe
By: Lynn LaRowe - Texarkana Gazette -   Published: 12/12/2008

The biological mother of a slain 13-year-old said the State of Texas broke the promise it made to her when she voluntarily gave up her parental rights in 2003.

"They misled me by telling me my children were going to a safe place. As a result of that, I have three children who were being abused—one whose life has been taken away," Rebecca Henson said.

Henson found out Tuesday that the son she named David was Samuel Hudson, whose adoptive mother, Cynthia Hudson, has been arrested in connection with his death last week.

Hudson is being held in the Cass County jail on a charge of capital murder.

Henson gave her daughter and two boys up voluntarily in 2003. The last name they shared at the time of their adoption is being withheld to protect their identities.

Her 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter are now in the custody of the Texas Department of Child and Family Services. She said giving them to the Hudsons would ensure they'd be kept together and not sent to separate foster homes.

"I fought for them in court for two years. CPS came to me the day of court in New Boston and said this lady wants to adopt all three so they can be together," Henson said. "I just wanted to keep them together, keep them safe. I couldn't be there so I wanted them to have each other."

She said Child Protective Services has refused to confirm that Samuel is her David, though she and her attorney, John Delk of Texarkana, are certain he is.

Delk said the birthdates of two of the five children listed as Samuel's siblings match her daughter's and oldest son's. Others who attended the funeral also confirmed Samuel was David, he said.

"I had no idea all week that the things I'd been hearing were about my son, my kids. My lawyer had to tell me," Henson said.

"The funeral was Sunday. It was closed casket according to the foster parents that had him before the Hudsons," she said of foster parents who cared for her three children before the Hudsons and who attended the boy's funeral.

"I feel like I had a right to be there since his life came to an end," she said.

Delk said limiting information in a case where parental rights are involuntarily terminated is understandable, but that such did not apply in Henson's case.

"She wasn't given the opportunity to attend the funeral and not given the courtesy of learning her child passed away. That really bothers me," he said. "There is no reason for a biological parent who voluntarily relinquished her children to be treated the way Rebecca has."

Delk is asking the court to allow Henson and her husband of seven years to intervene in the custody proceedings for her two living children.

The children were removed initially amid allegations of physical abuse and because of domestic violence in her relationship with her husband.

"Things are a lot different now. We are stable," Henson said. "I have nothing but time to give them now. They don't have anybody else."

Delk believes she could have regained custody of her children, whose first and last names were changed when William and Cynthia Hudson adopted them, if she had refused to sign over her rights.

"With my experience and the number of terminated cases that I have tried and worked on appeal, this is not a case that, without the mother's voluntary relinquishment would have ended up in a termination," he said. "This mother placed her child in the care of the state. In the care of a parent that the state told her was better than her."

Henson said she was surprised to learn the Hudsons did not have to undergo the same psychological testing and evaluations she did.

"Every time I went to court a new requirement, another certificate. I had to take tests, psychological evaluations, courses and classes to be fit to raise my children," she said. "They need to do the same thing. If we have to prove that we can raise our children, they need to also."

Cynthia Hudson served as a co-trainer of federally mandated Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education, also known as PRIDE classes, for about six years, said DFS Public Information Officer Shari Pulliam.

Henson said her children were in a loving foster care environment for the two years before they were placed with the Hudsons.

She said she made the hardest decision of her life when she learned her daughter might be separated from her sons.

"If I hadn't signed the papers, I'd probably still have David," she said. "I wanted to keep them together and instead I sent them to a torture chamber."

Cass County District Attorney Clint Allen confirmed Thursday at a press conference that DFS officials believe all of Henson's children and two others the Hudsons had adopted from foster care had been abused for several years.

DFS confirmed the children's first and last names were changed.

The alleged physical abuse included long periods of confinement without food, water or a bathroom, Allen said.

"I'm wondering. I keep thinking of the pain he went through," Henson lamented. "The others. Did they hear it? Were they in the room?"

As she buried her face in her hands, she was consoled by her husband, Roderick.

"I'd tell people my kids were happy and with a mom and a dad and they're together," Henson said.

She clutched several photos of her children as she spoke Thursday. None of them were taken more recently than five years ago.

"I remember that day like it was yesterday," she said of an image of her two sons and daughter with her at their "good-bye visit."

Not pictured in the photo is an infant son who is now 5. He was taken from the Hensons and has been adopted by her mother-in-law.

"When we let the baby go with gramma, we were told he'd have visits with his brothers and sisters. He never has," Henson said. "They told me later it was up to the Hudsons."

Her trembled as she peeked at her son's photos.

"I just don't understand. How could anybody do this?" Henson said. "He was always so quiet. In school he's the one that always had stars and smiley faces."

She said she contacts DFS every year around Christmas to ask about her children's welfare. Three laptop computers she bought for them were not accepted by DFS a few years ago.

"They told me they didn't need them," Henson said. "They said they were doing fine and that they had everything they needed."