Who was watching out for Damarcus Jackson?

Social workers told a judge nine months ago that Damarcus Jackson and his four siblings should never be returned to their biological parents.

(Co-wrote and co-reported this story after private juvenile court documents and medical records were leaked to me. Interviewed foster care parents and extended family members.)

By Sherry Coolidge and Carrie Cochran

November 6, 2011

They said the parents had shown a "lack of commitment" to the kids.

Both the mother and father had blown off parenting classes. The father flunked three drug tests and did time in jail for hitting the mother with a bottle. Damarcus' older brother spent time in the hospital because the parents had failed to feed him.

And the couple's oldest children, then 5 and 3, sometimes refused to get out of the car when they were sent to visit their parents.

For most of three years, Hamilton County Juvenile Court Magistrate Charles Milazzo kept the kids in foster care at the request of social workers.

He changed his mind in August after getting a report from county public defender Marianne Jones Ford - assigned more than 15 months ago to protect Damarcus and his siblings - who said the parents had improved their parenting skills. Separately, JFS withdrew a request to permanently take the children - though records don't explain why. Milazzo sent Damarcus home.

He was dead two months later.

Prosecutors say the father, Antrone Smith, beat him to death and the mother, Latricia Jackson, didn't seek help for her injured son.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said Damarcus was injured head to toe, found with bruises on his jaw, left eye, legs, arms and abdomen. He also had suffered cuts above his penis, on the back of his neck, above his left ear and on his butt.

He had an untreated burn on his right hand.

He died from internal bleeding, the result of beating injuries to the abdomen, according to Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Anant Bhati.

Smith told emergency workers his son suffered a seizure, but prosecutors say he later admitted to police he hit the boy. Smith, 29, is jailed on murder charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Jackson, 22, is jailed on a charge of child endangering.

Juvenile court records and other documents obtained by The Enquirer show that Damarcus' short life was monitored almost from birth by social workers, magistrates and others who reported his parents often were unable or unwilling to provide the care he needed.

Those records also reveal a court system struggling to balance the rights of the parents with the responsibility to keep Damarcus and the other children safe.

"It is difficult to explain to the public how complicated child welfare cases can be," JFS director Moira Weir wrote in a department newsletter. "Ultimately, each case requires a human decision based on predicting human behavior."

While the courts' first priority is to ensure that no harm comes to children under the county's supervision, judges and social workers also must try to reunite parents and children if possible.

The challenge of striking that balance was on display often in Damarcus' case.

Three investigations into what happened are ongoing, one initiated by Hamilton County Board of Commissioners President Greg Hartmann.

"This is life or death," Hartmann said. "If mistakes were made, we need to acknowledge them and fix what's broken.

"This can never happen again," he said.

None of the county workers, nor Milazzo, would speak for this story. Antrone Smith's lawyer did not return a call for comment.

Job and Family Services cited pending investigations as to why it couldn't comment, but JFS' Weir said the agency had followed proper reunification steps.

A court spokeswoman said Milazzo isn't allowed to comment on pending cases; the rest of Damarcus' siblings are still in foster care.

Milazzo is no longer overseeing the family's case.

Jones Ford directed calls to her boss, Hamilton County Public Defender Sheila Kyle-Reno, who did not return calls for comment.

'A little girl's brain in a woman's body'

Jackson grew up in Chicago.

Her family - mom, sisters, cousins and great aunt - traveled to Cincinnati for Damarcus' funeral. They sat down for an exclusive interview with The Enquirer, where they painted a picture of Smith as a manipulative man who preyed on Jackson, who is developmentally delayed after being attacked by a dog when she was a toddler.

"She has a little girl's brain in a woman's body," said Latonia Walker, 38, Jackson's cousin.

They showed The Enquirer Jackson's disability check from Social Security, written to Smith to care for Jackson.

Jackson, her family said, quit school in the eighth grade. She was 15 when she met Smith at a friend's house.

Jackson's mother, Lanita Cook, said she discovered the relationship and threatened Smith, then 22, with criminal charges for dating a minor. But she couldn't keep them apart.

Jackson was 16 when she gave birth to the first of their five children. She's six months pregnant now.

Smith was arrested three times while in Chicago, according to an Enquirer background search. Jackson's family provided reports that show Smith was charged with assault, battery and criminal trespassing, but those records are incomplete and don't name the victim. JFS records refer to a Chicago arrest in which Smith hit Jackson with a bottle; he spent two months in jail for that. That arrest is mentioned repeatedly in JFS records as cause for concern.

When Jackson turned 18, her family said, she disappeared.

Over the years, she'd call and ask for money - which they sent - or come for short visits.

But Jackson's life was in Cincinnati.

27 court hearings in 39 months

There's a lot still unknown about JFS's oversight of the children. Those records aren't public. But court records are, and they show the court was actively involved. There were 27 court hearings in the 39 months between the time the court got involved and the time Damarcus died.

Hamilton County's child welfare system has been involved in the family's life since before Damarcus was born because Jackson and Smith didn't properly care for Damarcus' three older siblings.

Those three children went to live with Latasha and Joseph Tye, a Westwood couple unable to have kids of their own.

A trail of photos taken over the years show the boys always smiling, dressed up for Halloween, playing in a swimming pool, visiting

Santa and posing for family portraits.

The boys remained in foster care while their biological parents were supposed to be taking parenting and anger-management classes.

Pregnant again, Jackson fled Cincinnati for Chicago in the summer of 2009. She gave birth to Damarcus there that August.

Job and Family Services - alerted by Smith - drove to Chicago and took Damarcus away, too. He was eight days old when the court sent him to live with his siblings at the Tyes' home.

Court records from December 2010 show that Smith and Jackson weren't doing what they needed to get their kids back. Smith failed three drug tests in the fall of 2009. He and Jackson had stopped going to parenting classes and were dropped from the program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the records said.

Caseworker Erica Bradley noted in court records that during weekend visits the oldest two kids would refuse to get out of the car and would run away from their mother and Smith's mother, who lived with the couple.

The oldest child told Bradley he couldn't talk about the visits because he was afraid if he did he wouldn't be allowed to go back and see his biological parents.

Jackson gave birth to her fifth child in December, and JFS workers tried to take custody.

Bradley wrote in court records that Smith wasn't going to drug treatment, Jackson lied about being pregnant and neither was going to parenting classes.

But Jones Ford, Damarcus' guardian, wrote a report on the same date saying the couple was complying with orders.

"The parents have taken advantage of all services, remained consistent and applied what they have learned," she wrote.

Smith was working at Kroger, Jackson working toward getting her GED. And Smith's recent drug tests were clean, court records show.

This time Magistrate Brenda Anthony allowed the new baby to stay with Jackson and Smith.

"The court does not find imminent risk if placed with the parents," Anthony wrote.

She added this caveat: Smith's mother, who lived in the home, had to stay there to supervise.

The older boys - including Damarcus - remained in foster care with the Tyes.

State law says JFS can't keep children 12 out of 22 months without a permanent case plan. They already had exceeded that.

By January, Milazzo asked JFS whether it wanted permanent custody, which would end the biological parents' rights.

The couple's three oldest children had been in care for at least 650 days. And Damarcus, at 15 months old, had been in care for 524 days.

In February, JFS came back with their answer: Yes. End Smith and Jackson's parental rights.

Assistant Prosecutor Ernest W. Lee Jr., acting on behalf of JFS, sought permanent custody of the four older boys.

He justified his request, writing in court records that the parents:

* Didn't go to mental health treatment and didn't improve their parenting skills;

* "Demonstrated a lack of commitment toward the children" by failing to regularly support, visit, or communicate with the children when able to do so;

* "Have not been completely engaged in the medical treatment, care or support of their children."

Not so, argued Damarcus' Guardian Ad Litem.

"Both parents have demonstrated to this (Guardian Ad Litem) their commitment to their children and to improving their parenting skills," Jones Ford wrote.

"This (guardian) has observed the parents using what they have learned to better supervise, discipline and parent their children.

"They have gained substantial parenting skills in the last year," she added.

As Milazzo mulled the request, Damarcus and his brothers in foster care visited their biological parents for longer stretches of time.

During a July 29 visit, Damarcus was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, given seizure medication and sent home, according to records from the hospital given to The Enquirer by Jackson's family. The episode isn't mentioned in court records seen by The Enquirer.

Four months later, on Aug. 23 - after two progress-report hearings - the Job and Family Services workers backed down, according to court records.

They don't say why. And JFS won't say why.

"Based upon the stipulations entered, the evidence presented and in the best interest of the children ... temporary custody to Hamilton County Job and Family Services is terminated," Milazzo wrote in a decision. All four brothers at the Tyes were sent to live with Jackson and Smith.

He didn't close the case though.

Milazzo ordered that the JFS workers and the Guardian Ad Litem should continue to visit the children at least until February 2012.

Weir said that happened "regularly," but wouldn't provide details. Nor would she say the last time a case worker saw Damarcus.

On Oct. 20 - the day before Damarcus was killed - a worker went to the home.

But she didn't see all the children.

She was told Damarcus was not home, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said.

A Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report, provided by the Jackson family and dated Oct. 22, shows that doctors suspect the four other children were abused, too.

This past Thursday, Jackson, clad in a khaki jail jumpsuit and with a swollen belly, appeared in court to face the child-endangering charge.

All her children are now in foster care, ordered removed after Damarcus' death.

As Jackson's great aunt, Priscilla Cook, explained: "It took for Damarcus to die to save his brothers and sisters."

Who looks out for kids

* Magistrate: The decision to take and return kids is made by this individual, who is appointed by Juvenile Court judges. The decision is based on evidence given by social workers and other witnesses - police officers, therapists or family members. In cases of abuse, they also hear from an attorney from the public defender's office, who is appointed to represent the child's best interest. And they hear from a prosecutor, who represents Job and Family Services.

In this case, the magistrate was Charles Milazzo, a 10-year veteran. He oversaw Damarcus' court case. It was his decision in August to return Damarcus and his brothers to their biological parents. He based the decision on reports from the children's court guardians and Job and Family Services workers.

* Job and Family Services social workers: When a child is at risk, this agency gets involved. On their own, staffers can order parents to take classes, get off drugs or get therapy if they want to keep their children. They cannot remove children without court order. If they suspect abuse they can ask the court to remove children from the house and place them in the county's care - which could be group homes or a foster home. They can also be granted permanent custody and then put the child up for adoption.

Social workers in this case include Erica Bradley and Karin Lerner. In February, Bradley said Damarcus should never be returned to his parents. In August, when Milazzo returned the children to their biological family, Lerner was in court and agreed with the placement.

Prosecutors: They work on behalf of JFS. The prosecutor on Damarcus' case is Ernest W. Lee Jr. In February he asked the magistrate to give JFS permanent custody of the children. He withdrew that motion in August, the same day Milazzo returned the children home.

Guardian Ad Litem: Appointed by the magistrate, they are lawyers who work in the county's Public Defender's office charged with representing the child. In Damarcus' case, his Guardian Ad Litem was Marianne Jones Ford.