In investigating the death of 4 1/2-year-old Amariana Crenshaw, The Bee uncovered strong evidence the foster child may have died before her body was burned, a possibility police must reexamine in their ongoing investigation.
Yet beyond that singular question, the series documented serious deficiencies in the state’s foster care system and Sacramento County’s Child Protective Services.
Reporter Margie Lundstrom examined hundreds of pages of state reports and the county’s CPS case file. It paints a nightmarish picture of Amariana’s life in foster care.
When Sacramento child welfare workers placed Amariana and her siblings with Tracy Dossman, the foster parent already had half a dozen other foster children, four of them teenagers, many listed as “special needs,” in her home. A state licensing official who visited described “chaos,” with older teenagers placed in charge of younger kids.
The house was extremely cold, and a social worker reported that Dossman had refused to heat it all winter. She was twice cited for having a padlocked refrigerator. In 2004, the year before Amariana arrived, a teacher reported a 5-year-old foster child under Dossman’s care came to school wearing “extremely dirty” clothes, no socks, and was “always hungry.” The girl said she was sleeping on the floor without blankets.
Amariana’s biological parents and others repeatedly complained about unexplained bruises and split lips the child suffered, complaints CPS discounted. The county also ignored the close personal and financial ties Dossman had with two agency officials. One social worker complained that the relationships undermined efforts to force Dossman to comply with state foster care standards.
Amariana is dead, but Dossman remains a licensed foster care provider. That is an affront to exemplary foster care parents who do courageous work on behalf of such children. It should also light a fire under state and county officials whose single and sole mission should be to protect these vulnerable kids.