I-TEAM: Mother alleges her son faced abuse in foster care

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A mother turns to the WAFB I-TEAM after she says her three-year-old son was abused in foster care and she says the state continues to fail her kids.

Pictures leaked to the WAFB I-TEAM show the bruises on the little boy’s arms and legs after he showed up to daycare earlier this month. His mother, Diamon Bell, is furious because she believes this never would have happened if the child was in her care sooner.

“It’s been going on,” said Bell. “I mean, it’s just been covered up as oh, he’s a boy and he’s falling. They didn’t leave my care with bruises or malnutrition or beatings. If you go further back in my case they did not go in with that. I mean they have developed a lot of social anxiety and it’s like DCFS [workers] is going on with their life like that’s okay.”

According to a source familiar with the case, the child had been in the foster home for about a year and while this is the first substantial case, the source tells the WAFB I-TEAM the child would routinely show up to daycare with unexplained markings. The bruises were so bad this time that the police had to be called, a report was made with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and the child was immediately removed from the foster home. While the mother is glad to have her son back, she says this is not the first time she’s had to stand by and watch her children suffer while in the state’s care.

“Those are my babies,” said Bell. “God is only one who’s perfect. Nobody’s perfect but those are my babies.”

Bell first came to WAFB last year when her daughter was molested by another child at a different foster home, all while she’s been fighting to get all of her children back. She believes because she came forward to report what’s been happening, she’s faced retaliation from the DCFS case worker on her case. The source who spoke to WAFB’s Scottie Hunter only if their identity would be withheld, confirms the mother’s story. The source says they have also witnessed the DCFS worker threatening to “never let her get her kids back.”

“It’s not about the kids anymore, it’s about how hard I’m fighting,” said Bell.

The source who spoke with the WAFB I-TEAM says it is past time this mother got her kids back because they believe the children have been harmed far more in the state’s care than they ever have in their mother’s care. The source says the children have faced sexual, physical, and mental abuse and everything in between.

While she fights to get all of her kids back, Bell says she looks forward to the day when her case is closed and she can move on.

“I want them out of my life and to leave me alone and my children,” said Bell.

WAFB did reach out to DCFS for comment on this report. So far, the agency has not responded but typically they are unable to confirm or deny allegations like this, per state law.

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