October 14th 03, 03:57 PM
Report: DCF Has File On Brianna's Mother
Monday Oct 6, 2:09 PM ET
The discovery of 2-year-old Brianna Lee alone in an apartment Monday
wasn't the family's first encounter with Florida's child-welfare
agency, according to published reports.
According to the Miami Herald, the toddler was actually the second of
Dakeysha Lee's children to be taken into custody by the Department of
Children and Families, but the agency had found that she was fit to
parent Brianna, who was found Monday after apparently spent 19 days
fending for herself after her mother was jailed on a shoplifting and
battery charge.
The girl's father, Ogden Lee, found Brianna, covered with dried food
and in an apartment filled with urine and feces. After just over a day
of treatment for malnutrition and dehydration, a family-court judge
awarded the father temporary custody of the child Wednesday morning.
The mother is now charged with aggravated child abuse and is being
held on $170,000 bond.
The Herald reports on state records showing Dakeysha Lee was taken
into state custody herself at age 13, after she gave birth to her
first child -- also a daughter. Records show that after the DCF was
told that Lee hit the child, the girl was placed in foster care and
was never returned to her.
The Herald reports that the DCF investigated the mother at least twice
after Brianna's birth -- once in August 2001, when a caller alleged
that Dakeysha Lee had attacked her husband with a knife; and again in
February 2002, when a caller to the Florida abuse hotline claimed that
Brianna "was not being supervised by her mother properly.''
Although DCF officials closed the report with a finding that Lee was
capable of caring for Brianna, they also were told by a doctor that
Lee "may have a personality disorder.''
Two Sides To Every Story Dakeysha Lee's father, David Green, doesn't
believe his daughter abandoned the child.
"I don't truly believe she'd have left her child in there for three
weeks. She loved that child," Green said Wednesday evening. "I went to
see my daughter today ... they don't want her to tell her side."
Both the state and national NAACP is getting involved, saying there's
more that needs to be known about the case.
After visiting with Dykesha Lee in jail, Richard Burton, chairman of
the NAACP's Prisoner Rights Committee, said the community has rushed
to judgement on this case before hearing the whole story.
"But I saw the whole community launch a campaign against this mother,"
Burton said Thursday.
Burton says the young mother told him she didn't know her little girl
Brianna was alone -- that she thought her husband was watching the
toddler.
"I was told by Ms. Lee that he has a key ... that he was paying the
rent ... and he would stay there oftentimes," Burton told Channel 4's
Tammie Fields.
Burton said he feels like the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office hasn't
done a very good job of investigating the case, and neither have
social workers.
Burton said he also met with David Green at the jail, so said his
daughter also told him that she thought her husband was watching the
child.
Rescuing Brianna Ogden Lee, 33 -- who was separated from Brianna's
mother and in the process of getting a divorce -- said he'd tried to
contact his estranged wife for two weeks when he learned that she'd
been arrested.
He told police taht his wife told him she left Brianna with a baby
sitter, but couldn't provide a name. He said he went knocking on doors
at her apartment complex, then convinced the building manager to let
him inside.
Police found no indication an adult was caring for the child.
One of the first rescuers called to the scene said the girl was in
surprisingly good shape -- but very happy to see her dad.
"She was clinging to her dad -- anytime you tried to separate her to
get a blanket on her because she was nude, there was definite
separation anxiety," Jacksonville Fire-Rescue Capt. Michael Silvas
said.
Silvas told Channel 4's Jim Piggott that he didn't see much inside the
Monument Road apartment. He said Brianna was walking around and didn't
seem malnourished.
Just how she survived locked in an apartment for 19 days remains a
mystery to many, including the rescue crew called to help Brianna.
"It was very hard to believe," Silvas said. "And when we got to the
hospital, the staff there found it very hard to believe."
Police said she survived by eating mustard, ketchup and raw pasta.
"Over those 19 days, she remained alone at home. She managed to get
into the refrigerator and literally empty the entire bottom half of
the refrigerator," Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said. "There
was also a pantry that she had managed to open the door to. She
actually tore the label off a couple cans of corn, trying to get into
the cans."
A Troubled Home Life Lee and his wife were married on Oct. 9, 2001;
Brianna was born May 10, 2001, and the Lees separated on Sept. 19,
2002. It's been a rocky two years.
DCF's records of Dakeysha Lee's past aren't the only glimpse inside
the lives of the Lee family. Ogden Lee was arrested for domestic
battery in June 2002, but that charge was dropped for lack of
evidence.
Other court records show that he tried to get a restraining order
against his wife that same summer to keep her away from the Brianna
and his son from a previous relationship. In that report, he told
officials that they would argue over how to treat Brianna.
"If I try to get custody of our daughter, she would kill me," he said
in a statement to the court. He said she would throw things, put holes
in walls and pulled knives. The restraining order dismissed a month
later because of a lack of evidence.
In the custody hearing, Judge Greg McCaulie agreed with recommendation
of Department of Children and Families that the best place for the
child for now is with her father.
"It's deciding whether the department is going to proceed with a
certificate of dependency against the mother or father," assistant
state attorney Patricia Parker said. "They have until the next court
date to make that decision."
That hearing is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 6.
Investigation Continues The Herald reports that even after the story
of Brianna's survival gained national medial attention, DCF did not
contact the sheriff about prior allegations against the mother. ''This
is the first we've heard of any of this,'' Rutherford told a Herald
reporter. "They hadn't contacted me about it."
Because so many people have expressed an interest in helping Brianna,
a trust fund was established at Vystar Credit Union. Donations will be
accepted at any branch, or can be sent by mail to the Brianna Lee
Trust Fund, Account No. 2049142, P. O. Box
45085, Jacksonville, FL 32232.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20031006/lo_wjxt/1813836
Monday Oct 6, 2:09 PM ET
The discovery of 2-year-old Brianna Lee alone in an apartment Monday
wasn't the family's first encounter with Florida's child-welfare
agency, according to published reports.
According to the Miami Herald, the toddler was actually the second of
Dakeysha Lee's children to be taken into custody by the Department of
Children and Families, but the agency had found that she was fit to
parent Brianna, who was found Monday after apparently spent 19 days
fending for herself after her mother was jailed on a shoplifting and
battery charge.
The girl's father, Ogden Lee, found Brianna, covered with dried food
and in an apartment filled with urine and feces. After just over a day
of treatment for malnutrition and dehydration, a family-court judge
awarded the father temporary custody of the child Wednesday morning.
The mother is now charged with aggravated child abuse and is being
held on $170,000 bond.
The Herald reports on state records showing Dakeysha Lee was taken
into state custody herself at age 13, after she gave birth to her
first child -- also a daughter. Records show that after the DCF was
told that Lee hit the child, the girl was placed in foster care and
was never returned to her.
The Herald reports that the DCF investigated the mother at least twice
after Brianna's birth -- once in August 2001, when a caller alleged
that Dakeysha Lee had attacked her husband with a knife; and again in
February 2002, when a caller to the Florida abuse hotline claimed that
Brianna "was not being supervised by her mother properly.''
Although DCF officials closed the report with a finding that Lee was
capable of caring for Brianna, they also were told by a doctor that
Lee "may have a personality disorder.''
Two Sides To Every Story Dakeysha Lee's father, David Green, doesn't
believe his daughter abandoned the child.
"I don't truly believe she'd have left her child in there for three
weeks. She loved that child," Green said Wednesday evening. "I went to
see my daughter today ... they don't want her to tell her side."
Both the state and national NAACP is getting involved, saying there's
more that needs to be known about the case.
After visiting with Dykesha Lee in jail, Richard Burton, chairman of
the NAACP's Prisoner Rights Committee, said the community has rushed
to judgement on this case before hearing the whole story.
"But I saw the whole community launch a campaign against this mother,"
Burton said Thursday.
Burton says the young mother told him she didn't know her little girl
Brianna was alone -- that she thought her husband was watching the
toddler.
"I was told by Ms. Lee that he has a key ... that he was paying the
rent ... and he would stay there oftentimes," Burton told Channel 4's
Tammie Fields.
Burton said he feels like the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office hasn't
done a very good job of investigating the case, and neither have
social workers.
Burton said he also met with David Green at the jail, so said his
daughter also told him that she thought her husband was watching the
child.
Rescuing Brianna Ogden Lee, 33 -- who was separated from Brianna's
mother and in the process of getting a divorce -- said he'd tried to
contact his estranged wife for two weeks when he learned that she'd
been arrested.
He told police taht his wife told him she left Brianna with a baby
sitter, but couldn't provide a name. He said he went knocking on doors
at her apartment complex, then convinced the building manager to let
him inside.
Police found no indication an adult was caring for the child.
One of the first rescuers called to the scene said the girl was in
surprisingly good shape -- but very happy to see her dad.
"She was clinging to her dad -- anytime you tried to separate her to
get a blanket on her because she was nude, there was definite
separation anxiety," Jacksonville Fire-Rescue Capt. Michael Silvas
said.
Silvas told Channel 4's Jim Piggott that he didn't see much inside the
Monument Road apartment. He said Brianna was walking around and didn't
seem malnourished.
Just how she survived locked in an apartment for 19 days remains a
mystery to many, including the rescue crew called to help Brianna.
"It was very hard to believe," Silvas said. "And when we got to the
hospital, the staff there found it very hard to believe."
Police said she survived by eating mustard, ketchup and raw pasta.
"Over those 19 days, she remained alone at home. She managed to get
into the refrigerator and literally empty the entire bottom half of
the refrigerator," Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said. "There
was also a pantry that she had managed to open the door to. She
actually tore the label off a couple cans of corn, trying to get into
the cans."
A Troubled Home Life Lee and his wife were married on Oct. 9, 2001;
Brianna was born May 10, 2001, and the Lees separated on Sept. 19,
2002. It's been a rocky two years.
DCF's records of Dakeysha Lee's past aren't the only glimpse inside
the lives of the Lee family. Ogden Lee was arrested for domestic
battery in June 2002, but that charge was dropped for lack of
evidence.
Other court records show that he tried to get a restraining order
against his wife that same summer to keep her away from the Brianna
and his son from a previous relationship. In that report, he told
officials that they would argue over how to treat Brianna.
"If I try to get custody of our daughter, she would kill me," he said
in a statement to the court. He said she would throw things, put holes
in walls and pulled knives. The restraining order dismissed a month
later because of a lack of evidence.
In the custody hearing, Judge Greg McCaulie agreed with recommendation
of Department of Children and Families that the best place for the
child for now is with her father.
"It's deciding whether the department is going to proceed with a
certificate of dependency against the mother or father," assistant
state attorney Patricia Parker said. "They have until the next court
date to make that decision."
That hearing is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 6.
Investigation Continues The Herald reports that even after the story
of Brianna's survival gained national medial attention, DCF did not
contact the sheriff about prior allegations against the mother. ''This
is the first we've heard of any of this,'' Rutherford told a Herald
reporter. "They hadn't contacted me about it."
Because so many people have expressed an interest in helping Brianna,
a trust fund was established at Vystar Credit Union. Donations will be
accepted at any branch, or can be sent by mail to the Brianna Lee
Trust Fund, Account No. 2049142, P. O. Box
45085, Jacksonville, FL 32232.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20031006/lo_wjxt/1813836