Foster care deaths raise safety issues
No one will face charges in toddler's June 29 drowning.
State foster care deaths raise safety issues

By Julie Bisbee

Published: July 10, 2008

No charges will be filed in the death of a Grady County foster child, while an investigation continues in the death of another toddler also in state custody.

Officials with the Grady County district attorney's office said Wednesday they will not pursue charges in the death of SkyDawn Word, 2.

SkyDawn died after she was found floating facedown in a foster family's backyard pool near Chickasha on June 29.

"Although this was a tragic occurrence, the evidence in the case does not support the filing of criminal charges,” said Grady County Assistant District Attorney Leah Edwards.

SkyDawn and another child were in a wading pool near the larger pool. The toddler apparently used a ladder to climb into the larger pool while a guardian went inside to get a cup of coffee, according to a report prepared by investigators for the Grady County Sheriff's Department.

Another child alerted an adult working in a nearby barn that SkyDawn had gotten in the pool.

A state Department of Human Services caseworker visited the foster home on June 25 — just four days before the child's death, said George Johnson, spokesman for Department of Human Services. The other foster children living in the home were removed after the incident, which is standard procedure in incidents like this, Johnson said.

The family had been foster parents about a year.

Rules for foster homes require that water activities be supervised and pools must have fences that cannot be easily climbed.

Johnson could not confirm whether the pool had a fence.

Officers in Carter County are still investigating the death of 19-month-old Raymond Palmer. Raymond was run over by the truck of a family friend as the driver backed out of a parking space in a pasture near Ardmore.

Raymond and other children were at the farm pond with an adult at the time of the incident.

Darla Owen, the child's foster mother, said Raymond was standing next to her husband as the truck began backing up. The other children saw the accident and alerted the adult, she said.

A caseworker last visited Raymond on June 18, Johnson said.

Tim Burson, an assistant district attorney in Carter County, said the case is still under investigation.

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