The biological parents of 2-year-old Naomi Whitecrow have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the state Department of Human Services, claiming the agency failed to remove their child from a home that officials knew was dangerous.
Naomi's birthparents also sued their child's foster parents, Amy and
Naomi's biological parents, Kala Lee Whitecrow and Antoine D. Jones, allege DHS employees "suspected or knew the Holder home was dangerous" before Naomi's death.
The Oklahoma County District Court lawsuit, filed Friday, seeks damages of more than $10,000.
The Oklahoma medical examiner's office found recent scrapes and bruises on Naomi's face, chest, back, legs, right buttock and head following her Jan. 20, 2009, death. The medical examiner also found old and new scabs, but was unable to determine a cause of death.
An Indiana pathologist, Dean A. Hawley, subsequently reviewed autopsy documents, videos and photographs and filed a report stating the child died of blunt-force injury to the head, abdomen and
Naomi's foster mother, Amy Holder, 39, was charged with felony child abuse in connection with the death. She is awaiting a Nov. 29 preliminary hearing in Logan County.
She told an investigator that her husband was out of town working on the night of Naomi's death. Scott Adams, Amy Holder's attorney, has said his client denies having anything to do with Naomi's injuries or death.
Naomi was placed in the Holders' home about four months before her death, following a failed reunification with her mother at Chi Hullo Li Rehabilitation Center, a Choctaw Nation substance abuse family treatment center in Talihina, said Alicia Taylor, of Enid, who served as a
