Mom was playing online game when son drowned, police say
Child safety: Case brought criticism of the state Department of Human Services
Mother was playing online game when son drowned, police say

By Randy Ellis

Published: April 14, 2007

The mother of a 3-year-old special-needs child who drowned in a bathtub was charged Friday with child neglect after police say she admitted leaving the boy and his 5-year-old mentally retarded sister in a bathtub for at least 2 1/2 hours while she played "Spades” on the Internet.

Alzaina Marie Barnard, 25, of southeast Oklahoma City is charged in the March 21 death of William Barnard, who had Down syndrome.

"Alzaina admitted she left the children alone in the bathtub of water without checking on them for a period of at least 2 1/2 hours while she played ‘Spades' on the Internet,” Oklahoma City police detective Tony Foreman said in an affidavit used to secure Barnard's arrest warrant.

The boy's sister had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in addition to being mentally retarded, the officer said.

The mother was arrested by Oklahoma City police Thursday afternoon and remained in the Oklahoma County jail Friday evening. Her bail was set at $10,000.

The felony child neglect charge filed against Barnard carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, said David Prater, Oklahoma County district attorney.

The death of William has raised serious questions about how Department of Human Services child welfare workers decide when a child should be returned to a home.

Oklahoma City police had removed the boy and his two siblings from the home just five days before he drowned, stating the house was "filthy and smelled even worse.”

Officers reported seeing handprints of children on the wall of a bathroom that appeared to have been made with human feces.

Officers also reported:

•A pot on the stove that appeared to have contained an egg at one point, but said the egg was rotten and filmed over.

•Kitchen cabinets that contained "mice crap, roach bodies and roach skeletons.”

•Dirty dishes and pots with a "layer of filming fungi-type organisms.”

•Exposed wires and uncovered electrical outlets.

•Piles of filthy clothes covered in mold.

•Pieces of leftover moldy pizza scattered around and "smashed into what once was carpet.”

Three days after the kids were taken from the home, they were returned upon the recommendation of an Oklahoma Department of Human Services child welfare worker.

Two days after that, William died.

Prater questioned the child welfare worker's judgment shortly after the death, but declined to elaborate Friday.

Department of Human Services spokesman George Johnson said he was unable to comment Friday on any DHS internal investigation into the matter.

Alzaina Barnard told The Oklahoman the day after her son's death that she had left him in the bathtub while she left the room to prepare a bottle for her 4-month-old infant and found William unconscious when she returned.