EDITORIAL

Probe child's death

November 1, 2006

IN A PHOTOGRAPH, Raijon Daniels is a handsome, smiling child dressed in his Sunday best. There is no hint of the ghastly hell that the 8-year-old boy endured in his tragically short life.

On Friday, Raijon was rushed to Kaiser Permanente in Richmond after he swallowed household cleaner. He was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

Doctors found rope and chemical burns on his limbs. Welts and bruises, some fresh, others in various stages of healing, covered his battered body.

Richmond police have arrested Raijon's mother, Teresa Moses, 23, on suspicion of murder, torture and child endangerment. In what police are calling the most horrific case of child abuse in Richmond in years, Moses is accused of imprisoning her son in a dark bedroom and torturing him for more than a year.

Police say she taped him to his bed with duct tape. They also said that on the day he died, she poured a household cleaner on his genitals to discourage him from wetting himself.

 

It is always easy in hindsight to point out things that should have been done differently.

But in this case, there were obvious signs along the way that Raijon was in trouble. Yet none of the people one would expect to pick up on them and do something -- his teachers, the police, county social workers, neighbors, relatives -- did anything to protect him.

Is it possible that none of the neighbors ever heard screams coming from Raijon's room? We find that hard to believe.

Perhaps, if any of these individuals who crossed paths with this child had paid more attention, been more willing to do more than the minimum, by-the-book, Raijon's terrible suffering might have been avoided.

The first people apparently to suspect something amiss were staff members at King Elementary, where Raijon went to school. He was obviously malnourished.

Yet his mother insisted that he was on a special diet and was adamant that the school not feed him. The school was concerned enough to make a report to the West Contra Costa Unified School District. District officials, in turn, then contacted Contra Costa Children and Family Services, the agency responsible for investigating child abuse claims.

A social worker took a phone report, but CFS decided no further action was necessary.

Two months later, someone at a San Pablo fast-food restaurant called the police to report that a young boy, Raijon, had been alone at the jungle gym, without adult supervision, for more than two hours.

When the officer arrived, Raijon said he'd run away because his baby sitter used handcuffs on him.

If that isn't a huge red flag, we don't know what is.

Yet the officer took Raijon back home and reported the incident to CFS. Again, a social worker took a phone report. And again, CFS decided no further action was necessary.

Then, on Nov. 23, Raijon jumped from a second-floor window to escape from home. Police found him wandering in Hilltop mall. He was again returned home. The rest, of course, is history.

Clearly, this child was crying out for help. How is it possible, that given the cumulative number of complaints to CFS, the agency apparently did not make one home visit? CFS needs to conduct a full investigation into its handling, or, shall we say, apparent mishandling, of the Raijon Daniels case.