Foster Mother

A foster mother who tried to delay the removal of a toddler from her home by the Baltimore Department of Social Services lost her battle yesterday. DSS caseworkers arrived at the Randallstown home of Mary C. Coleman about 4:30 p.m. to get 16-month-old Serenity, who had lived with Coleman since she was 4 months old, according to attorney Natalie H. Rees, who represents Coleman. Coleman disagreed with a decision by DSS officials to place Serenity in her birth father's care weeks before an April 25 court hearing to determine the child's permanent placement.

Maryann T. Holcomb-Dziennik, a retired medical billing specialist and foster mother to 33 babies, died of breast cancer Dec. 13 at her Essex home. She was 64. Born Maryann Theresa Bohland in Baltimore and raised in Canton, she was a 1965 Patterson High School graduate. As her own children grew up, Mrs. Holcomb-Dziennik worked with Catholic Charities and became a foster mother to 33 babies. "She made everyone feel loved and welcome in her home," said her son, Tom Holcomb of Baltimore.

Betty Lee Corey, a hospital clerk who became a foster mother to several abandoned children of HIV-infected mothers, died Monday of cancer at her home in Street. She was 67. Mrs. Corey was a grandmother when she and her husband, Emery, began caring for the smallest victims of the AIDS epidemic. While working in the pediatric unit at Baltimore City Hospitals - now Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center - Mrs. Corey met a girl named Kedra, who spent her first 3 1/2 years at the hospital because she had no place else to go. Kedra had AIDS, and Mrs. Corey was deeply saddened by the idea of a lively, generally healthy little girl spending her shortened life in a hospital ward.

It was a bleak moment for Angela Bethea when she realized she couldn't have a child. But the child arrived nonetheless — born to a distant relative and left behind in the hospital. "We opened the door of our hearts as God saw fit, and in came Brea," said Bethea, holding the 23-month-old girl in her lap, husband Jerome Bethea beside her. "She has been a tremendous blessing." The city's Department of Social Services invited foster families such as the Betheas to a brunch Sunday, thanking them on Mother's Day for the care they give to city children birthed by others.

A foster mother who has cared for a city girl for the past year is decrying a decision by the Baltimore Department of Social Services to take the girl away from her six weeks before a juvenile court decides who should raise the toddler: her mother, father or the foster mother, who wants to adopt the child. Foster parent Mary C. Coleman of Randallstown said she agrees that the child's birth parents should have an opportunity to regain custody of their daughter, but she disagrees with the state's decision to reunite the child with her father six weeks before the court date, April 25. Coleman has hired an attorney, hoping to keep the youngest of her six foster and adopted children at home until after the court decision, but she has been told she has no legal right to protest the removal of the girl, a 16-month-old named Serenity.

The 16-year-old who accused his foster mother of sexuall abusing him was portrayed yesterday as a scheming liar as the woman's trial continued in Carroll Circuit Court.On the stand, the 31-year-old defendant denied all of her former foster son's allegations."Did you have sexual contact with him in any way whatsoever?" asked her attorney, J. Barry Hughes."No, sir, I did not," she replied.Her testimony came during a day in which the prosecution rested its case and Mr. Hughes persuaded Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. to drop two of the eight charges.

A Baltimore County jury convicted foster mother Mary Ellen Johnson of child abuse but acquitted her of battery yesterday in the beating last year of baby Jean Douglas-White, who was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital with fractures to an arm, a leg and ribs.The jury deliberated nearly five hours before finding Johnson guilty of abusing the baby, born Aug. 15 suffering from withdrawal from drugs that her mother took during pregnancy. The baby was 3 weeks old when she was placed in Johnson's care.

When baby Jean Douglas-White was turned over to a foster mother in September, the 3-week-old appeared healthy and happy, say workers at Baltimore's Department of Social Services.But three weeks later, the baby arrived at Johns Hopkins Hospital with a fractured thigh, arm and ribs, a pediatrician testified yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, where foster mother Mary Ellen Johnson is being tried on child abuse charges.The baby's right leg and left arm were swollen, and X-rays showed that the fractures were not new, Dr. Allen R. Walker said.

A West River foster mother who was pursued by the Department of Social Services for child neglect at the same time she taught its classes for new foster parents has won a legal battle to have her name removed from a state database of neglectful parents. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Michael E. Loney upheld Friday an administrative law judge's decision that cleared Peggy Minner of wrongdoing. But she said she still feels victimized by the neglect accusations. "I am not relieved," said Minner, a foster parent for nearly six years.

Jason Aaron DeLong testified yesterday that he is a confused, misunderstood young man who killed his abusive mother in an uncontrollable rage.But, in cross-examination, the prosecutor in Mr. DeLong's first-degree murder trial attempted to show that the defendant was a chronic liar who invented tales of abuse by his mother to get attention.Mr. DeLong, 19, took the stand yesterday to tell of sexual and physical abuse he endured from his mother for most of his life. He also told jurors he feared his mother and that his deep anger might eventually cause him to kill someone.

Mildred S. Harris, a retired bookkeeper and community volunteer who raised five foster children, died of heart failure April 7 at her Pikesville home. She was 90. Born Mildred Shall in West Philadelphia, she was the daughter of Eastern European immigrants. Her father ran a candy store and was a garment worker. She was a graduate of Overbrook High School in Philadelphia. During World War II, she worked as a Philadelphia Navy Yard bookkeeper and later planned events for a caterer.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has filed a complaint with a city agency on behalf of a Muslim woman whose application to be a foster mother was denied, in part, because she does not allow pork in her home. Tashima Crudup, 26, said she contacted Contemporary Family Services in July and went through 50 hours worth of training classes to become a foster parent. The organization is a private company authorized by the state to place foster children with families. The complaint alleges that Crudup's application was denied after it was discovered during the interview process that she prohibits pork products in her Middle River home.

The Maryland Department of Human Resources has agreed to pay out $1.5 million to care for a Baltimore boy who suffered irreversible brain damage after he was abused by another child in the foster home where he was placed by the city Department of Social Services. The boy, Brandon Williams, who is now 5 years old and still unable to speak or walk, will receive an annuity of $80,000 a year for life to pay for his medical care, according to attorneys. The state has also agreed to pay the family $580,000 and guarantee that the boy will receive Medicaid assistance even though the annuity would have rendered him financially ineligible.

On February 22, 2007,SHEILA C.; loving wife of Eric J. Hebron; loving mother of Patrice Mundell, Erika Lewis and Tanya Hebron; daughter of Leroy Redd, Catherine Bishop and Annie G. Lewis (Foster mother); five sisters, , four brothers, three grandchildren and a host of other relatives. Friends may visit at the Gary P. March Funeral Home, 270 Fredhilton Pass, on Tuesday, 12 Noon to 7 P.M. Family will receive friends at Come Just As You Are Bible Fellowship Crusade Ministry,(A Living Church)

Baltimore: Fatality Body found on fire in vacant house The body of a man was found on fire yesterday inside a vacant East Baltimore rowhouse and authorities are investigating his death as a possible homicide, fire officials said. Shortly after 8 p.m., authorities received a 911 call reporting a fire in the 400 block of Pitman Place, said Fire Chief Kevin Cartwright. Firefighters broke down the house's front door to gain entry after seeing smoke coming from inside, Cartwright said. Firefighters extinguished the burning body, which authorities have not yet identified.

Rachael stretched out a sheet of holiday wrapping paper and plopped a toy on top of it. She took a pair of scissors to the beige paper covered with wreaths and then began to wrap. "Sometimes the corners are tough to get just right," said the 13-year-old, whose last name is withheld to protect her privacy. She was determined to get it just right because the gift was for a foster child. And Rachael knows full well how much such a gesture can mean -- she is a foster child herself. "Sometimes foster kids need help, and not a lot of people are willing to give it," she said.

A 28-year-old West Baltimore woman, charged in a warrant in the Jan. 5 beating death of 2-year-old Dion Dixon in Baltimore, has been arrested in Georgia.Verlinda Timmons, of the 1600 block of Druid Hill Ave., was arrested late yesterday afternoon at a house in Valdosta, city police said.The house where Timmons was arrested is the home of relatives of her husband, Keith Anthony Hamlin, 28, who also has been charged in a warrant in the boy's death. Dion died of severe head injuries.Police said Timmons, daughter of the child's foster mother, and Hamlin were watching the boy at their Druid Hill Avenue home two days before his death.

On February 22, 2007,SHEILA C.; loving wife of Eric J. Hebron; loving mother of Patrice Mundell, Erika Lewis and Tanya Hebron; daughter of Leroy Redd, Catherine Bishop and Annie G. Lewis (Foster mother); five sisters, , four brothers, three grandchildren and a host of other relatives. Friends may visit at the Gary P. March Funeral Home, 270 Fredhilton Pass, on Tuesday, 12 Noon to 7 P.M. Family will receive friends at Come Just As You Are Bible Fellowship Crusade Ministry,(A Living Church)

A foster mother who tried to delay the removal of a toddler from her home by the Baltimore Department of Social Services lost her battle yesterday. DSS caseworkers arrived at the Randallstown home of Mary C. Coleman about 4:30 p.m. to get 16-month-old Serenity, who had lived with Coleman since she was 4 months old, according to attorney Natalie H. Rees, who represents Coleman. Coleman disagreed with a decision by DSS officials to place Serenity in her birth father's care weeks before an April 25 court hearing to determine the child's permanent placement.