Miracle by Miracle v. Spooner

• Decision Date: 26 September 1997
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 1:95-CV-1972-TWT.
• Citation: 978 F.Supp. 1161
• Parties: Kelly MIRACLE, by next friend, Judith A. MIRACLE; F. Lee Miles, on behalf of the Estate of Clayton Miracle; and Judith Miracle and Clayton Miller, the natural parents of Clayton Miracle, Plaintiffs, v. Eunice SPOONER, Gail Whitney, Willie Joe Wilkins, and Betty Sue Wilkins, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

978 F.Supp. 1161

Kelly MIRACLE, by next friend, Judith A. MIRACLE; F. Lee Miles, on behalf of the Estate of Clayton Miracle; and Judith Miracle and Clayton Miller, the natural parents of Clayton Miracle, Plaintiffs, v. Eunice SPOONER, Gail Whitney, Willie Joe Wilkins, and Betty Sue Wilkins, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 1:95-CV-1972-TWT.

United States District Court, N.D. Georgia, Atlanta Division.

September 26, 1997.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Larry Kent Butler, Butler & MacDougald, Atlanta, GA, for Kelly Miracle, Judith A. Miracle.

Michael David Gruenhut, Spix, Krupp & Reece, Atlanta, GA, for Clayton Miller.

Stephen Edwin Boswell, Office of Stephen Edwin Boswell, Jonesboro, GA, for Eunice, Spooner, Gail Whitney.

ORDER

THRASH, District Judge.

The Plaintiffs bring this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 seeking damages for the physical injuries (including death of one child) suffered by two children placed in a foster care home.¹ This matter is before the court on the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [51-1] on all of Plaintiffs' claims, Defendants' Motion to Supplement [52-1] their Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiffs' Motion to Supplement [63-1] their Response to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiffs' Motion to Strike [62-1] the Affidavit of Linda Doster, Plaintiffs' Motion Not to Consider [62-2] the Affidavit, and Plaintiffs' Motion to Supplement the Record [66-1].

I. FACTS

A. Burrow County DFACS Takes Custody of Seven Miracle Children

On February 18, 1993, the Barrow County Department of Family and Children Services ("DFACS") instituted a deprivation proceeding and obtained emergency custody of the seven children of Judith Miracle: Clayton (age 3), Kelly (age 3), Amanda (age 5), Alberta (age 5), Robert (age 2), Samuel (age 1) and Lizann (age 7).² On the basis of reports of heavy drinking, fighting and neglect of the children by their parents, Plaintiffs Judith Miracle and Clayton Miller, Barrow County DFACS petitioned the Barrow County juvenile court for a shelter care order to, obtain emergency custody of the Miracle children. The juvenile court issued the shelter care order and vested custody of the children in the Georgia Department of Human Resources, acting through Farrow County DFACS.

The Barrow County DFACS then initiated additional deprivation proceedings to retain custody of the Miracle children. On February 19, 1993, the juvenile court issued an order appointing a guardian ad litem to represent the interests of the children in the deprivation proceedings. In April 1993, the juvenile court conducted a hearing to decide whether it should continue custody of the Miracle children with Barrow County DFACS. On April 20, 1993, the juvenile court issued an order in which it found that the children were deprived, in need of protection and that remaining in the home of their parents would have been contrary to their welfare. Accordingly, the juvenile court ordered that custody of the children be continued in and vested in Barrow County DFACS.

B. DFACS Places the Miracle Children in Foster Homes

In February, 1993, the Miracle children were placed in temporary foster homes. When Barrow County DFACS obtained custody of the Miracle children, DFACS caseworker Eunice Spooner was assigned to handle their cases. Defendant Spooner was not responsible for selecting the foster parents. Her duties did include physically placing foster children in their assigned foster homes and monitoring the placement thereafter. The Defendant Gail Whitney was Eunice Spooner's supervisor. Defendant Whitney was responsible for, among other things, approving the selection of foster parents and supervising caseworkers.

In June, 1993, the Barrow County DFACS placed Clayton Miracle and Kelly Miracle in the home of the Defendants Willie Joe and Betty Sue Wilkins. On August 9, 1993, Clayton was brutally beaten for soiling his pants. He was hospitalized in a coma and died the following day. An autopsy and police examination of Clayton's body showed that the child had sustained many wounds. It appeared that many of the wounds were inflicted with a fly swatter. These wounds were as old as four weeks before and as fresh as twenty-four hours before his death. DFACS immediately took Kelly from the Wilkins home. The Plaintiffs contend that Kelly also was abused while she was with the Wilkinses. The Defendant Willie Joe Wilkins was subsequently charged with and convicted of the murder of Clayton Miracle. He currently is serving a sentence of seven years in prison.

The rules of DFACS required Defendant Spooner, like all caseworkers dealing with foster children, to make at least one "face-to-face" visit a month with each foster child that she supervised. At the time of Clayton Miracle's death, there was no record in the case file that she had made any of the required visits with Clayton or Kelly during the entire time they were in foster care. Following Clayton's death, Defendant Spooner attempted to bring her five months of case notes and records of contacts up to date by creating records of visits on June 29, and July 22, 1993 to the Wilkins home. Defendant Spooner later admitted that the record of a July 22, 1993 visit to the Wilkins home was a fabrication. The Plaintiffs claim that Defendants Spooner and Whitney concocted a scheme to fabricate the record of a July 22, 1993 home visit in order to show compliance with the DFACS rules requiring monthly face-to-face contacts. The Defendants Spooner and Whitney later were indicted and tried for falsifying official records. Defendant Spooner was convicted, but Defendant Whitney was acquitted.

As noted above, the police and autopsy investigation following Clayton Miracle's death revealed that several wounds and bruises on his body were as old as four weeks. A jury could conclude that Defendant Spooner would have seen evidence of physical abuse of Clayton if she had made the required face to face contact in July, 1993. If the severe physical abuse had been discovered, it is reasonable to conclude that DFACS would have removed the children from the Wilkins home before the murder of Clayton Miracle.

The Plaintiffs claim that the selection of the Wilkinses as foster parents and the Defendants' failure to monitor adequately Clayton and Kelly's placement with the Wilkinses violated rights protected by 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Plaintiffs also claim that the Defendants Willie Joe and Betty Sue Wilkins violated the constitutional rights of Clayton and Kelly Miracle by repeatedly subjecting them to physical and psychological abuse. These Defendants never filed answers in this action and the Court ordered that entries of default be made as to these Defendants on May 22, 1996.

1. DFACS's Screening of the Defendant Wilkinses

As is true with all foster parents, DFACS required the Wilkinses to take training classes before children were placed in their home. The training, called the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting ("M.A.P.P."), consisted of ten sessions designed to sensitize foster parent candidates to the behavior of children and instruct them on appropriate discipline. During their M.A.P.P. training, the DFACS employee responsible for training the Wilkinses identified only two issues of concern: (1) the fact that Ms. Wilkins was once in foster care herself; and (2) Ms. Wilkins' prior divorce. DFACS personnel discussed these issues with the Wilkinses during required family consultations, and concluded that they did not create any concerns that would preclude approval of the Wilkinses as foster parents.

The Plaintiffs allege that DFACS performed an inadequate background check on the Wilkinses before placing Clayton and Kelly Miracle in their care. The Plaintiffs note that DFACS officials were aware of unresolved traffic violations regarding Mr. Wilkins, but were not aware of other DUI offenses, including a felony habitual offender conviction in the mid-1980s. The DFACS Defendants argue, however, that they relied on the Barrow County Sheriff's Department to perform a criminal records check. The Sheriff's Department notified DFACS only of traffic offenses in 1979. The Defendants admit no further records check was performed, but contend that they had no reason to suspect that any further record check was necessary.

The Plaintiffs argue that DFACS officials did not interview any of the Wilkinses' neighbors before placing Clayton and Kelly in their home. It is undisputed that DFACS contacted only three individuals — all listed as references by the Wilkinses — in connection with their selection as foster parents. The Plaintiffs argue that interviews with the Wilkinses' neighbors would have uncovered allegations that Mr. Wilkins often exposed his genitalia to women in the neighborhood and masturbated in front of these women while standing in a window in the Wilkins home. This alleged practice continued even after Clayton and Kelly were placed in their home. The Plaintiffs also argue that additional interviews with Ms. Wilkins' relatives, including her own brother, would have revealed opinions that Ms. Wilkins was a mean, vicious, overbearing person.

2. DFACS's Monitoring of the Defendant Wilkinses

The Plaintiffs also claim that Defendants Spooner and Whitney inadequately monitored Clayton and Kelly's situation once they were placed with the Wilkinses. The Plaintiffs claim that Defendant Spooner failed to make her required contacts with Clayton and Kelly Miracle and that she failed to return numerous phone calls from the Wilkinses.

Generally, DFACS requires case workers to have at least one face-to-face contact per month with each foster child. The DFACS Foster Care Manual provided as follows: "A child in Family Foster Care, including REL, shall have at least one face-to-face contact each month with the Services Worker unless the child is in long-term foster care." The Wilkinses were first time foster parents. Under DFACS regulations in effect in 1993 first...