In 43 Days, a Future Shattered

She looked down at the boy, nestled on her lap in the family room of her Fairfax County home.

"Is that your purpose, Raffy? To look out for the other babies?"

A Mother's Troubled Life

Back in 2005, all Sylvia Pearson wanted was a healthy grandchild.

Earlier that year, she learned that her daughter, Renee, was pregnant with her third child. Pearson had adopted the first of the children; Renee's brother had adopted the second. And now it appeared that the third child, too, would be raised by the rest of his family, once the courts cleared the way.

Rafael was born Sept. 9, 2005, in a motel in Northern Virginia. Later that day, his mother took him to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. The baby weighed 5 pounds, 14 ounces. He had traces of cocaine in his blood but was not addicted and was healthy and thriving, according to the testimony of a pediatrician who examined his birth records and helped oversee his care.

Three days later, the hospital contacted the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency with concerns about the mother and her baby. A social worker said she would need to see the home where the child was going to be living. But upon arrival at the rowhouse in Northwest Washington, no one was home. The social worker made a call to Sylvia Pearson.

Pearson had watched her daughter's troubled adolescence give way to an even more troubled young adulthood, defined, she said, by a drug problem.

"You need to take the baby," Pearson told the social worker.

And with that, Rafael was in the hands of the District, pending further court proceedings.

Renee Pearson could not be located to comment for this report. Sylvia Pearson said her daughter has again dropped out of contact; she is not living at either of the most recent addresses listed in court records.

The foster placement should have been the first step toward saving Rafael. Instead, he was placed with Jenkins, who lived with her boyfriend and 2-year-old son in an apartment in Southeast Washington. Jenkins became a foster parent earlier that year after undergoing a home study, a medical screening and a background check, said a Child and Family Services spokeswoman, Mindy Good.

Jenkins was 37 and had been unemployed for months, although her boyfriend worked, Good said. Rafael was her second foster child. The first, a baby girl, had been placed with her earlier in the year. But Child and Family Services took that child back five weeks later. Jenkins told the agency that her health problems were making it difficult for her to care for the infant, Good said. She told a friend that she was tired of taking care of the baby, the friend would later testify in Jenkins's trial.