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In March of 2002, Melinda Williams asked her cousin to take  care of her three children while she served a jail sentence. This would be the last time she would see her son Faheem alive.

A child sized casket sat at the end of the alter surrounded by flowers. On one side were pictures of the child and on the other side was a teddy bear. The child was a seven year old boy named Faheem Williams. 
 

On January 4, 2003, Sherry Murphey's boyfriend went down to the basement in hopes of finding his boots. The man broke down a locked door and found two small children hiding under a filthy bed.  Raheem who was also seven and Tyrone who was four, were both starved and very frightened.

Police were called in and the children were taken to the hospital.  While at the hospital, Raheem told the police he had a twin brother named Faheem who he had not seen a long time. On January 5, 2003, police went to the home again, this time  bring a cadaver sniffing dog. In a closet, stuffed in a plastic storage container, were  the remains of Faheem Williams.

Sherry Murphey's teenage son, Wesley, later admitted that he had been wrestling  with Faheem and had punched him in the stomach.  Sherry and her son tried to revive Faheem but were not successful and then they decided to hide his body and his two brothers. Faheem was killed in September of 2002 while Sherry and her son lived in Irvington, New Jersey.  Faheems body was discovered in the home they lived in in Newark, New Jersey.  This means that Faheem's body was carried from house to the next when they moved.

Faheem's autopsy revealed he had died from blunt trauma to the stomach and of starvation. Faheem's death was ruled a homicide.

With one child dead and two others found starving, Sherry Murphy had the nerve to plead innocent of the charge of child endangerment. Wesley Murphy could not wait to talk to the police because he felt that his mother was being unfairly charged with child abuse. He had this to say: "If I knew more stuff to help my mother, I would,". He added that he felt Faheem's own mother had killed him to keep him from talking to people about  abuse he had suffered at her hands. Melinda Williams had been in jail for a child endangerment charge, however, when she was released in August, she could not find Sherry Murphy or her children.

Sadly, the state Division Of Youth And Family Services had been investigating this case of child abuse since 1992 and for whatever reasons, chose not to remove the boys from this situation. So, this is yet another case of the death of a child that could and should have been prevented. The case worker and one supervisor had been on suspension, though with pay. The price Faheem paid for them not doing their jobs, was his life.


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DYFS pays $7.5M to settle negligence in Faheem case

Payout is second only to that for S. Jersey siblings 
Saturday, November 11, 2006
BY GUY STERLING AND SUSAN K. LIVIO
Star-Ledger Staff 

The state has paid $7.5 million to the estate of Faheem Williams, the 7-year-old Newark boy whose mummified remains were found in the basement of a Newark apartment three years ago and whose death led to a massive overhaul of the state's child welfare system. 

The settlement with the estate of Faheem and two siblings amounts to the second-largest payout by the state Division of Youth and Family Services to settle a botched case. A settlement in a similarly scandalous case in South Jersey last year means the DYFS has paid $20 million to make good on its mistakes. 

"I don't think there is any question that the suffering of these children was enormous," said Kevin Ryan, commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families, which was formed after the scandal. 

"The pain they endured and the loss they sustained remind me how high the stakes are for children who are maltreated, which is why we all have to redouble our efforts to make child welfare reform real and enduring," he said. 

The Williams case shone a spotlight on major flaws at the DYFS, which closed its files on Faheem despite complaints that he had been abused. Two of his brothers were overlooked as well, a subsequent investigation determined. 

The brothers -- Raheem Williams and Tyrone Hill Jr. -- were discovered sick and emaciated in an adjacent room of the same basement where Faheem's corpse was found Jan. 5, 2003. They survived and are today living in foster care. 

The lawsuit was brought last year by family of the boys, who argued the agency failed to do its job protecting them. 

The case was quietly settled last year, with the state paying $7.5 million after the turn of the fiscal year in July, state officials and lawyers for the plaintiffs said. The size of the settlement was eclipsed only once, last year, when the state agreed to pay $12.5 million to four brothers from Collingswood whose adoptive mother pleaded guilty to depriving them of food and medical care. 

Settlements in both cases allowed the state to avoid what could have been potentially embarrassing trials, experts said. The payouts came from a tort claims fund that is at least partially self-insured by the state, DYFS and Treasury officials said. 

Representatives of the DYFS and the state Attorney General's Office said Faheem's estate received $1 million under terms of the settlement approved by a Superior Court judge in Newark. Raheem, Faheem's twin, received $2.75 million, while Tyrone was awarded $3.75 million. 

Despite the settlement, the case has not been fully resolved, lawyers said. There is a dispute over legal fees and a key question of whether Melinda Williams, the boys' mother, will share in the money. 

To prevent her from doing so, the state moved to have her parental rights terminated retroactive to the time of Faheem's death. Family Court Judge Glenn Grant in Newark ended those rights in a decision issued over the summer, but Williams has appealed. 

When the family filed its suit last year, state officials were critical of Williams, saying she was equally to blame for what happened to the boys. 

Williams was known to party heavily, sometimes leaving her children with an older cousin, Sherry Murphy, while she frequented local clubs and bars. Police believe Faheem was killed by Murphy's teenage son, Wesley, sometime during the fall of 2002 while he was demonstrating a wrestling hold on the younger boy in an Irvington apartment. 

Murphy claims to have panicked after the incident and left Faheem on the floor to die, later concealing his body and carrying it to her new apartment in Newark. The surviving siblings also were hidden from view because of what they knew, police said. 

Sherry Murphy is serving a 25-year prison term on aggravated assault, criminal restraint and child endangerment convictions in the case; Wesley has served his time for reckless manslaughter in the death of Faheem. 

Raymond R. Connell, the attorney who is serving as administrator of Faheem's estate, said the money due the estate has been deposited in Probate Court and will be held there until a resolution of the mother's case. 

But he predicted a final decision could take years and may eventually reach the state Supreme Court. It's possible a fourth brother, Fuquan, who also was neglected, could share in Faheem's estate if the mother's parental rights are ultimately voided, Connell said. 

Some of the money from the settlement has been distributed to trusts that were established on behalf of Raheem and Tyrone, said Judith Rodner, the lawyer for Tyrone. She called them "protective trusts" and said they have restrictions on how and when the money can be spent. 

Clarence Jackson, another cousin of the boys, said he visits Raheem, 11, and Tyrone, 8, every week and that they're doing fine. They're living with a foster family in New Jersey that has one other child, he said. 

Jackson said he hopes to adopt the boys someday, although their foster family has expressed a similar desire. 

"I believe they'll be fine," Jackson said of the pair. "They're getting all the love and attention they need." 

Jackson, who works for a utility company in New York, said he sees Fuquan every other week. Now 15, Fuquan is living in a residential treatment facility in New York, having recovered enough to leave a hospital. 

"He's doing a lot better," said Jackson, who has been serving as the boy's legal guardian. 

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Honor Thy Children

She hears his heavy breathing in the dark
His footsteps coming closer down the hall
She's so ashamed, she's daddy's secret love
She wants to cry, she wants to die,
but he can't get enough

The bruises on his face will go away
Mom keeps him home from school till they fade
She's sorry he was born and tells him so
He takes it in, he hangs his chin, he ducks another blow

Did God overlook it?
What ought have been written
The eleventh commandment
Honor thy children

He cries for hours, cries and never stops
He shakes so hard his little cradle rocks
He'll never have the chance to be brand new
He'll never walk, he'll never talk, he's addicted too

Did God overlook it?
What ought have been written
The eleventh commandment
Honor thy children

Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain
Thou shalt not cause children pain

God does not overlook it
What ought have been written
The eleventh commandment
Honor thy children
Honor thy children

Honor thy children

Honor thy children

Sung By: Colin Raye



Please don't let them become Angels to soon.

1-800-4-A-Child
Call this number to report child abuse!

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