Karina Moore
May 19, 2006 - Jan. 16, 2009

family who live in Post Falls, Idaho.  Samantha Moore received a phone call after midnight and was told that Karina had been life flighted to the hospital in Coeur D'alene, Idaho. When she arrived there, she found that her daughter had been placed on life support and was believed to have brain damage, she was not expected to live. Ten days later, on January 16, 2009, doctors would confirm that this beautiful little girl was, for sure, brain dead. Samantha Moore was given a few days to decide when was going to take her daughter off of life support: "It's hard, it's not supposed to be like this. You know? She's only two."

Samantha freely admits that she made mistakes which caused her to lost her daughter to foster care. What she can't understand is that her daughter was taken away from her to protect her and the state failed to provide protection from the people they placed her with:

..

“This could’ve been prevented, this  could’ve been prevented. For CPS to be so-called protecting 
my kids … is this protection?”

Samantha says that in the past she had seen abuse in the foster home and that she had reported the abuse to her caseworker, as is the case with a lot of these children, nothing was ever done.

The family who was fostering Karina has been a foster family for over two years and has taken in many children during that time. It is said by them that Karina fell four and half feet, down a flight of steps and that it was an accident. Samantha Moore doesn't believe that a short fall could cause injuries to this extent, has hired a lawyer and is considering filing a lawsuit over the death of her daughter.

Samantha has also signed paperwork that will give permission for the organs of Karina to be donated so that other children who need them will be able to live. Karina would be bringing life to other children. 

The Sacred Heart Medical Center has been asked by Karina's family not to release any information about her condition. Police have been investigating and trying to figure things out since they are getting two stories, one of her falling down the stairs and one saying there had been abuse in the foster home for months. 

The foster family has not been allowed to visit Karina since they are not related to her. Karina's foster mother says she is heartbroken and devastated by what has happened. Claiming it was an accident, she says that Karina woke up around midnight and fell down a short flight of stairs. The foster mother says she gave Karina CPR until the arrival of the ambulance. She says that she and her family are cooperating fully in the investigation. Samantha doesn't believe that is the full story of how her daughter came to be in a coma:

Post Falls police Captain Scott Haug said that no arrests have been made because the investigation is still on going. Police are working through the different accounts of what happened:

The Post Falls, Idaho police say they are investigating the case and could not comment further. CPS says they are not able to comment on this case at this time. They are unable to talk about this or any other case until all police investigations are complete.

Samantha also has a six year old son who considered his two year old sister to be his best friend. Samantha will have to tell him what has happened to her:

Update:

Through a guestbook signing, someone informed me that Karina was taken off of life support and died on January 16, 2009. My thanks go out to Melissa for letting me know. Here is a link to a page that was made on the English Funeral Chapel and Crematory page in memory of Karina: Karina J. Moore

Karina J. Moore, 2, of Coeur d'Alene, passed away Jan. 16, 2009. She was born May 19, 2006, in Coeur d'Alene to Samantha Moore.

She is survived by, her mother, Samantha; brother Shawn Moore; sister Aaliyah Moore; and grandparent Karen Rogers. She was preceded in death by her grandfather, Cafer Bektas in 1996.

Contributions can be made to Sacred Heart Pediatrics ICU, 101 W. Eighth Ave., Spokane, WA 99204. A memorial service will be held at a later date.

English Funeral Chapel, Coeur d'Alene, is in care of the arrangements. Please sign Karina's guest registry and view her online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.

Update:

I want to thank Dannie for sending me the link to this story. I had been looking for updates and was not able to find one.

Samantha Moore keeps the ashes of her 2-year-old daughter, Karina Janay Moore, on top of her entertainment center, in the center of her living room. 

The black urn is engraved with the dates of Karina's birth and death and is adorned with a heart-shaped picture of the smiling child. 

"I want to keep her with me," said Moore, 22, a single mother. 

The ashes are all the Coeur d'Alene woman has left following her daughter's death in a Spokane hospital Jan. 16 from injuries sustained while in foster care on Jan. 7. An autopsy led the Spokane County medical examiner's office on March 5 to rule the death a homicide, saying the immediate cause was "blunt force head injuries" resulting from "injuries inflicted by another person/persons."

The Post Falls Police Department hasn't charged anybody with a crime and "can't disclose who's a potential suspect and who's not," said Lt. Pat Knight. "You don't want to disclose too much, keeping in mind there's still a lot of people we need to talk to. In my opinion, everyone who had access to Karina needs to be talked to."

But, he said, "We certainly don't disagree with the medical examiner's opinion. There's no argument going on between us and the medical examiner. It's our job to substantiate what he found. There's no doubt about what the medical examiner found on baby Karina in the autopsy."

The foster parents told the police that Karina was injured when she fell down a short flight of carpeted stairs around midnight, Knight said. First responders found the toddler unresponsive at the base of the stairs, and the foster mother performed CPR, Knight said. The foster mother was nearby when Karina fell but not close enough to catch her, he said. Karina was taken to Kootenai Medical Center, then transferred to Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Samantha Moore scoffs at the suggestion that her daughter died by accident and asks why no baby gates were installed to protect the small child. Moore said she has had concerns about Karina's care in the foster home since all three of her children were placed there in November. Moore said her children were taken away after she was charged with neglect, an accusation she disputes.

"They took my kids out of my home for so-called protection," Moore said. "How is that protection? You take away three, and you give me back two. My kids haven't been hurt in my home."

Karina Moore's foster parents could not be reached for comment.

Moore said her remaining two children – a 6-year-old boy and a 4-month-old girl – were moved to a different foster home.

Tom Shanahan, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said he couldn't comment on specifics of the case, but could say that Karina Moore's foster parents have been licensed since June 2007 and have had 10 foster children in their home.

Shanahan said a federal government review shows that Idaho's foster care system is almost entirely free of abuse and neglect. About 3,300 foster care cases from 2007 were reviewed, revealing that the state's system was 99.91 percent free of abuse and neglect, Shanahan said, and the national median was 99.5 percent. About 3,300 children cycle through the foster system annually.

In the past five years, Shanahan said, two other children died while in foster care in Idaho's five northern counties. However, the other children died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, he said.

Samantha Moore said she had three visits with her children from mid-November to Christmas Eve and during all three, she noticed bruises or scratches on Karina – goose-egg bumps on the child's forehead and long scratches down the left side of her face and neck. She said her meetings with her children were recorded and, during them, her 6-year-old son complained that he didn't like the way his foster parents spanked Karina.

Moore said the children were removed from her home in November after her son's school informed authorities that he was injured. Moore said an investigation and interviews with the child cleared her of having harmed her son. However, she was charged with neglect, and the children were removed, she said. 

Since she lost her children, Moore said, she has submitted to repeated drug evaluations, all of which have turned up clean. She said she has held down a steady job as a housekeeper and has taken two parenting classes. She has been granted two hour-long visits with her children per week, she said.

"They're not cutting me any slack, and I've done everything they've asked of me," Moore said, adding that her next court date in her effort to regain custody is in June.

"I want justice for her," Moore said of Karina. They "were responsible for her."

Alison Boggs - Staff writer
Spokesman Review
March 15, 2009

COEUR D'ALENE -- A lawsuit filed against the State of Idaho has alleged it's responsible for the death of a Post Falls toddler.

The lawsuit was filed in Federal Court Tuesday just days before the two year anniversary of 2 year old Karina Moore's death.

Karina died from a massive head injury while in foster care in January of 2009.

Her foster parents told investigators she died after she accidentally fell down a short flight of carpeted stairs inside their home.

A few months later however, the Spokane County Medical Examiner listed her cause of death as homicide.

The foster parents have not been criminally charged with Karina's death, although sources tell KXLY the case is still open and is now in the hands of the Kootenai County Prosecutor.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Karina's biological family, has accused the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare of failing to protect Karina and ignoring reports of alleged abuse inside the foster home.

In previous interviews, Karina's biological mom, Samantha Moore said she reported signs of abuse to her social workers on two separate occasions.

"Something was not right in that home," said Samantha Moore in a interview from 2009.

The lawsuit also claims "The IDHW negligently and with reckless indifference failed to supervise the foster home . . . which resulted in the death of Karina."

The foster parents and two social workers have also been named as defendants in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, the State of Idaho failed to provide foster parent training aimed at preventing child abuse.

When reached by phone late Thursday night, Karina's foster mom said she would never hurt a child and believes the State of Idaho is to blame for Karina's death.

She said Karina had an underlying health issue and that requests for help from the state fell on deaf ears. Samantha Moore however said Karina had been healthy since the day she was born.

Moore believes both the foster parents and the State of Idaho are to blame and hope this lawsuit will prevent another child from dying in state care.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare was not available for comment. 

For information about preventing child abuse in the state of Idaho, click the links below. If they can't help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER give up looking for help for an abused child!

Call this number to report child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child  1-800-422-4453