Sirita Jimmina
Sotelo
February 12, 2000
- January 25, 2005
From the foster family
of Sirita, who love her very much!
She was a sweet little
girl. She loved music and she loved to dance. She knew she could always
delay bedtime another 5 minutes by asking to see Mars; she could point
it out in the southern sky. I was so proud, because I had taught her that.
She liked clanking
our glasses together and drinking root beer floats. I called her “Boo-Boo.”
She liked it, and sometimes called me “Boo-Boo.” I said no, you are Boo-Boo,
Mommy is Moo-Moo, and I am Ugu-Moo-Goo. She liked sitting on my shoulders
waving the flag while I danced around the house humming “Stars and Stripes
Forever.”
She had a beautiful
voice and picked up songs very quickly, often after only hearing me sing
them once. She was a real fashion princess, she liked getting dressed up
in outfits with her hair done up with hair pretties. She was smart, she
was pretty, she was wonderful and we were lucky to have her in our lives.
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Born
with Cocaine in her system and the result of an extramarital affair, Sirita
had a tough beginning to her short life.
Sirita was taken
away from her birth mother, after her birth, due to her use of drugs. Over
her lifetime, she would be reunited with her mother on several occasions
only to be once again taken away and placed in foster care. Sirita's biological
father was not involved in her life at all during this time. Sirita's mother
was not able to overcome her drug use and she also had
psychological problems.
In May of 2003, based
on the the amount of time that Sirita had been in the care of the state,
the failed attempts to place her back with her mother and the fact that
her father had not been in her life at all, the state filed papers to try
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terminate the parental
rights of her mother, Patricia Sotelo. At that time, Sirita's father, John
C. Ewell, came forward and said that he wanted her to live with him and
his wife, Heather B. Ewell. After ahome study was done and a service plan
was complete in which John underwent drug and alcohol tests, parenting
classes and weekly visits with Sirita as well as a psychological evaluation,
on November 21 of 2003, Sirita went to live with her father, stepmother
and four other children.
For 12 months after
her placement, the department made visits to their home and provided case
management. Several visits were made and it was determined that counseling
was needed, though it was never provided. CPS had no concerns about the
placement, though John told them that Sirita seemed to be having trouble
adjusting to
living in her knew
home. During a visit on December 8, 2003, John told a Catholic Community
Services worker that Sirita and their youngest child would fight a lot.
John seemed to feel
that part of the problem with Sirita was that she was allowed to go visit
with her mother every week. John said that after the visits, Sirita would
come home with a bad attitude and that she would not talk to them. According
to John, Sirita started to throw fits at that time and stopped wanting
to be around the other children.
The behavior issues
were discussed at a meeting with the Guardian Ad Litem. A report dated
January 5, 2004, said:
"Due
to Sirita’s current acting out behavior, I strongly recommend counseling
services be made
available
to John and Heather Ewell so that they are able to help Sirita adjust to
her new
surroundings
and family and to adjust to visits with her mother"
By March, the notes
on the case show that Sirita was settling down a bit better in the home.
Notes also indicated that she was settling down and that her behavior had
improved. Information provided also said that while Sirita and the youngest
child still had a few problems and noted that they were not as frequent
as they had been. The notes concluded saying that as long as Sirita is
allowed contact with her biological mother, she would continue to have
problems. John had said that he was going to look into getting counseling
for Sirita to help her deal with all she was going through.
On May 14, 2004,
a health and safety visit showed that Sirita was adjusting even better
to her new home. The caseworker said that she appeared to feel safe and
much more relaxed than when she visited with her mother. The caseworker
noted that there were still problems with Sirita since she lied a lot and
went into fits. The recommendation was that the family receive counseling
and that a school assessment be made for Sirita. John was to check into
the schooling and the case worker would handle the counseling. The counseling
never happened.
A court report submitted
by the caseworker on in August of 2004 states:
"This placement
has been successful and the Department does not have any concerns about
S
irita that
would warrant continued involvement in her life, except for the issue of
visitation
between Sirita
and her mother"
In November of 2004,
the department determined that Sirita was in a good place and custody was
granted to John and Heather. On January 22, 2005, CPS would realize that
they had made a HUGE mistake.
That night, Police
called CPS to report a suspicious death of a child. That child would turn
out to be Sirita. According to reports, Heather Ewell had called poison
control stating that Sirita had gotten sick after she ate a glue stick
solvent of some kind. Later in the evening she had checked on her and she
was dead. Nothing was found in her system that backed up the glue gun story.
She would later change her story and say that Sirita had fallen backwards
and hit her head. That story would also prove to be a lie.
Authorities were
called to the home and noticed that Sirita seemed to be malnourished and
pale. A medical examiner determined that her death was caused by blows
to her head which had caused her skull to fracture and she also had a severed
liver. Heather would later admit that she wasn't able to handle the fits
that Sirita had been
throwing so she
had put her into a cold shower and beat her after she had wet her pants.
From prison, Patricia
Sotelo said:
"I prayed to
God that it was an accident. I didn't want to hear somebody caused harm
to
my angel.
I just don't understand"
Information would
come to be known that during her own life time, Heather had been abandoned
by her own mother, abused by her father who was addicted to drugs and raped
when she was a child. Heather had her first child when she was in the ninth
grade and by age 25 she was raising four children that were her own and
one child, Sirita, that was the result of her husbands affair with Patricia.
CPS had not bothered
to do a background check on John or Heather. IF they had, they would
have found out about Heather's troubled past and that of John. Reports
would have shown that one of the children in their home was at risk of
losing their place at preschool due to a lot of missed days. That child
always seemed to be afraid and spoke very little. CPS would have also learned
about alleged reports of drugs being sold out of the home. John and Heather
had also been allowing one of their children to stay overnights with Patricia,
who was suspect of physically abusing Sirita.
The office of the
Family And Children's Ombudsman conducted an investigation of the Division
Of Children And Family services and the case involving Sirita and her parents.
A review was done of all of the records, treatment reports, professional
evaluation and procedures and state laws that applied to this case. The
reason for the their
involvement was
to determine if DCFS had complied with all of the policies set in place
to protect children and to see if and where any improvements could be made
in policy that would help to better protect children.
Heather Ewell was
charged with manslaughter, though oddly, she was not arrested or taken
into custody, immediately. Heather plead guilty to the charge. The remaining
children in the home were removed for their own protection.
Superior Court Judge
George Bowden listened to testimony in court. Heather stood before him
and read a statement after she was found guilty:
"My intentions
were to help Sirita, never to harm her in any way. I tried so hard, but
she
struggled
every day, never smiled"
Heather said that
during the 14 months that Sirita had been with them the conditions didn't
improve and had in fact become more and more difficult for her, every day.
She was overwhelmed with having to take care of five children, school commitments
and other factors that caused her stress in her life. Heather also brought
up the fact that the case worker had never arranged for counseling as she
had said she would:
"We asked multiple
times for counseling, but it was never granted. I loved Sirita just as
much as my
other children"
Heather went on to
talk about the night Sirita died:
"I do remember
that I lost it; my mind went blank. Despite all these things that happened,
I know I am
responsible for my actions"
Heather's attorney,
Mark Mestel asked for leniency for her, wanting her sentence to be between
four and six years:
"This was a
woman who never intended to hurt anyone"
Deputy prosecuting
attorney, Craig Matheson said that way Sirita had died was appalling:
"It is inconceivable
anyone could be so depressed, so angry they would commit the acts
of violence
that the defendant did in this case"
The judge didn't
agree with Heather's lawyer and sentenced her to eight and a half years,
not at all concerned with what Heather had been through in her life:
"I don't find
that it serves as a justification or excuse for what happened"
GOOD FOR HIM!
Gary, Sirita's former
foster father, commented after the sentencing. He and his wife had been
the foster parents of Sirita before she had gone to live with her father:
"She was marked
by drugs from birth to death"
Heather's mother-in-law
commented:
"We were pretty
much ready for it. She's a good woman.
Heather is
a good mother"
Gary and Magda decided
that they needed to do something to help protect children. They worked
hard to get new legislation passed and they were successful:
"It's too late
for my little girl, but there are thousands more children at risk today,
just like
Sirita.
If the death of my daughter is what it takes to change the law - the price
was too high"
Gary
Sirita
Jimmina Sotelo - Please Visit This Site
To
Learn About Sirita's Law
Foster
Care Justice
I totally agree with
him!
 
For information about
preventing child abuse in the state of Washington, 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
   
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My sincerest appreciation goes out to
Diane Trembly for allowing me to use one
of her beautiful Angels to make the graphics
for this set. Please visit her site,
by clicking the link below, to see all
of her amazing work.
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