Vernice Harris? friend says the mother loved her daughter and is not to blame for her death by methadone poisoning.
Standing outside the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse Tuesday, where Harris had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, Kim Spencer said Harris reached out for help but was rebuffed in the days before her baby?s death.
“I know she loved that baby,” she said. “Nobody wanted to help her. Nobody wanted to give her the help she needed.”
Harris, 31, pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the June 5, 2007, death of her 2-year-old daughter, Bryanna. Judge Timothy Doory sentenced Harris to five years of probation in which she will undergo mental health and drug treatment services.
Police say Harris fed her methadone “to keep her quiet,” though Hariss? attorney and friends dispute she did so.
After Bryanna?s death, Gov. Martin O?Malley ordered an investigation into how Child Protective Services allowed Harris, a mother with a record of substantiated cases of neglect and child abuse, to keep a 2-year-old baby in a roach-infested home.
O?Malley called the case “tragic.”
An investigative report into the Department of Social Services showed several failings in how the agency handled Harris? case.
According to the state inspector general?s report, those problems included:
– The family had at least 10 separate workers.
– Harris waited for more than four weeks to get into treatment for drug abuse and mental health issues. During this time, she continued to use drugs and put her young child at risk, the agency wrote.
– A month before Bryanna?s death, Harris tried to visit her foster care worker, but was told she was no longer eligible for foster care services.
– There was a lack of communication with external agencies, such as the Baltimore City Health Department and the Baltimore Police Department.
According to police, Child Protective Services has charged Harris three times with neglect ? in 2002, 2005 and most recently in April 2007 ? and once with child abuse, in 2000.
