Despite concerns voiced to CPS workers, state not liable in boy’s slaying by mom, judge rules

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/despite-concerns-voiced-to-cps-workers-state-not-liable-in/article_f041f557-7c89-5898-a3d6-58574de1ffa2.html



Michael Belitz


POSTED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015 1:00 AM
By Todd Cooper / World-Herald staff writer

The state could have foreseen that 12-year-old Michael Belitz was in danger at the hands of his mother, who strangled him and then tried to dissolve his body in a bathtub, a judge has ruled.

However, Douglas County District Judge Mark Ashford ruled, the state had established no “special relationship” with Michael that required state officials to protect him from his mother.


THE WORLD-HERALD

On March 27, 2009, Angela Manns called state workers and left a voice mail asking about options for placing her son Michael because she was “spiraling downward.” She called again in April 2009.


As a result, the judge has dismissed — “with reluctance,” he said — a lawsuit against the state brought by Michael’s estate.
Michael’s family had sued after the Omaha boy’s mother, Angela Manns, strangled him.

Family members alleged that state Child Protective Services workers had not acted on the family’s concerns about Michael — and on concerns voiced by Manns herself that she was “spiraling downward.”

FULL story at link.