Torture Daddies Ruled GREAT Foster Parents by Texas CPS

Amari Deantre Boon was born on June 9th, 2016, to parents Rodney Boon and Ariana George. His parents didn’t have a lot of money, but they loved him very much. The family spent their early years together in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s unclear how long the couple stayed together, but by Amari’s second birthday, Ariana was pregnant with his little brother.

However, by the summer of 2018, the family’s challenges with several state agencies began. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (CPS branch) was first contacted about Ariana George on August 15th, 2018. She was 9 months pregnant with Amari’s brother and had tested positive for substance use in both May and July. The report indicated that she was also using drugs in front of Amari. CPS reports not only included the positive drug test but also allegations of domestic violence (DV) occurring in the home with Amari present. Rodney claimed the reports weren’t truthful, but Ariana has described the couple as frequently physical. She claimed that Rodney would hit her, and then she would hit him back in self-defense. According to reports, Ariana and Rodney were described as financially and emotionally fragile.

In August, Ariana lost her apartment. According to her landlord, she and some other tenants were evicted for what he referred to as aggressive behavior. When Ariana met with a caseworker around this time, it was noted that she appeared to be clean and dressed appropriately for the weather. After Ariana’s eviction, she stayed with a family member, but it’s unclear if it was her mother’s home or a different family member. Soon, Ariana gave birth to her second son. The now mother of two did not think that she would be without housing for long, so Social Services arranged for her to stay in a women’s shelter. While in this shelter, Ariana had the opportunity to participate in drug counseling. However, by early October, Ariana had missed two appointments for drug tests. She claimed the children were getting sick constantly because they were in the shelter and felt that a shelter was not an appropriate place for a one-month-old baby.

Because of this, Ariana did something we rarely see in our cases: she decided to do what she felt was right for her boys and temporarily gave up custody. Additionally, their father, Rodney, also called Social Services about concerns for his boys. Amari and his new baby brother were surrendered the first week of October 2018. Now, due to the fact that CPS already had an open case for Ariana, she did not have any family willing to help, and there was nowhere else for her boys to go, they were put into a foster home. Ariana felt it would be best for them to be placed in state custody while she worked on getting herself back on her feet.

After transporting the boys back to the office to await placement, their caseworker noted that they had a very strong odor that filled the large conference room. The baby had soaked through his diaper and his clothes were drenched; he also had dirt under his fingernails and a severe diaper rash. His car seat had several urine stains, and the fabric also had a strong smell. Amari was described in the intake report as having filthy clothes with dried boogers crusted onto his face; he appeared hungry and was asking for food. For over a year, the boys remained in foster care. It is unclear how many homes they were in. While her kids were in state custody, Ariana did her best to hide this fact from her friends and family. She was embarrassed and ashamed that she was unable to care for them on her own. She had hoped by putting the boys in foster care that they would get the care that they needed while she got her act together and hoped to save face with the people in her life.

However, this wasn’t the case for Rodney. While the boys were in state custody, their father continued his long pattern of trouble with the law. Rodney was in jail from January to March of 2019, where in the court documents he was charged with arson. (This charge had something to do with a fire, but it is unclear how or why). Previously, he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2017, but he was not prosecuted. He was convicted on two misdemeanor charges of assault in 2012, received 35 days in jail and a $212 fine. He was also convicted of reckless discharge of a firearm in 2017; for that offense, he received 200 days in jail and a $217 fine. During the following months, Rodney refused to submit to random drug testing and would not go to counseling. Social Services had also enrolled him in a class called “Focus on Fathers,” but his name was removed from the list of members after he did not show up.

On August 1st, 2019, Rodney attended a family meeting with CPS; however, he did not participate in the discussions other than to say he wanted his kids out of foster care. At the time, he was working two jobs and was in a new romantic relationship. He claimed that the reason he had not attended the “Focus on Fathers” class was due to a lack of transportation after his car broke down. By January of 2020, Ariana was clean and had found employment. Some sources claimed that she was no longer homeless, while others say she was in the process of getting a permanent residence. She was also taking all of the mandated parenting classes that Social Services required. Around this time, the boys were removed from their foster placement and put in a fictive care placement. Now, as we discussed in the Leila Daniel case, a fictive care is not the same as foster care. Fictive care is similar to a kinship placement; this is a person that already has a relationship with either the parent or the child but is not biologically related. In both kinship care and fictive care, the homes do not have to meet the same standards as a regular foster home. This is concerning because, as we’ve seen in the past, many licensed foster homes are pretty unpleasant and scary.

On January 27th, 2020, Amari and his brother were placed in the home of Deandri Foley and his partner Joseph Delaney. The couple lived on the 1200 block of Dovercliff Court in Fort Worth, Texas. Rodney had been friends with Deandri for over 12 years and had originally met him through work. Neither Ariana nor Rodney knew Joseph well. We would later learn that this placement was primarily Deandri’s idea, and Joseph was not fully on board. Prior to the placement, both men passed background checks and had one home visit.

Before we go any further in Amari’s case, it’s important to note that the CPS branch of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had been undergoing a major overhaul for some time. In 2011, the State of Texas was sued for mismanagement of many child protective cases. As we have seen in the past, when there is a very public case or a string of horrific cases, there’s often a large public outcry demanding change. The result of the lawsuit was a push toward privatizing CPS. We have seen this happen in some other states, such as Florida and parts of California. Typically, when privatization happens, states will contract through non-profit organizations. Texas entered a contract with ACH Child and Family Services, a religious non-profit organization. Within ACH was the division that handled foster care and adoption called “Our Community Our Kids.” The State of Texas officially entered a contract with ACH in 2014, which was originally intended as just a three-year pilot program. This contract designated the northern part of Texas, not the whole state, to be under the care of ACH. This portion is known as Region 3B.

Now, before the ACH contract, there had already been a certain level of privatization happening. The state was running a dual system where some branches were run by private organizations, but the state still hired and trained the employees of those organizations. Other branches were entirely private, such as emergency shelters and residential treatment centers. There was also an investigation performed called “The Forgotten Children” that began in 2004. With the dual system, there were several inadequacies found: there were inadequate licensing standards, ineffective licensing investigations, tons of red flags being missed, heavy caseloads, and a very high turnover rate for caseworkers. The findings of this investigation also seemed to show the best route was to push towards complete privatization. ACH ran these programs from 2014 to 2017, then their contract was extended from 2017 to 2020. ACH underwent a state audit during their contract, and the findings were released in March of 2018. The findings showed major problems with documentation, monitoring, and implementation of quality improvement plans for foster families. This lack of documentation also pointed to a gross lack of monitoring of the foster families it was in charge of. It is also important to note that by 2020, the State of Texas had paid “Our Community Our Kids” over $90 million for their services. Even with the $90 million, they had not been successful in getting up to the minimum standards for foster care programs.

That brings us back to January of 2020 when Amari and his brother were changing placements. Right from the start, there was very spotty documentation on their case. Beginning in January, caseworker Shalia Roberson was overseeing the case. The permanency hearing for Amari and his brother was held on February 18th, 2020. Now, a permanency hearing is a standard part of foster care, and they happen fairly regularly during placement (standard practice in Texas is a minimum of four times per year). This should entail a review of the placement, behaviors in the children, and other support that is needed. This meeting should include parents, appointed guardians, lawyers, foster parents, and caseworkers who all get a chance to talk and express their concerns or celebrate successes. This meeting could also include a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). There is no documentation of the permanency hearing in Amari’s case file with “Our Community Our Kids.” We know the hearing happened because there were many people who agreed that it took place. Now, during the hearing, Ariana and Rodney brought up an injury to Amari’s leg. However, since there is absolutely no documentation of this hearing other than the order to hold the hearing, we have no way of knowing if the injury was ever investigated. According to Deandri and Joseph, after the hearing, caseworker Roberson told them to take Amari to Cook Children’s Medical Center for evaluation. This was just 3 weeks into the placement. During this visit, more than just a leg injury was found. The medical staff discovered a fractured pelvis. That’s right, a fractured pelvis. We’d like to remind you that a fractured pelvis is no small injury. The most common causes of a fractured pelvis in children are car accidents and falls from somewhere very high, like a second-story window or higher. Now, you think that an injury like that would cause major concern for any caseworker, even one that’s not very good. But no, caseworker Roberson didn’t record any information about this hospital visit in her files. Not only that, according to the files, she didn’t follow up with Amari’s case again until March 1st, over 10 days later.

On March 7th, 2020, Ariana took Amari for an unsupervised visit to her sister’s house to play with his cousin with Deandri’s permission. This visit had not been approved by caseworker Roberson or anyone else at “Our Community Our Kids.” During the visit, Ariana noticed several injuries on Amari’s body. He had a cut on his lip and two black eyes. She took pictures of these injuries and even lifted his shirt and discovered more bruises on his ribs. She asked Amari if someone had caused the injuries. He said yes, but when she pushed to try to find out who it was, he would not tell her. Ariana called Deandri and Joseph to ask about these injuries; however, this seemed to have spooked them because instead of explaining the injuries away, they called their caseworker and reported that Ariana had kidnapped her boys. Initially, Ariana and Rodney refused to return Amari. They begged caseworker Roberson to investigate these injuries, saying they found new cuts and bruises on him at each of their weekly visits. Amari was taken to Cook Children’s Medical Center, where his medical records noted the bruises were concerning, but unfortunately, no removal order was issued. When Ariana and Rodney refused to bring Amari back, the caseworker called and threatened them with legal action if they did not return him. They agreed and hoped that their actions had been bold enough to show the agency how serious their concerns were. They did get their attention, but not in the way they had hoped. First, Deandri and Joseph were told not to allow Ariana and Rodney any more unsupervised visits. In addition, the caseworker was supposed to make several unannounced visits throughout March and April to their home to check on Amari’s well-being. As far as we can tell, none of those visits actually happened.

However, it is also important to note that just over a week after that incident was when the pandemic got really serious in the United States. We would like to think that perhaps there was an obstacle to prevent caseworker Roberson from performing home visits; however, her poor track record began well before the lockdown. In some interviews, Rodney claimed that the injuries to Amari accelerated greatly once the country shut down. However, we’d like to remind you that the broken pelvis happened a month before the lockdown started. After the March 7th incident, Ariana and Rodney requested that Amari be moved to a new home. This request was made directly to caseworker Roberson. She instructed the couple to take Amari to be evaluated again. There was no case file documentation to prove that this happened; it was only his medical records that reflected this visit. Amari’s first home visit at Deandri’s house didn’t take place until March 11th. That’s right, Amari had been in their care for 45 days before anyone came to check on him. Even with a broken pelvis and multiple reports of other injuries, still no visits. And then, it wasn’t even the caseworker that made the home visit; it was the Court Appointed Special Advocate, who was a volunteer through the state.

When she visited the home, she did not like what she saw. She reported to the CPS hotline that the couple was not allowing Amari to drink anything at all. She also witnessed them grabbing him roughly by the arm. She called caseworker Roberson, who was furious because the Court Appointed Special Advocate had already contacted the hotline. That’s right, she was mad that a mandated reporter followed proper protocol and called the appropriate hotline. However, the call made to the hotline never made it into Amari’s official case file with “Our Community Our Kids.” On April 3rd, caseworker Roberson, supervisor Chasity Freda-Caro, and director Jayla Lawrence met to discuss the case. They agreed that this placement was less than ideal and made a plan to remove Amari if any further incidents happened within the home. Three days later, one of the men called the caseworker to report that Amari had a swollen eye. The couple sent pictures showing bruising and swelling around his eye and on the side of his face toward his ear. With absolutely no plan to follow up or medical expertise, caseworker Roberson brushed it off, saying that he probably had allergies. Ariana remembered getting a call around this time from Deandri or Joseph asking if Amari had allergies. She was confused by this line of questioning, as an allergy couldn’t cause cuts or bruises. On April 8th, Rodney had a video chat with Amari. During that session, he also noticed that his son had a black eye and a swollen face. Rodney was told that one of the injuries was caused by Amari’s now 18-month-old brother hitting him with a TV remote. He claimed that another injury occurred when Amari ran into a fence. For the next 2 days, Amari did not go to daycare as the couple claimed he was sick. It’s worth highlighting that anytime a child in state custody misses school or daycare, it has to be reported to their caseworker. On April 9th, the daycare director called caseworker Roberson to report that after his 2 days off, Amari returned with two black eyes. There was no record of this communication in his file.

On the morning of April 10th, Rodney received a call saying that Amari had suffered a seizure and was at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Surveillance footage showed a black Toyota Corolla pulling up to the emergency room at 8:13 a.m. Deandri, who was driving the car, got out and removed a child from the backseat. He walked through the door with Amari in his arms. Hospital staff immediately noticed that his body was rigid and posturing; this is a telltale sign of a major brain injury. The couple initially said that Amari had not been feeling well and thought he might have had a fever the night before. They also told medical staff and authorities that Amari had fallen from the bathroom vanity while he was being changed after a potty training accident. He claimed that he had jumped right back up after the fall and that they put him to bed right after that. The couple told police that when they woke the next morning, they found Amari pinned beneath a playpen next to his bed. Joseph said he threw the playpen off Amari but later said that he did not think the playpen was heavy enough to cause any injury to him. However, Amari was unresponsive. Deandri checked for a pulse and for signs of life; he heard gargled breathing sounds. The couple said they headed straight to Cook Children’s Medical Center from their apartment after they found Amari at 7:25 a.m. However, either this was not true or they stopped somewhere along the way. The trip should have only taken 12 to 18 minutes, but hospital surveillance shows them arriving at the ER at 8:13. That is 48 minutes—so what was the delay? The hospital staff was adamant that Amari’s injuries were not consistent with a fall. They called the Crimes Against Children unit, and detectives responded to the hospital to begin an investigation.

Amari was in a coma when he arrived at the hospital. Within just a few hours after he was admitted, staff knew that he would not survive his injuries. Over the next 36 hours, Ariana and Rodney kept vigil over their son. They watched as he suffered several more seizures, hoping that this was a sign that he still had brain function. Unfortunately, after two tests were performed to check for brain activity, they were all faced with a horrible truth. In the early hours of Easter morning, Amari was taken off of life support. He died at 11:19 a.m. on April 12th, 2020, just 74 days after being placed with Deandri and Joseph. If there was to be a silver lining in this tragic story, it’s that Amari’s now 18-month-old brother was removed from the couple’s home shortly after Amari was admitted to the hospital and, thankfully, was uninjured. After Amari’s death, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy. The list of injuries that follows makes our hearts break for Amari. When he was admitted on April 10th, he had suffered a skull fracture caused by blunt force trauma to the head. He had a massive brain injury and bleeding around his brain. He suffered several seizures in the 36 hours before he died. He had a fractured pelvis, two broken arms, three broken fingers, fractures in the bones in his feet, and several fractured ribs. He was bleeding from his right ear, had a cut on his forehead, numerous bruises, and had a hemorrhage of the eyes. Most injuries showed signs of healing. Amari Boon’s death was ruled a homicide. Medical examiners said that given the various injuries and the different levels of healing, it was clear that Amari had been beaten over time. The medical examiner agreed with the hospital staff that this was not caused by a fall or a series of accidents. The catastrophic injuries were more consistent with a person falling several stories from a building, being thrown from a vehicle during a major car accident, or the injuries people suffer when hit with tornado debris.

Typically, in cases of this nature, we see a suspect identified or an arrest made very soon after the death of a child. Oftentimes, the arrest even happens before the child has passed away. However, this is not the case for Amari. It is easy to blame lazy police work at this point of the story, but we would like to point out some important environmental factors here. Amari’s death was the fourth such case in less than a month in Fort Worth. From March 17th to April 10th, when Amari was admitted, Cook Children’s Medical Center had admitted eight children for abuse-related injuries. Amari was the fourth of those children to die from their injuries. According to hospital representatives, the average number of abuse-related deaths in children per year was a total of six, and in less than 30 days, they had already seen four (one of those deaths was later determined to not be caused by abuse). Also, take a moment to think about those dates: March 2020. Students went home for the weekend expecting to return to school the following week. However, over the course of the next two days, things went haywire, and kids did not return to school for 6 months or more. Many families were suddenly stuck at home without groceries, they weren’t going to work, they had to school their children remotely, and the fear and uncertainty were out of control. Now, according to some teachers we heard from in Texas, they were experiencing the same things; they left for spring break and did not return to school at all until the fall. Hospital staff and government officials felt that the stress of the pandemic was triggering this problem. Students who were at risk normally had adults at school to look after them 5 days a week. In their words, parents who were struggling had breaks through daycare and school, and suddenly there were no breaks. There was uncertainty about jobs, uncertainty about the health of their loved ones, and it appeared that many people were pushed to the breaking point and began taking their emotions out on their kids. Now, this is obviously no excuse, but a little bit of understanding of what might have been going on at the time that Amari tragically died.

When Deandri later described the morning of April 10th to the police, the story had some extra details that were not originally given to the doctors and nurses. When Deandri walked down the hall, he claimed to have seen Amari laying on the floor where the playpen usually was. Deandri said that he saw foam on the floor next to Amari’s mouth, and when he wiped it up, it appeared pink. He also saw blood coming out of Amari’s ear. He said there was a wet stain on the bed and on the floor. He noted that Joseph was much calmer than he normally was. Now, in police interviews, Deandri described himself as the calmer parent, the “good cop” in his parenting relationship with Joseph, who he described as the “bad cop.” He also said that Joseph angered more easily and was the disciplinarian in the home, often making Amari stand in the corner. Joseph claimed that Amari often injured himself by jumping off beds or running into door frames; however, when police asked Deandri if he had witnessed the behavior, he said no. He described Amari as well-mannered, well-behaved, and quiet. When police searched Deandri and Joseph’s apartment, they found significant blood stains that had been attempted to be cleaned up. These were located around the bed, below and on a window sill, in the bathroom on the sink counter and drawer, and on two bed sheets. They also found a bag of stained clothing on the dining room table. Their computer was seized. It revealed Google searches including “how to keep your foster child,” “how to beat CPS,” and “how much does a foster parent make in Texas.” But far more damning were Facebook messages between the couple about Amari’s injuries. These messages dated back to February of 2020 and described injuries like a limp, swollen face, and bruises on his neck, and whether they should report them to caseworker Roberson or not. There was even a video Joseph sent to Deandri of Amari walking with a distinct limp, with the caption “he moving a lot better today.” There were also messages about how to eliminate the smell of weed and smoke before the caseworker arrived.

From the beginning of March until April 10th, four separate reports were made accusing the couple of being inattentive and abusive. Remember, this is after the fractured pelvis. These reports included photos of the injuries Amari had sustained. It was also noted that Amari had missed several days of daycare. Some of the reports made were initially marked as a top priority but were later downgraded to a lower priority when they reached “Our Community Our Kids.” Reports were made by his Court Appointed Special Advocate, his daycare director, his biological parents, and his neighbors. In addition, one source noted that there was a woman also living in the house. She told police that Amari feared Joseph. He told her that he had gotten in trouble when he had potty training accidents. If this were true, it would explain the wet spot on the bed that Deandri noticed that morning. It also explains why Amari’s brother was not injured, as he was too young for potty training. It also means that Amari was allegedly beaten to death for having an accident.

Despite Amari’s death being ruled a homicide, no charges were filed for a very long time. Ariana held a peaceful protest calling for justice for Amari. Amari’s family and “Justice for Amari” groups repeatedly reached out to various news stations to try to increase coverage of his story; most stations ignored them and several flat-out refused. They were interviewed by a few stations, but the stories were never published. During the months following Amari’s death, lead investigators said they were pushing for a capital homicide charge. It was not until January 22nd, 2021, 9 months later, that something finally happened. Deandri and Joseph were arrested and charged. However, the charges were not what we expected. Deandri was charged with seven counts of injury to a child by omission and regular bodily injury; each count carried a bond of $15,000. Joseph was charged with just one count of injury to a child by omission resulting in serious bodily injury. This charge carried a measly $5,000 bond, but it was later increased to $15,000. Joseph Delaney bonded out just 3 days later. On January 26th, Deandri’s seven charges were reduced to a single charge, and he bonded out the very next day for just $30,000. The two men walked free after less than a week in jail. Deandri and Joseph were indicted on March 17th, 2021. At their upcoming trial, prosecutors must prove that both men failed to report or act on the physically abusive injuries occurring to the victim or seek immediate medical attention. In our research of Texas maximum sentences, the sentence for this body of crimes varies wildly. According to the Goldstein and Orr Law Firm, if their actions are not found to be intentional, they can face just two years in prison. Just two years. If they can prove that the injuries were intentional, then they could face between 20 and 99 years in prison and/or a maximum fine of $10,000. As of the date of this recording in 2024, we are now just days away from the 4-year anniversary of Amari’s death. As far as we can tell, both men are still out on bond. There has been no hearing date set that we are able to find.

In addition to the criminal lawsuit filed against Joseph and Deandri, Ariana also filed a lawsuit against ACH Child Services, as well as specifically naming the three people who were directly involved in Amari’s case: caseworker Shalia Roberson, supervisor Chasity Freda-Caro, and director Jayla Lawrence. All three of these people were former Texas Department of Family and Protective Services workers before working for ACH. The suit states that someone at “Our Community Our Kids” should have known the individuals in this case were not complying with the minimum state standards, but they never offered them any additional training or supervision to ensure that they were following the expectations and requirements of their position. In addition, it was found that another subcontractor, CK Family Services, did less than the bare minimum required to screen the home that Amari was going into. The agency failed to conduct separate interviews with Deandri and Joseph. As we mentioned previously, Joseph wasn’t really on board with Amari’s placement. Had this been discovered through the appropriate interview process, Amari still might be alive today. To us, the most obvious and glaring error in this case is the failure to take action after a pelvic fracture was discovered. In our initial research, the pelvic fracture was lumped into the description of injuries found at the time of death. However, when we dug deeper and discovered the pelvic fracture happened in early February, we were shocked to learn that not only did Amari stay in their care, the caseworker didn’t even follow up on the medical results from that injury. It is disgusting. Remember, there was not even a home visit to check on Amari until nearly a month after the discovery of a broken pelvis, and then the visit wasn’t even made by his “Our Community Our Kids” caseworker. And when the Court Appointed Special Advocate who made the visit filed a formal report, caseworker Roberson was livid.

Through all of our research, we can’t find any evidence that she performed a single home visit. Not a single one. Amari was in that home for 51 days after “Our Community Our Kids” knew he had suffered a fractured pelvis. For another 51 days afterwards, he was tortured and beaten repeatedly. Agencies did nothing to protect him. His parents, who thought they were doing the right thing by putting him into foster care while they got back on their feet, were ignored when they saw injuries. It also seems important to mention that Ariana had another baby while her two older boys were in state custody. She was allowed to keep custody of that baby. So why then, after her son was suffering repeated and massive injuries in the foster system, why was he then not given back to his mother? Amari was buried at Cedar Hill Memorial Park. He was remembered as a very smart boy who made everyone smile; his big brown eyes, curly black hair, and infectious smile won everyone over. When his little brother was born, Amari loved him instantly and even tried to help feed him even though he was just a toddler himself. He was playful, silly, and happy, and most of all, he loved snacks and the television show PJ Masks. Amari and everyone who loved him were failed by a system that should have been there to help him. Yes, Ariana and Rodney had issues of their own, but they trusted that these organizations would do what was in the best interest of the child. They spoke up when things weren’t okay, and they still had to bury their little boy. Hopefully someday in the very near future, little Amari will get the justice that he deserves.