Documents: Tulalip mom left kids 'covered in feces' for days
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SEATTLE -- Social workers closed a child-abuse investigation of a Tulalip woman just weeks before her toddler turned up dead, and now state officials are answering questions about why they didn't do more when they had a chance.
Just as she's done before, Christina Carlson hid her face in tribal court on Monday. The Tulalip woman is accused of severely neglecting her daughters, to the point where her 18-month old died.
According to newly uncovered documents, Carlson is accused of leaving her kids strapped in car seats inside her car for days. The children were allegedly malnourished, severely dehydrated and "covered in feces."
The confidential case file also details how social workers had been alerted to the problems but were unable to act.
"We investigate as long as we can and as long as it seems reasonable, but in this case there were no leads," said Chris Case with the Department of Social and Health Services.
The state first got word of Carlson when the kids' grandmother told social workers Carlson "would drink alcohol and leave her children in the playpen." She also said Carlson didn't give the kids food or medical treatment for their lice and sores.
Carlson met with Child Protective Services once, but only after she cleaned her house and her kids. Then she disappeared, according to the state. Social workers spent months trying to reach her and even went as far as calling her relatives.
"If you can't find them after six months, you're probably not going to find them again," Case said. "So we had just determined to close the investigation when she was found, and tragically found."
According to her case file, Carlson had four other children removed from her home prior to her daughter's death.
Social workers now say they wish they could have done more for the last two kids.
"My heart goes out to these children and that family," Case said. "We did everything we should do. But I don't know if you can ever do as much as you could do."
It's unclear if Carlson's case will remain in the tribal court system. The trial could be taken on by the Snohomish County prosecutor or the U.S. Attorney's Office. She remains behind bars and her second daughter has been placed in protective custody.
Just as she's done before, Christina Carlson hid her face in tribal court on Monday. The Tulalip woman is accused of severely neglecting her daughters, to the point where her 18-month old died.
According to newly uncovered documents, Carlson is accused of leaving her kids strapped in car seats inside her car for days. The children were allegedly malnourished, severely dehydrated and "covered in feces."
The confidential case file also details how social workers had been alerted to the problems but were unable to act.
"We investigate as long as we can and as long as it seems reasonable, but in this case there were no leads," said Chris Case with the Department of Social and Health Services.
The state first got word of Carlson when the kids' grandmother told social workers Carlson "would drink alcohol and leave her children in the playpen." She also said Carlson didn't give the kids food or medical treatment for their lice and sores.
Carlson met with Child Protective Services once, but only after she cleaned her house and her kids. Then she disappeared, according to the state. Social workers spent months trying to reach her and even went as far as calling her relatives.
"If you can't find them after six months, you're probably not going to find them again," Case said. "So we had just determined to close the investigation when she was found, and tragically found."
According to her case file, Carlson had four other children removed from her home prior to her daughter's death.
Social workers now say they wish they could have done more for the last two kids.
"My heart goes out to these children and that family," Case said. "We did everything we should do. But I don't know if you can ever do as much as you could do."
It's unclear if Carlson's case will remain in the tribal court system. The trial could be taken on by the Snohomish County prosecutor or the U.S. Attorney's Office. She remains behind bars and her second daughter has been placed in protective custody.
What I don't understand is why this mother made such a clear attempt to hold onto these children, i.e. cleaning up for authorities and then disappearing, when all she planned to do was seriously abuse and neglect them? Surely, in her heart, she knew that they could have a better chance at a decent life out of her care. Why be so selfish, and why cause so much harm to these two innocent little girls? For that matter, I have to wonder why she kept having more and more kids when the first 4 had already been taken away? I guess maybe I'll never understand the mentality of someone like this.
This is sick! I thought we were the intellegent animals, not just animals. How does this keep happening over and over again?
I have the solution no one wants to hear......Pay these indigent women $10,000 to have their tubes tied. They are having children that they do not want and do not care for. It is costing us much more than $10,000 to try to save these damaged kids that quite often end up in the criminal justice system.Â
@MidnightRambler Amen I agree and all the crack heads out thier need to have their tubes tied also. So we are not taking away thier rights but they need to prove to society they are worthy of having children. This just sickens me.
I said it, and I'll say it again, this woman and her children were members of a tribe, this murder took place on tribal land, the tribe, friends & family knew this womans where abouts but refused to give her up, knowing something like this could possibly happen to the two remaining children in her care, because the state had already removed 4 children from her  for possibly the same kind of abuse that killed this little girl.
@SJ
Yeah- from my understanding the tribe kind of has the equivalent of CPS, but they seem to have done absolutely NOTHING and the tribe refused to provide her whereabouts to boot.
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May ALL of them that let this neglect continue be haunted by the knowledge that they contributed to her child's death by proxy.
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 @WAbornnraised Exactally, they have enough income to put in place a system like CPS that does nothing but put a stop to child abuse on their reservations, and they are better equipped to do this on their own land than CPS is.
OK so in this article it states that when CPS couldn't find her they even went as far as contacting her relatives!! CPS is making it seem like they went above and beyond. Of course they should have contact her relatives if they suspect the kids are in danger. Giving up after 6 months REALLY!!! Excuses Excuses!! I remember when this story first broke they had interviewed some of the mothers friends and they said they knew that she would leave the kids along to drink and do drugs!! WTF that is abuse right there and it's ok to say you were aware of it and did nothing. I'M TIRED OF THE EXCUSES THIS WAS 110% PREVENTABLE!! and yes I blame everyone from CPS to her family and friends to her fellow druggie friends. SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING PERIOD!!!Â
"If you can't find them after six months, you're probably not going to find them again," Case said. "So we had just determined to close the investigation when she was found, and tragically found."
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WHY DID THEY GIVE UP?!? I know budget and manpower may not be the best at CPS but a few couldn't spare at least a half an hour a day trying to track her down?!?
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I know it's not CPS's fault these kids were treated this way- that blame totally lay with the mother, but still.
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 @WAbornnraised Why did they give up? I imagine this is their only case of child abuse they need to work on, they looked for her for 1/2 year, it appeares they did spend at least a half an hour a day and much more on this, wonder why after 6 months they couldn't find her? maybe she has a really good network to keep her hidden, why should it be the sole responsibility of CPS to hunt her down? how can they do their job when they run into brick walls at every attempt to find these kids? someone did a good job at hiding these kids for 6 months or more, wonder who that was? oh what the hell, who cares who hid these kids, lets blame CPS, those lazy, money grabbing, no good DSHS workers.....yea ok...very sad, put the blame where it belongs..now tell me who it really was who NEVER cared about the welfare of these babys.
@SJ @WAbornnraised i agree the mother is responsible BUT I doubt due to her drug and alcohol addiction that she really tried that hard to hide and I highly doubt that she might have had this really good network of people to help her. What I do believe is that if CPS really put in 100% effort to find these kids they probably could have.
 @tkyed That includes themselves and everybody around them.
 @tkyed You know, smart has nothing to do with this, it is a matter of alcohol/drugs, selfishness, and a black heart when it comes to anyone else, when people are in an alcohol/drug induced stuper do they really know anything? you might be surprised to see what an alcohol/drug addicted person is capable of doing, when they become that much of a hard core abuser of drugs, do they have any sense of who they are hurting or even care who they harm, no it's all about the drug, that is what rules, they neglect, use and abuse to get the next fix.
 @tkyed Ever hear of enablers? and how do you propose CPS could have found these people in a matter of days? if they couldn't find them in 6 months? what would it have taken? you ask family, friends, the elders, you get nothing, now what? what would be your next move to find these kids? where do priorities lie? are there NO other abuse cases out there to tend to? well, maybe some of these people who accuse CPS of not doing their jobs need to volunteer to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice, instead of relying solely on CPS and pointing fingers, or perhaps you could donate some of your income to a help CPS find the children fund.
@SJ Yes I do know how CPS works and I do believe that they could have foudn these kids in a matter of weeks if not days. I understand that CPS has hundreds of cases but there should be priority cases and who says she didn't want to be found. If she was as you claim smart enough to try to hide wouldn't she be smart enough to know that by leaving her kids in a car strapped in car seats for days that at some poitn someone would die!! I think even majority of the worst drug addicts/alcoholics would not stand by and watch this.
 @tkyed Have you ever heard of enablers? her close nit circle enabled her to hide, who wants to lose a drinking buddy...
 @tkyed Do you know anything of how CPS works? do you really think that 6 months was not long enough to spend on this one case when there are hundreds more just like it? how do they find someone who doesn't want to be found, and being an alcoholic/drug addict or not, she had help in laying low for 6 months or more.
 @SJ know it's not CPS's fault these kids were treated this way -  that blame totally lay with the mother
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I NEVER disparaged CPS or DSHS workers.
 An example of how CPS has done it's job, this murderer had 4 other little ones removed and put in a safe place right? it's not from a lack of trying to keep all children safe, it's the system as a whole. I respect what they do, and where would we be, and how many more tragic deaths would we hear about if we had NO CPS at all? keep cutting these vital programs, and the numbers will rise.
 @WAbornnraised You know, I'm not a big fan of DSHS, but, I don't understand why people need to blame CPS for everything bad that happens to children, we always hear the negative about CPS, why do we not hear some of the positive things and the MANY children CPS has SAVED? they have a tremendous responsibility in taking the lead in keeping children safe, it is horrible that we have to let CPS take over the raising & responsibility of caring for children of these abusing, murdering parents, they are overwhelmed and that is a heavy burden, but I guess someone has to do it, and I do believe they do the best they can with the judicial system they have to answer too, I have seen CPS workers break down because they couldn't do more, it can't be easy seeing this sort of crime day in & day out..and I do not think anyone of them become use to or hardened at what they have to deal with.
 @SJ And that's what I said initially, yes?
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I also said I understand that the budget and manpower may not have allowed it/wasn't the best. (I have seen DSHS workers/social workers in action, I know how overburdened they are- 30+ families assigned to one worker, ridiculous.)
 @WAbornnraised NO it is NOT CPS or DSHS who is to blame here, my point exactally..
 @WAbornnraised You ask why they gave up after 6 months..
 @WAbornnraised I'd guess it would be the ones who hid her out. yea?
Might as well let her out and perform more Coitus and live in flith. She's only had 4 children taken away so far and only Killed one.
It's time the tribe steps up and says, this will not be tolerated on reservation land, they have enough income to make this happen, they need to form a CPS for tribal members only, and leave Washington State out of  things that happen on the reservations, she is a tribal member, this happened on a reservation, it is up to them to get justice for these little girls, and stop blaming CPS for everything bad that happens on their reservations.
Why does everyone always blame CPS? CPS isn't the one giving birth to these children. CPS may have its flaws, but what do you expect when the public doesn't want to spend the money to fully fund them? They can't be everywhere at once. No one is responsible for the death of this child, except the parents.Â
The bottom line is, it's the woman's fault who caused this tragedy. She did this to her children. She caused the death of her child. She strapped them in the car and neglected them. CPS did not do this. CPS can't find someone who doesn't want to be found. I'm not supporting CPS, they have their own issues. But in the end, the woman did this. She needs to be held accountable and put away for the rest of her life. However, we all know this state and the criminal justice system...........we'll never be satisfied with her sentence. I hope some prosecutor steps up and shows the public this will not be tolerated.Â
"Social workers now say they wish they could have done more for the last two kids.".....THEN WHY DIDN'T THEY!!!
I'm very sad and mortified to hear what these babies went though. This "mom" should never see daylight again. Let Christina Carlson rot in prison for the rest of her life!
@LeftisBest In all honestly, what else could CPS do?  They dont have a crystal ball to tell them where these children were located.
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Tell me why this is not punishable by the death penalty? It sounds like what she did to those children was malicious torture which ultimately led to murder. String her up and beat her like a pinata.
@south - it's due to the fact the the washington state sentencing guidelines are not strict enough. write these comission members and expressw you concersn to them. Maybe then these lawyers, police, politicians & citizens advisors will get the message that we as a community want criminals dealt with in a more appropriate and final manner.  With these foxes setting the guidelines they essentially are another failure in the system which ends up returning the criminals back onto our streets and keeping their professions both profitable and thriving all at the expense of the tax payer.Â
 @jsp52 Thank you.
Why can't women like this be "fixed" so they can't have more children?Â
This is nothing new in the history of the Native Americans of the past or future. This the true reality of these people that foreigners of other countries never see or understand in these problems with the Native American all over the U.S. living on the REZ. This is an intenal problem within the society of Native Americans ONLY!!! and They want self government.....they can't even take care their own children...this is NOTHING new!!! Â
As in the previous, initial article, I am waiting for her apologists to appear and comment. Remember them?
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Wa State CPS is a mostly useless organization. As a Cop,  I have had many bad experiences with the quality of their "investigations".Â
And yet again another state department that their sole job is to protect and serve the un-protected fails, how many lights need to go off before these idiots realize there might be a problem..
perhaps not........................ But this is a serious issue and the red flags were numerous
Where oh where is/was the father!?! HELLO!?!??
In jail (really)
Sadly, no one probably knows who or where he is. He probably doesn't even know he's a father.
It's time the Indians stop getting government handouts. Â
Yes this woman is a pile of dog crap. The children should have been removed long before this happened. Unfortunately CPS only has so much power and so many resources. Case workers are overloaded and stretched too thin. With budget cuts and tax revenue down there is not enough money to fully fund CPS and social and health services. This is what the people have been voting for, smaller government and less meddling in peoples private affairs. What really failed is the Tulalip tribe. These are their people on their sovereign land. Where were the family members of this woman and children? Where were the tribal elders and counsel? The Indian nations should be doing a better job of helping tribe members with drug, alcohol and social problems they always say they want to stop. There's plenty of people pointing fingers. Where were they for these children? Oh that's right they voted for smaller government, less interference by government, deep cuts to social services that could prevent this kind of thing from happening as long they don't have to pay for it. You can't have it both ways.
The tribe is too busy expanding the casino and outlet mall to worry about any children.
 @ButtercupSprinkles A true and sad reality.
The story says they "even went as far as calling her relatives" -Â I don't get that, wouldn't that be one of the first things you'd do if you were trying to find someone?
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This woman is a murderer and she needs to be tried as such. To strap someone into a seat they cannot get out of and leave them to die is cold blooded murder.
 @Willow The "even went as far..." is just KOMO's cringe-worthy awful reporting and pitiful attempts to unnecessarily jazz up an already tragic story.Â
Yes, this sorry POS should be tried for murder, with aggravating circumstances. And attempted murder of her surviving daughter. All sentences served consecutively, none of the ludicrous concurrent crap that is just another excuse to knock 80 percent off of some bottom dweller's sentence.Â
She had her first 4 children taken from her, that should have been a huge red flag!!! Maybe these 2 children should have been taken from her at birth so they could be given a chance at life!!!! Cps did not do everything they could have done, and this poor excuse of an egg donor needs to rott in prison!!!!Â
@proudarmywife!   Cps has to take the case in front of the judge. He or She decides what happens to the children.
 @proudarmywife! This is such a sad story, it makes me sick, as it does everyone, and all of us demand justice for that little girl, blaming CPS is not right, they are not detectives nor do they have crystal balls, it is easy for people to fly under the radar, and if you have a whole tribe behind you, you can become virtually invisable, it's time we started putting blame where it belongs, it's easy to blame CPS because they have a tarnished rep due to all the negative press, well, not this time, the blame lies solely on HER, her friends & relatives, and the TRIBE, they were no doubt aware of the other 4 children CPS did remove, it's time for these people to stand up and stop expecting the State of Washington to clean up their mess.
@proudarmywife! CPS didn't give birth to the child. Let's blame the people responsible...the parents!