| Anthony's
family said they tried everything to get help for their son. They
said he was a normal teen and one day things just changed. He became
depressed and was 'not himself'. The family indicated they tried to
find him help for but ran into road-blocks. They were told the only
way to get help was for Anthony to get into the juvenile justice
system.
This was the
same thing Diana Matthews was told when she sought help for her son,
Danny. Danny, too, died in a Florida Department of
Juvenile Justice facility.
Anthony's
parents called the police when their son pushed his mother. They
believed this was their chance to finally get help for their son.
But rather than getting the counseling his parents felt he so
desperately needed, the judge ordered him into the Lippman Family
Center, located in Broward County, Florida. The facility is run by
the Lutheran Services, a Tampa-based nonprofit organization. The
20-bed center is under contract with the State of Florida Department
of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).
During his stay
at Lippman Anthony ran away but was returned to the program. Again
his family hoped he would get the therapy he needed.
One night while
Anthony was at Lippman he stated he wanted to kill himself. That
night he hung himself with his belt.
According to the preliminary police report, a "youth care
specialist" at the shelter found the boy hanging
and dialed 911. But rather than letting him down, she snapped 4-6 Polaroid pictures of the boy in the hanging position and left
him there until police arrived.
Three employees on duty that night
were suspended without pay. Youth care specialists are not counselors. They
handle the day-to-day operations of the residential facility.
Staff at Lippman only needed a high school diploma and CPR and first-aid
training within a year of being hired. The shelter was not
licensed at the time of the incident.
Anthony
remained in a coma for four months when he died.
(Information
provided above was taken from news articles below)
Click on links
below for news articles:
June 17, 2000 -
State Probes Suicide Try of Boy at Shelter
June 23, 2000 -
Teenager Left Hanging by Belt in Shelter, Police
Report Says
June 29, 2000 -
Parents: System Promised Help, Instead Delivered
Harm
June 30, 2000 -
Shelter Running Without License When Teen Hung
Himself
July 1, 2000 -
State Demands That Youth Shelter Get License
July 6, 2000 -
Teen Out of ICU, But Still in Coma
July 6, 2000 -
Shelter Bars Advocate Investigating Hanging
July 7, 2000 -
Child Advocate Denied Access to Shelter for
Troubled Youths
July 13, 2000 -
Shelter Has Reported 40 Kids Missing
July 13, 2000 -
Admissions Resumed at Children's Shelter
July 29, 2000 -
Suicidal Teen Given Bad Advice
No Date -
Counselor gets house
arrest for for not aiding hanging teen
September 28, 2001 -
Counselor Charged With Not Helping Dying Teen
March 19, 2004 -
Worker Who Watched Boy Hang Convicted of
Neglect
May 12, 2004 -
Worker Who Didn't Help Hanging
Teen Gets One Year of House Arrest
May 18, 2004 -
Youth Counselor
Convicted Of Child Neglect
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