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Foster mother who fatally beat 2-year-old gets 25 to life

By Matt Stevens and Garrett Therolf - Latimes.com

February 21, 2014

A foster mother convicted of second-degree murder in the beating death of a 2-year-old girl was sentenced Friday to 25-years-to-life in state prison.

Kiana Barker, 34, who had been trying to adopt Viola Vanclief in 2010, severely beat the toddler and later called 911 to report that the girl had stopped breathing, prosecutors allege.

In October, a jury found Barker guilty of second-degree murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse.

The case was the latest in a years-long series of problems for United Care, a nonprofit foster agency that contracted with Los Angeles County at the time of Viola’s death, and had placed the girl with Barker.

After the child's death, the county terminated its contract with United Care.

Witnesses said that Baker burst into Viola's room after hours of heavy drinking and beat her. When Barker was pulled away, the little girl was on the floor, struggling to breathe, the witness said.

Though doctors at a hospital attempted to revive the girl, prosecutors said the child was "dead on arrival."

The girl had suffered “extensive blunt-force trauma,” the district attorney's office said in a statement.

A motion filed with the court at sentencing said the trauma was caused by “multiple repeated blows by an adult, exerting maximum force."

Ultimately, it was determined that the child -- who was placed in child care because her biological mother was a crack addict and prostitute -- had died from massive bleeding in her chest cavity, prosecutors said.

Authorities said that Barker eventually told investigators that Viola had become jammed in a bed frame and that she might have accidentally hit the girl with a hammer as she tried to free her.

The child’s death focused attention on the Department of Children and Family Services, whose officials could not initially explain how the child came into the care of Barker, and her then-boyfriend, James Dewitt Julian.

Shortly after Viola’s death, The Times reported that Barker had been the subject of five previous child-abuse complaints, including one substantiated allegation that she had severely neglected her own biological child in 2002.

Julian had been convicted in 1992 of armed robbery -- a fact that should have disqualified him from living in a home certified for foster care.

Los Angeles County supervisors later voted to develop an investigations unit and subsequently terminated their relationship with United Care.

In December, The Times also reported that at least four children in Los Angeles County had died as a result of abuse or neglect over the past five years in homes overseen by private agencies, such as United Care.

Responding to the report, Los Angeles County officials launched a review of the criminal clearance process for foster parents selected by private agencies.

Viola’s remains have been buried in an unmarked grave in Carson.

Foster mother convicted of 2nd-degree murder in girl's beating death

By Jill Cowan - Latimes.com

October 18, 2013

A foster mother was convicted of second-degree murder Friday in the beating death of a 2-year-old girl she had been trying to adopt.

Kiana Barker, 33, faces 25 years to life in prison for the 2010 death of Viola Vanclief, a toddler in her care. A jury also convicted Barker of assault on a child causing death and child abuse.

"Justice was served," Deputy Dist. Atty. Pak Kouch said after proceedings in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The case was the latest in a long series of troubles for United Care, a nonprofit foster agency that contracted with the county at the time and had placed Viola with Barker. After the girl’s death, the county terminated that contract.

Prosecutors alleged that Barker severely beat "Vicki" with a belt on March 3, 2010 -- about a day before Barker called 911, saying the girl had stopped breathing. Though doctors at a hospital attempted to revive her, a prosecutor said in her closing statement the child was "dead on arrival."

Later, authorities said, Barker told investigators Viola had gotten stuck in a bed frame and that she might have accidentally hit the girl with a hammer as she tried to free her.

In her closing statement Thursday, Kouch showed graphic images of the toddler, battered and prostrate on a hospital bed.

"It's hard to imagine a mother beating her child to death," she said, but "the evidence in this case is not only simple, it's overwhelming."

She described Barker as a violent woman who beat her biological daughter with a belt and who ultimately "whooped and whooped and whooped on Viola," killing her.

Barker, she alleged, was the only person home to deliver a final blow to Viola's upper side, which led to severe internal bleeding in her chest area. She died of blunt force trauma, authorities said.

But Barker's attorney, Robert Haberer, said it was Barker's then-boyfriend, James Julian, who beat the girl. Julian pleaded no contest to an accessory charge in 2011 and was sentenced to three years in jail for his role. He and Barker married less than a month after Viola's death.

Haberer said Barker had lied to investigators, telling them Julian wasn't at the South Los Angeles house when she found Viola unconscious.

He said Barker knew that by allowing Julian, a convicted felon, to live at her house, she was violating the county's foster care rules.

Haberer said his client had sought more, not less, responsibility over Viola's care. She tried to adopt the girl, which would have negated the prosecution's contention that Barker fostered her to earn a stipend, he said.

Foster mother, boyfriend rearrested in alleged beating death of girl, 2

The action followed investigators' meticulous re-creation of the hours before the girl's March 4 death in South Los Angeles, police say.

By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times

July 21, 2010

More than four months after a 2-year-old foster child was allegedly beaten to death, Los Angeles police have rearrested the foster mother and her boyfriend in connection with the killing.

Kiana Barker, 30, was arrested Thursday and faces charges of murder, child abuse and dissuading a witness, according to the felony complaint issued in the case. Barker's bail was set at $1.1 million.

Two days later her boyfriend, James Julian, 38, surrendered to police. He faces charges of accessory to murder after the fact and dissuading a witness, according to court records. He is being held in lieu of $1.6-million bail.

Both had been under suspicion since Viola Vanclief's death March 4. At that time, according to coroner's records, Barker told authorities that Viola had been caught in a bed frame and was accidentally hit with a hammer while Barker tried to free her. No immediate medical care was sought for the girl, according to the coroner's initial information.

Barker and Julian were initially arrested March 9 on suspicion of murder but were released two days later, with no charges filed. At the time, police said they were continuing to investigate.

Since then, investigators have worked to meticulously re-create the hours before the toddler's death, according to Lt. Vincent Neglia of the LAPD's Juvenile Division.

Detectives worked with medical experts to pinpoint Viola's injuries, and they used interviews and other techniques to determine Barker's whereabouts at the time the injuries occurred. "It was very difficult to put together a timeline," Neglia said.

Before Viola's death, Barker was in the final stages of being approved by the county Department of Children and Family Services to adopt the girl despite being the subject of five previous child-abuse complaints, including one substantiated allegation that she had severely neglected her own biological child in 2002, according to confidential records.

Julian, who is known as "Big Bird," was convicted in 1992 of armed robbery, according to court records.

The couple's troubled history raised questions about how Barker could have been approved as a foster parent by child-welfare authorities. Under state rules, both adults should have been disqualified from caring for or living with foster children.

In response to Viola's death, Los Angeles County has since terminated its contract with United Care, the foster-family agency that certified Barker and ran state background checks on her.

United Care, which oversaw 88 homes with 216 foster children, had been repeatedly cited in recent years after caregivers choked, hit or whipped their charges with a belt.

Additionally, county auditors found financial irregularities at the agency in 2007. According to the report, United Care was paid $3.95 million for the care of 232 children, but $274,608 in expenditures was determined to be "questionable," and it was ordered to be repaid to taxpayers. Much of the money remains uncollected.

Foster mother had 5 abuse complaints

Inquiries are focusing on her role in the death of a 2-year-old girl and how she got licensed in the first place. One of the abuse reports about her was substantiated.

By Garrett Therolf - Latimes.com

March 18, 2010

The South Los Angeles foster mother under investigation in the fatal beating of a 2-year-old child had been the subject of five previous child-abuse complaints, including one substantiated allegation that she had severely neglected her own biological child in 2002, confidential records show.

Kiana Barker's troubled history, coming in the wake of disclosures about her live-in boyfriend's criminal record, has raised questions about how she could have been approved last year as a foster parent by child-welfare authorities. Under state rules, both adults should have been disqualified from caring for or living with foster children.

Barker's home was supposed to have been a refuge for Viola Vanclief, born in 2007 to a schizophrenic mother who proved dangerously neglectful when off her medications. Instead, confidential child-welfare records reviewed by The Times show, Viola was moved from one high-risk home to another.

After Viola's March 4 death, Barker told investigators that the toddler had been trapped in a bed frame and that she accidentally struck the child with a hammer while trying to free her, according to coroner's records. Viola had multiple bruises on her body, the records say. The death was deemed a homicide caused by blunt-force trauma.

Barker and James Julian were arrested on suspicion of murder, then released after prosecutors sent the case back to the police and coroner for further investigation.

Neither Barker nor Julian could be reached for comment.

Two weeks after Viola's death, child-welfare officials still are unable to say why Barker's past had not ruled her out as a foster parent.

"I'm still in the information-gathering phase," said Trish Ploehn, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services director. "I'm still pulling the state regs to determine who was responsible to assess the history and who was responsible to follow up following the subsequent hotline calls. It's a complicated and complex analysis."

Jeff Hiratsuka, head of the state Community Care Licensing Division, which is responsible for licensing foster parents, was unable to explain why the 2002 substantiated-neglect probe did not lead his workers to disqualify Barker when she applied in 2005 for a child-care license and in 2009 for foster-care certification.

Hiratsuka said it was unclear whether Barker's history had not been reported to the state database by county workers, or if it had been reported and overlooked by his staff.

"We need to gather more information," said Lizelda Lopez, a spokeswoman for the state agency.

Reached Wednesday, Viola's sister, 23-year-old Sonja Vanclief of Columbus, Ohio, said the family regretted that Viola had ever been taken away from her mother, Olivia. "These people should go and do whatever time," she said, referring to Barker and Julian. "Viola was a baby and she was defenseless, and they were supposed to protect her."

As for the county, "they are sloppy," said Sonja Vanclief, who was herself placed in foster care as a child.

Viola first came to the attention of Ploehn's department shortly after her birth when child-welfare investigators determined that her schizophrenic mother was not taking her medication, according to the records. Viola was briefly removed from the biological mother's care and then, as is common practice, reunified with her as the county tried to help the woman care for her infant.

But seven months later, the investigators determined that the mother was still not taking her medication, was using cocaine and had violently attacked another person. The county initiated court proceedings to terminate the mother's parental rights, the records show.

The infant was later placed with Barker, 30, who has two children of her own. It is unclear whether county social workers at that time were aware of the five previous complaints against Barker.

The records show, however, that county Children and Family Services investigators substantiated the severe neglect charge in 2002 -- a finding that should have placed Barker on the California attorney general’s database consulted by employers and regulators to vet foster parents and other child-care providers.

Details of the 2002 case and others were not contained in the records reviewed by The Times.

Over subsequent years, callers continued to report abuse or neglect by Barker but social workers were unable to substantiate the complaints, the records show. In 2005, someone accused Barker of emotionally abusing a child and investigators deemed the allegation unfounded. In July 2008, a caller alleged neglect of two foster children -- a charge deemed inconclusive. One month later, Barker was accused of general neglect and sexual abuse of foster children. Investigators determined the neglect charge to be inconclusive and the sexual-abuse charge unfounded. Three months later, investigators concluded another complaint of sexual abuse of a foster child was unfounded.

Under state rules, the inconclusive cases should have been entered into the state database and might have precluded a state license.

In addition, the records show, Barker's boyfriend went undetected in Barker's home over the course of the couple's three-year relationship. Julian, who is known as "Big Bird," is also under investigation in Viola's death, and was convicted in 1992 of armed robbery -- a fact that should have disqualified him from living in a home certified for foster care.

South L.A. foster mother, boyfriend are under investigation in child's death

Kiana Barker and James Julian were arrested in the death of 2-year-old Viola Vanclief, who was struck with a hammer

By Garrett Therolf and Anna Gorman - Latimes.com

March 15, 2010

A foster mother and her boyfriend are under investigation in the death of a 2-year-old child in their care who was beaten with a hammer, according to authorities and coroner's records.

Viola Vanclief's death March 4 is the latest in a series of troubles linked to United Care Inc , a nonprofit foster care agency that contracts with Los Angeles County to provide shelter for abused and neglected children.

Records show that United Care, which oversees 88 homes with 216 foster children, has been repeatedly cited in recent years after caregivers choked, hit and whipped their charges with a belt. In 2007, a foster child drowned while swimming unsupervised in a pool.

South Los Angeles residents Kiana Barker, 30, and her boyfriend, James Julian, 38 were arrested last week on suspicion of murder in connection with Viola's death, according to Los Angeles police records. They were released two days later, with no charges filed. Police are continuing to investigate the couple.

Barker was decertified as a foster parent last week, and state regulators posted a notice near one of the no trespassing signs outside her house saying that a child-care center license there had been suspended.

Barker told investigators that Viola was trapped in a bed frame when she accidentally struck the child with a hammer while trying to free her, according to coroner's records. Viola had multiple bruises on her body, the records say. The death was deemed a homicide.

It is unclear how the child came to be in the couple's care. Julian had been convicted in 1998 for felony robbery using a firearm -- a fact that should have barred him from living in a home with foster children, according to state records.

Trish Ploehn, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, declined to comment on details of the case, but said: "This child's death is extremely saddening for everyone."

In a prepared statement, Craig J. Woods, the executive director of United Care, also said he could not comment because the facts aren't fully known. "The entire United Care Foster Family Agency family . . . are all mourning the tragic and unfortunate loss of Baby Viola; and our thoughts, prayers and support remain focused on the families involved."

While the death is being investigated by Ploehn's department and the Los Angeles Police Department, all county social workers involved in the case have been placed on desk duty, and United Care is not receiving new placements.

The death comes as Ploehn's department is facing scrutiny in the deaths of children under its watch. All but two of the more than 30 cases to come to light in the last two years have involved children killed while in the custody of their own parents.

On Monday, Barker's grandmother, who lives next door, said that the day Viola died, she had been at a doctor's appointment. She returned to find Barker screaming.

"Grandma, she's not breathing," Claudia Barker recalled Kiana saying of Viola. "She was hysterical that the baby was not breathing."

Kiana Barker didn't say anything about a hammer, Claudia Barker said, but said the baby was diabetic and had low blood sugar. She said Julian tried to revive the infant while Kiana called 911.

Claudia Barker said her granddaughter has two biological children, a 6-month-old daughter and a 9-year-old daughter. Kiana also had two foster children, including Viola.

She said Kiana Barker and her boyfriend have been together about three years. Early in the relationship, she ran a child-care facility out of the house but stopped doing it because business was slow. She was licensed as a foster parent a year ago, records show.

"She has many children come through there until the mammas take their children back," Claudia Barker said.

Family friend Phillip Brown was standing nearby. He said he has known Kiana Barker for eight years. "She was more of a spiritual lady, not a violent lady," he said. "I don't know what happened."

According to records on file with the state's division of Community Care Licensing, Barker was a foster parent for United Care, an agency whose caregivers sometimes left children in dirty clothes or placed them in rooms without a single working light bulb. In the 2007 drowning, the foster mother was distracted during a family reunion, the records showed.

In addition, county auditors issued a 2007 report that uncovered financial irregularities at the agency. According to the report, United Care was paid $3,954,796 for the care of 232 children, but $274,608 in expenditures were determined "questionable" and was ordered to be repaid to taxpayers.

Ploehn said her department hadn't been able to begin collecting the money until late last year. But Woods, the executive director of United Care, said the delay was not his fault.

United Care was "a good faith partner" trying to resolve the discrepancies, he said, but was delayed by the county's inability to offer timely appeals.