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Mama Bear Defends Cubs
April 13, 2011 permalink
When two Florida DCF workers showed up at the home of Caneema Atkins and announced they were taking her five children, she lunged at Lovern Alleyne-Babb punching her in the nose and stomping on her eyeglasses.
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Police: Mom Assaults DCF Worker, Flees With 5 Children
MIAMI (CBS4) – City of Miami Police are desperate to find a mother and her five children after she allegedly beat up a Department of Children & Families case worker coming to take away the kids.
Authorities say DCF worker Lovern Alleyne-Babb, along with another co-worker, went to the home on the 400 block of Northwest 6th Street on April 8 with orders to remove the children from the home.
Once inside, police say the children’s mother, Caneema Atkins, lunged at Alleyne-Babb punching her in the nose and stomping on her eyeglasses.
“Unfortunately, this is something that our investigators face every day. They walk into these houses, they don’t have a badge, they don’t have a gun, they have their ID. They come in there into situations which may be dangerous,” said Lissette Valdes-Valle, a spokesperson for DCF.
After the attack, police say Atkins grabbed the children and fled the home in an unknown direction. She is considered to be dangerous.
The missing children are twins Brooklyn & Kaitlyn Dennis, 2, Saniya Eliott, 4, and Tre’Mari Dennis, 3. An infant of unknown age is also missing.
“We need to know where they are to make sure that they are safe, so we ask the community to please call Crime Stoppers and make a difference in the lives of these children and of this mother,” said Valdes-Valle.
Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
Source: WFOR-TV Miami
Addendum: Even before the mother was found, bloggers were suggesting that the social worker was the one doing the punching, and lied about the incident. The news report below of the mother shows no indication that she is prone to violence or defiance of authority.
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Mother who fled DCF worker with kids found
MIAMI (WSVN) -- A mother accused of attacking a Department of Children and Families worker and running away with her kids has been found.
The mother, 23-year-old Caneema Atkins, was accused of punching a DCF caseworker and fleeing with her five children earlier this week.
City of Miami Police interviewed Atkins at their headquarters, Friday afternoon, and she was released without an charge before the end of the day. DCF has reported that all five children are currently in DCF custody and in good physical condition. DCF said they spoke to Atkins earlier in the day and convinced her to show up to court with her five children.
On April 8, Police said, Atkins lunged at a DCF worker who was looking for her at a relative's house in order to remove the kids from the home. The DCF worker said Atkins punched her in the face and stomped on her eyeglasses before corralling her five children and taking off. She had been on the run with her children until now.
Police said Atkins has been cooperating, and detectives still have not heard from the case worker. They said Atkins is giving her side of the story, and it is reportedly very different from what the case worker had alleged. Miami Police Commander Delrish Moss said, "At this point, we can't say there was anything criminal because the victim's not come and talked to us, for one, and of course mother's story is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of: 'I didn't attack her ... This happened,' so we need to sit down and talk to everybody, especially the professionals that started this investigation and see if we could move forward."
Miami Police Officer Kenia Reyes said, "Detectives are saying nothing criminal yet, so the investigation is still open as to what happened back on April 8th, but the most important thing here is that all five children have been recovered. As to what took place, as to the DCF worker being hit, that's something that detectives are still looking at."
DCF said their caseworker does not want to leave her home because she is afraid. The department said she has been hounded by the media and does not want to talk about the encounter, but she has nothing to hide.
Source: WSVN-TV
