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Plausible Deniability

March 12, 2015 permalink

When CPS investigated a family in Houston Texas the result was what they call a Parental Child Safety Plan. The news does not report what induced the family into the plan, but experience says these arrangements are rarely voluntary. Four-year-old Codrick Mantrell McCall Jr played with a gun in his new foster home and killed himself. After the disaster, CPS denied responsibility, claiming the foster placement was the voluntary act of the father.

Agencies that engage in covert operations use the term plausible deniability. It means the ability to credibly deny involvement when things go wrong. Two other cases of child protectors using the pattern have come to light. Foster mom Bertha Gonzales severely injured a girl in California and Katelynn Sampson died in a Toronto foster home. In both cases child protectors claimed to be uninvolved in the placement.

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Balloon release held for 4-year-old fatally shot while playing with gun

HOUSTON -

Students and staff members held a balloon release Thursday in memory of a 4-year-old boy who fatally shot himself after gaining access to a loaded handgun.

Authorities said on Sunday, Codrick Mantrell McCall Jr. found a gun underneath a bed in the room where he was sleeping and accidentally shot himself. Codrick was not in the care of his parents at the time of the accident.

His father, Codrick McCall Sr., said his son was being cared for by a temporary guardian in what amounts to a temporary foster home.

Channel 2 Investigates confirmed that before Sunday morning's accidental shooting, Child Protective Services had been investigating the young boy's parents and had put the 4-year-old on what's called a Parental Child Safety Plan.

However, CPS officials said it was the parents' decision to put Codrick in that particular home with that caregiver.

Administrators at the daycare Codrick attended decided to hold the balloon release to help bring closure to his teachers and classmates. They said although some children are too young to understand, it will be a way to remember the boy who will no longer be at the school.

It is a crime to leave a loaded, unlocked firearm in an area where a young child can get hold of it.

"It's a matter of life and death," said gun expert Cameron Liss, a gun sales associate at The Arms Room, a gun store and gun range.

He said you can buy simple gun-locking devices for as little as $10 and up if you don't have a lock for your handgun, many police departments will provide one for free.

Lock boxes are particularly simple to use and can be opened in three seconds with a simple twist of a key.

As for who's to blame for this tragedy and who made that deadly weapon so easily accessible to a young boy, that will be up to a grand jury to decide.

Source: KPRC Houston

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