February 5th it has been 10 years since Joshua Powell murdered Charlie and Braden and killed himself. We continue to fight the State of Washington and DSHS, now called The Washington State Department of Children Youth & Families (DCYF). Their web page states “Supporting + Protecting Children, Youth and Families”. A new name but the same people, and the same negligence and lack of accountability. In our wrongful death suit in 2019, a Jury found that DSHS failed to follow their primary goal of Protecting Children, and that by not following their own guidance, allowed Joshua Powell to murder Charlie and Braden, during a supervised visitation.
Definition: Proximate Cause: Proximate (or legal) cause. Cause-in-fact is determined by the “but for” test: But for the action, the result would not have happened. Charlie and Braden would not have been killed by Joshua Powell but for the action of DSHS allowing supervised visitation in the house Joshua Powell rented and prepared for the murders, (contrary to their DSHS own guidance/negligence). Joshua Powell is dead but he couldn’t have killed with out the help of DSHS negligence. (which shows proximate cause)
DSHS nor the State’s attorneys acknowledged their errors, despite each of their employees that testified demonstrated a total dis-regard for the new definition of domestic violence, and DSHS’s responsibility to follow the new guidelines which where developed to reduce Familicide. (parents killing children) Failing to put Child Safety 1st over reunification (at all costs) continues to be the accepted Practice at DSHS.
The state continues to ignore the safety of children. Oakley Carlson age 5 was taken from her Foster Parents and returned to her Father and Mother (one who was fresh out of Drug Rehab the other fresh out of prison), while removing the Carlson’s newest baby citing the mother was unfit. Yet Oakley was returned to them. Oakley has not been seen for a year, her parents are facing charges for abandonment, and refuse to assist police in finding Oakley. Proximate cause of Oakley’s disappearance would be DSHS Placing Oakely Carlson in a home with unfit parents. Same old DSHS.
DSHS was challenged in court and held responsible for their negligence by a panel of Washington State Jurors. However, Judge Stanley Rumbaugh decided to negate the Jury and their award. Not because of the negligence verdict, that was proven thoroughly. But the State decided to ask for a separate Jury trial to establish a different award (money), Judge Rumbaugh said the Jury was “subconsciously compromised due to the horrendous facts of the case and incapable of deciding a reasonable award. So Judge Rumbaugh based on his personal opinion and “experience over the years” arbitrarily decided to reduce the award because he (Judge Rumbaugh) felt it was too high. So now the State attorneys have appealed the judges decision to change the award. So our case is currently waiting on the appeals court process.
While we are waiting on the appeals process DSHS and the State has avoided making the required changes to protect children and hold their employees responsible for not following existing rules. We are not going away, until we have done everything in our power to correct the root problem. The safety of the Child must be the first priority. Safety of the children has always been the reason for DSHS, DCYF or what ever name they want to call themselves. We want DSHS to do their job and protect children.
Thank you for your support. Chuck Cox Administrator and President SusanCoxPowellFoundation.
