Kiana Casey
PHILADELPHIA – The federal government faces liability for the murder of a three-year-old foster child in Philadelphia, as doctors at the federally funded FIGHT Community Health Center are alleged to have failed to protect her.
Despite weight loss and reports of Hope Jones eating her own feces, health care professionals never connected those conditions to starvation at home, a Nov. 21 lawsuit against the United States claims.
Jones died in the foster care of Kiana Casey, who pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and received a prison sentence of 8-20 years. The child’s caseworker was found not guilty of murder in 2023.
Individual health care providers at FIGHT are not named as defendants in the lawsuit, though it claims they underreacted to warning signs like Hope’s teeth falling out.
“They did not inquire into the possibility of physical abuse, did not ask whether there was any history of abuse in the household, and did not counsel Ms. Casey regarding the possibility that Hope’s tooth injury was the result of abuse,” the suit says.
“They also failed to address the possibility that Hope’s significant weight loss was due to starvation, did not investigate her sudden weight loss and abnormal eating behaviors, and did not report any suspicion of abuse or neglect to ChildLine or to any other authority.”
The allegations are similar to those that were defeated by counties and school districts over the fatal starvation and abuse of a young girl. Malinda Hoagland was tortured by her father and his girlfriend, but when her estate sued county and school officials for not reporting obvious signs like weight loss and food-hoarding, the judge wrote, “Sad case, wrong defendants.”
Cindy Warren faces first-degree murder charges, and a trial that was supposed to start last month was continued. She potentially faces the death penalty if convicted.
Casey got off much lighter. She took custody of Hope more than a year after Hope was taken in by the Department of Human Services. Both Hope’s mother and Hope had tested positive for marijuana after the 2019 birth, but she continued to gain weight and appeared healthy in the first 15 months of her life.
Hope went to live with Casey in November 2020. In the months that followed, doctors noted that she continued to lose weight and in August 2021, her front tooth fell out.
A two-year examination in November 2021 showed another decrease in weight, down to 26.7 pounds. Casey told the doctor that Hope had tried to eat her own feces and sometimes ate food so quickly she vomited.
The lawsuit said her attempt to eat her in own feces “was a manifestation of severe hunger and neglect.” Another tooth fell out in December 2021.
By June 2022, she was down to 24.5 pounds, placing her in the first percentile for her age. She died the following month, with the cause being multiple blunt impact injuries.
“There were no medical causes identified for Hope’s severe weight loss,” the suit says. “Hope’s malnutrition was so severe and prolonged that it also impacted her height-growth velocity… This indicates that she was not receiving enough calories for her bones to grow appropriately.”
Nadeem Bezar of Kline & Specter represents Hope’s estate.
