Thursday, Rachel Aldridge, mother of Brooklyn Aldridge, who was killed while in the care of her ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend in 2018, appeared before the U.S. Senate Human Rights Subcommittee in Washington and told the story of her daughter’s death. The subcommittee is chaired by Sen. John Ossoff (D-GA) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and is conducting a bipartisan probe into the treatment of foster children in the United States.
Ossoff and Blackburn opened the subcommittee to investigate the welfare of children in foster care. At the time of Thursday’s hearing, Ossoff said their team has interviewed over 100 witnesses. “We’ve found that DFACS does initiate timely investigations in almost 90 percent of the abuse and neglect reports that were audited. But DFACS systematically fails to actually address the risks and safety concerns associated with these children. According to DFACS’s own internal assessment, DFACS fails in 84 percent of cases to quote ‘make concerted efforts efforts to assess and address risks and safety concerns to children in their own homes and in foster care’,” stated Ossoff.
Aldridge’s story is one such case. In March of 2018, investigators from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call that a child was not breathing. The child, two-year-old Brooklyn Aldridge, was deceased when officers arrived. She had been living with her father, Ron Lott, and his then-girlfriend, Amanda Jacobs Coleman. Lott was not at home at the time of Brooklyn’s death.
Coleman was arrested and charged with murder and cruelty to children. An autopsy showed severe hemorrhaging on the back of Brooklyn’s head and around her brain. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma. Later in 2018, she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Aldridge eventually filed and won a wrongful suit death against the Department of Family and Children’s Services.
As Thursday’s hearing opened, Sen. Ossoff stated, “Today we will hear from children and parents who have suffered systemic failures to protect vulnerable children.” Aldridge was one of several people who testified before the subcommittee. Her testimony showed that Aldridge was Brooklyn’s custodial parent when DFACS took her and placed her with Lott and Coleman. “You had the right to object. Did DFACS ever tell you that?” asked Ossoff. Aldridge replied, “No sir.” Ossoff then asked Aldridge if she would have allowed Brooklyn to be placed in their home if she had known she could object. “Definitely not. I would have taken my daughter home. She had never been away from me. Never,” said Aldridge.
When asked if she suspected that Coleman was dangerous, Aldridge again stated, “Yes sir.”
Ossoff then stated that DFACS has a policy to run background checks on people who take care of children. “But DFACS didn’t run that background check, did they?” he asked. Aldridge stated that no, the agency did not. Ossoff added that had DFACS run the required background check, workers would have found that Coleman had a criminal history and DFACS had previously pursued a child neglect case against her.
Court records in Brooklyn’s case showed that Aldridge had seen a bruise on Brooklyn when she had visited her while Brooklyn was in the care of Lott and Coleman. Aldridge said she reported the bruise but DFACS allowed Brooklyn to remain in the home. Aldridge said that made her feel helpless. “All I wanted to do was take my daughter home and I couldn’t. I just wanted my baby,” she stated.
After Brooklyn’s death, Aldridge received a Facebook message from an DFACS worker that said she didn’t fail Brooklyn, DFACS did. “That made me feel like it was too late. I mean, my daughter was already dead. There was nothing. I just felt helpless, like the system that was put in place to protect my daughter failed her,” said Aldridge.
“If DFACS had followed its own policies and sought your consent before this placement, had run the background check they were supposed to run, had listened to you when you reported bruising on her body, do you believe your daughter would be alive today?” asked Ossoff. Again, Aldridge answered, “Yes sir.”
As Sen. Ossoff concluded his remarks to Aldridge, he said, “Ms. Aldridge, you have been through every parent’s worst nightmare. And I’m sorry. And I think all of us are grateful that you have taken the time and summoned the courage to re-live this and share it with the public and the Senate. Why have you chosen today to take that step?” Wiping away tears, she replied, “So what happened to Brooklyn doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
Aldridge answered a few questions from Sen. Blackburn regarding parental rights. “Get an attorney. I would definitely say get an attorney. You know your rights. Study about them. You could go with your gut but you need an attorney,” she said.
After Aldridge spoke, the hearing continued for another hour and a half.
Records from the Georgia Department of Corrections show that Coleman remains incarcerated at Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville.