Details of Florida boy’s short, troubled life emerge
LARGO, Fla. — Five months before a Florida toddler was found dead, his court-appointed child advocate told a magistrate that the boy should not be returned to his mother.
The Tampa Bay Times reported Friday that her objection was overruled.
On Tuesday, 2-year-old Jordan Belliveau’s body was found in the woods behind a baseball field. Police arrested his 21-year-old mother Charisse Stinson and charged her with first-degree murder. Investigators say she confessed to hitting Jordan in the head during a moment of frustration.
The more details emerge about the boy’s short life, the clearer it’s become that he was extensively involved with Florida’s complex child welfare system. It’s raising multiple questions about why he was returned to his parents, and how he fell through the cracks. Even as Jordan’s guardian ad litem fought against his return to his mother out of foster care, records show, a case manager for a state contractor pushed for the boy to be given back to Stinson.