Big Island boy Fabian Garett-Garcia was only 3 when he died July 25, 2017, from injuries received while under the temporary foster care of Chasity Alcosiba-McKenzie and her husband, Clifton McKenzie, at their Waimea home.
The coroner found on March 3, 2018, that the child died of nonaccidental blunt-force trauma to the head. Police arrested Alcosiba-McKenzie Aug. 16 on suspicion of second-degree murder but she has not been charged to date.
The boy’s parents, Sherri-Ann Garett and Juben Garcia, filed a lawsuit April 4 in Third Circuit Court on the Big Island against the state, the Department of Human Services, Catholic Charities Hawaii and the two formerly licensed caregivers.
The lawsuit alleges that months and even days prior to Garett-Garcia’s death, DHS and Catholic Charities staff saw obvious injuries on the child and on nearly a dozen occasions were notified by his mother of suspected child abuse occurring in the foster home, yet Child Welfare Services did not remove him or his siblings until after his death.
DHS and Catholic Charities said officials had not yet received the complaint so would not comment on it. However, DHS spokeswoman Keopu Reelitz said the McKenzies are no longer licensed foster care providers.
Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth did not return calls for comment on why Alcosiba-McKenzie has not been charged.
Hawaii County Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services personnel found the child’s lifeless body lying in a pool of vomit on a bed in the McKenzie home. EMS records show he had various stages of bruising on his head, neck and body, older blotchy bruises on his left shoulder and vomit in his throat.
When fire personnel confronted the McKenzies, the couple claimed the bruises were the result of a 3-foot tumble the boy had taken two weeks earlier while wearing virtual-reality goggles, the court complaint says.
Alcosiba-McKenzie allegedly told DHS social workers who came to the hospital a different story, saying the injuries happened that day, according to the lawsuit.
Garett-Garcia was taken by ambulance to North Hawaii Community Hospital where a nurse wrote domestic abuse was “SUSPECTED,” in all-capital letters.
Emergency room physicians found bleeding in both the boy’s eyes, bruising on his forehead and surrounding his eyes, on both cheeks, his chin, right forearm and left shoulder and flank.
At the time of his death, the McKenzies were also caring for his younger siblings.
The lawsuit alleges that had the state “not failed to properly supervise, investigate and/or remove Fabian and his siblings from the McKenzie home … Fabian would have been alive today.”
On May 22, 2017, Garett observed that a younger son couldn’t walk, was bruised and burned and had bald spots on his head, injuries verified by a doctor’s chart note, the complaint said. She also notified a social worker May 31, 2017, that her children had head lice, diaper rash, bruises, scrapes and yeast infections, but the social worker did not investigate, according to the suit.
The complaint also said the mother reported injuries and pain to Garett-Garcia and another son’s scrotum, neck, penis, and that the 3-year-old reported “Aunty pinched my olos.”
The couple allege in their lawsuit that Alcosiba-McKenzie has a documented history of legal, psychological and personal problems that should have disqualified her from becoming a licensed caregiver.
The Family Court awarded DHS supervision over the parents and their children in January 2016 based on its petition asserting that Garett and Garcia had substance abuse issues and due to dangerous living conditions on their property, according to a court document.
In July 2016, the court awarded foster custody of the children to DHS because it said the parents were not complying with its service plan to remedy its concerns.
After Garett-Garcia’s death, the other children were removed and placed in a different DHS licensed foster home. They were returned to their parents two months later in September 2017.
