The grandmother of a 4-year-old Maui boy who died Wednesday of apparent abuse injuries said the state failed to protect her grandson by giving him back to an allegedly abusive parent after it had taken custody of the boy when he was severely injured at 6 months old.
"I want Child Welfare Services to admit that they were wrong in giving this child back to his parents," said Maryann Rooney of Waipio, the boy’s maternal grandmother. "They had a case 31⁄2 years ago, and they dropped the ball on it and he’s dead. I just want him to have some justice, to feel like somebody did something for him."
Rooney said she called Child Welfare Services about a year ago to report that her grandson, Zion McKeown, should not be in his parent’s care, but she was told she couldn’t do anything because she didn’t see any abuse. Zion was last living in Wailuku with his father, Kyle McKeown, the former boyfriend of Rooney’s daughter.
Maui police said Kyle McKeown took his son to Maui Memorial Medical Center at 10:57 p.m. Tuesday, saying the boy was found unresponsive in the shower of their Vineyard Street home.
Emergency room doctors found the boy had severe blunt force trauma to his internal organs and called police, police said.
Both Zion McKeown’s father and his father’s girlfriend denied having any knowledge of how Zion was injured.
An assistant to the coroner’s physician on Maui said the boy died at the hospital at 4:33 a.m. Wednesday, less than six hours after being brought in. An autopsy was completed Thursday but the results were pending, the assistant said.
Authorities charged Kyle McKeown, 32, and his girlfriend Grace Lee-Nakamoto, 27, with second-degree murder Thursday for Zion McKeown’s death. Both were being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Maryann Rooney said the state called her when Zion McKeown was 8 months old because he was taken to the hospital with severe injuries, including seven broken bones and head trauma. She was given full custody of him.
Both parents said at the time that they didn’t know what happened, and neither was charged, Rooney said.
Rooney had to take classes to learn how to feed the boy, who couldn’t eat and breathe at the same time because of his injuries. She took custody of him for a couple of months but had to give him back to social services after having a heart attack while holding the boy one day.
Rooney’s daughter could not be reached for comment.
She said she is not close with her daughter, who Rooney said has psychiatric problems, a history of abusing her children and a tendency to be "extremely volatile."
Seven years ago Rooney saw her daughter throw Zion’s older half sister across the room when the girl was still a baby. Her daughter lost custody of that child, who is now 9 and lives with her biological father, not Kyle McKeown.
Zion McKeown’s mother eventually regained custody of her son by the time he was 3 after taking classes for his specialized care, and Rooney called the state to protest.
A few months ago the mother left Zion McKeown on Maui with his father, whom Rooney said treated his son poorly. The mother now lives on Oahu.
Child Welfare Services told her that she couldn’t do anything because she was not part of the case and she hadn’t witnessed any abuse. The state couldn’t do anything because she didn’t have her daughter’s address, Rooney said.
She said the state should have kept track of the boy and checked up on him.
"You gave him back to these people, and now he’s dead," she said of the state.
Patricia McManaman, director of the state Department of Human Services, which oversees Child Welfare Services, said the department has opened an investigation into the death.
Kayla Rosenfeld, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, said she could not confirm nor discuss prior cases involving Zion McKeown because of state confidentiality laws.
She said the department is concerned about the safety and welfare of all children in the state and that the department investigates all allegations of child abuse and neglect.
Rooney still cherishes the brief moments she spent with her grandson, and hopes others can avoid the same abuse.
"He was such a happy baby," she said. "He just loved to be held, and he was really a great baby. You just couldn’t hold him enough. You could just look into his eyes forever. He was a beautiful kid."
