A lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Albany County says that “The agencies ignored repeated red flags and bypassed established procedures, leaving Charlie in the care of at the home of Dequan and Latrisha Greene for months longer than he should have been and even bypassed procedure to initially place him there.

Charlie and his 5-year-old sibling were removed from their biological parents and placed in the Hellish placed in Schenectady County foster home by Albany County Department of Social Services in September 2020 where they were ignored and abused until Charlie was dead. Of course, none of the parties profiting from this child’s preventable death will comment. Lorraine Silverman is the attorney bringing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names  multiple employees in both counties including case workers, supervisors and a CPS intake specialist, employees from the St. Anne Institute, a counselor, case manager and social worker.

Allegations include:

Employees did not interview and assess the two children’s needs.

Officials knew that Latrisha Greene was running an unlicensed day care out of her home.

Latrisha hurt children and placed them in a dog crate as punishment.

The state did not follow procedures and policies to certify the Green’s as a foster placement, nor did they ever check on the children in the home.

The state failed to respond to multiple calls that would have prevented Charlie from being killed.

The foster parent certification process was never properly completed even though Dequan Greene acknowledged fasting as a “self-care practice,” and stated that he had a short temper, and both Latrisha and Dequan Greene indicated their parenting styles were authoritative.

The state “failed to warn” (the murderous people that they paid to kill Charlie) the foster parents that Charlie was on complex medications and that he suffered from complex issues even though the killers said they did not want children with issues several times.

The Greens were never trained to manage, care for, and parent foster children who had the medical and other conditions.

The weekend the children were supposed to be in the Hellish foster placement turned into three agonizing months for the children.

Albany County called for an extension and advised lied saying that the Greenes wanted to keep the children in the home. Schenectady County agreed.

The children missed appointments.

“From the start of the foster care placement … the defendants did not make the required visits, assessments, evaluations, referrals, and checks to determine if they were properly and safely placed in the Greene foster home”.

In October, Latrisha Greene reported a behavioral issue but no one from the state would talk to her about it.

Latrisha Greene asked that the children be removed for a variety of reasons. One reason included that she did not have sleeping accommodations for the children.

“Rather than remove the children, Albany County asked Schenectady County whether one of the children could sleep in a walk-in closet. Albany County also recommended placing the other child in the basement”.

Schenectady County employee indicated that Charlie could not sleep there, and Albany County lied saying that it would remove the children the next day. They never showed up.

Albany County even sent an emergency removal 10-day letter Oct. 22, 2020. “Following that letter, Albany County DCYF and Schenectady County CFSO deliberately, willfully and intentionally chose to keep the infants in the Greene foster home”.

Albany County “bullied” Schenectady County and Latrisha Greene to keep the children. Schenectady County never visited the home again.

After missing several appointments and using Covid as a reason for not having the children in school, on Dec. 6, Latrisha Greene indicated the children were sick with the flu and she could not allow “in person” visits, but the counties did not require documentation.

Four days before Charlie was murdered, Albany County caseworkers showed up at the home to drop off a door alarm for a bedroom of one of the children.

“The children were beaten with sticks or switches, hands struck with pots and pans, made to do wall sits, force fed, had their mouths filled with food as punishment, food withheld, hit in their stomachs with jugs, sprayed with cold water, forced to take cold showers, pushed down, choked, confined to a dog cage as punishment and denied medical care and schooling”.

The lawsuit also alleges that Dequan Greene stomped on them.

“The surviving child suffered a torn frenulum, swollen lip, bruising to the torso and face, ear and bruising and scarring to the neck and bruising to the pelvis, among other injuries.

Charlie died from blunt force trauma that severed his liver.

“If the defendants had acted properly and had complied with their obligations and duties … the children would have never been placed with Latrisha Greene and Dequan Greene. The children even if wrongfully placed, would have been removed before they were beaten, abused, and murdered.”

Dequan Greene’s attorney says that Dequan claims that Charlie died by “choking”.

Latrisha Greene does not face charges in Charlie’s death.

Minding Hearts is building advocacy and peer support groups in each state.  The groups are created to raise awareness, educate, and advocate for those that might not otherwise be heard. We are here for encouragement, education, and support. We cannot give legal advice, but we can try and direct you in the right direction with your case. Links to legal services are listed with their states. Please share and let’s grow our groups. We are here to support families and develop resources that maintain family integrity. We look forward to your support. If you would rather become active by donating, then visit the donation page.