Foster family wanted boy who was drowned, but DCS said no

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A Johnson County toddler murdered, and his mother says she did it, according to police. But it's what happened in the months leading up to his death that beg the question: Did the system fail a 3-year-old Trafalgar boy?

His name was Jacob. He loved coloring, and puzzles, and Teletubbies. Those who loved him say his laughter was infectious.

"He was always happy," said Penny Schaefer, Jacob's former foster mother.

Penny and her husband, Robert, had hoped to make Jacob a permanent part of their family. And they say hopes were raised when the Department of Child Services caseworker asked them if they would consider adopting Jacob when they placed the child in their home.

• Editor's note: Use the links throughout the story to read the CPS documents yourself.

But the Schaefer family didn't get the chance to adopt the then-2-year-old. That's because Jacob was removed from their home and placed with his grandmother. Then later a judge gave his mother, Amanda Smith, unsupervised visits with her son. The judge now says he didn't know enough about Smith when making that fateful decision.

"I said, 'It's not right, and something bad is going to happen,'" Penny predicted when Jacob was removed from her home.

The Shaefers remember the day well. Jacob's maternal grandmother, Wanda Smith, become his guardian. DCS made the recommendation despite many issues that arose in Jacob's young life - issues that were well-documented, including a condition he had called Failure To Thrive . Children with the condition fail to grow. While the reasons are sometimes medical, other times its because of poverty or bad parenting. Jacob's weight was below the 3rd percentile for a 23-month-old, meaning he was smaller than 97 percent of kids his age.

One doctor expressed concerns , writing: "Grandmother, who is the caretaker, seems overwhelmed with Jacob's needs." He goes on to say: " ... he might grow better in a different setting with a consistent feeding schedule."

While Jacob's grandmother complained that Jacob was a picky eater, his foster parents claim just the opposite.

"He was not picky at all," said Penny. "He would eat just about anything."

The DCS documents show that Jacob grew consistently in the Schaefer home. He lost weight only once - after he had spent two weekend overnight visits with his grandmother. The caseworker wrote: "Discussed reducing the visits with Wanda Smith due to weight loss after having two overnight visitations."

Nevertheless, DCS moved ahead with giving Wanda permanent guardianship, against the objections of Jacob's court appointed child advocate . She wrote: "[Jacob's mother] shows no serious interest in the well-being of her child. Neither does her mother."

DCS defends its decision , pointing to Jacob's continued weight gain after being placed in his grandmother's home. The case manager writes: "Child appears well. Recommend guardianship."

And in November 2010, Wanda Smith became Jacob's permanent guardian. DCS closed the case .

But police records show Wanda cared for her grandchild while struggling to manage her daughter's mental illness. Amanda Smith was diagnosed with schizophrenia , and police records show she called officers more than 100 times in 2011, complaining about the mob, voices in her attic and an imagined poisoning by a pink poodle.

In October, police were called to Amanda's home again, where Wanda told them her daughter's "medication was off and she has been making rash decisions." Amanda's antics forced her mother to call 911 twice as late as December of last year. But still, a couple of weeks later, Wanda didn't fight her daughter's efforts to get unsupervised visitation with Jacob.

Jacob died Feb. 27 - days before his 4th birthday. It happened at a Trafalgar apartment during an unsupervised visit with his mother. The probable cause affidavit says Smith admits she held the tiny child underwater in the bathtub - finally letting him up. But then "he started to cough and breathe again," so she held him underwater a second time.

She told police she thought she'd finally drowned him, and laid his still body on the bed. But when "she could hear him rasping, she put her hands over his mouth and nose until the rasping stopped."

When police arrived, officers said, Smith attacked them with an ax, narrowly missing one officer's head. Now Amanda Smith is in the Johnson County Jail awaiting trial.

"You leave a child overnight in an unsupervised visit? It's insane. it's just insane," said Robert Schaefer.

I-team 8 spoke to the Johnson county judge - the one who ultimately made the decision to allow Amanda Smith to have unsupervised visitation with Jacob. He says the criminal case against Smith won't allow him to comment publicly. But he can say he knew nothing about Smith's recent erratic behavior and frequent calls to police.

And once DCS granted custody, they are no longer involved in the case. DCS closed the case in 2010 when the grandmother gained custody. That means