The Truth Staff
The fallout from the death of Kei’Mani Latigue is clearly not going to fade away anytime soon. The leadership of Lucas County Children Services held a press conference on Tuesday, April 8, to answer questions about how the agency handled its previous investigations into Kei’Mani’s home life and how it will participate with the newly-established Lucas County task force as the agency’s overall practices are examined.
“We are ready to walk the path,” said LCCS Board Chair Suzette Cowell as she opened the press conference and introduced Randall Muth, the executive director.
“The pain of Kei’Mani’s death will never go away,” said Muth at the onset of his remarks. Muth then reviewed what the agency will be doing in the future to ensure that its practices are safe and benefitting children; he also explained what had happened in the past in the interactions between Children Services and the Latigue household.
Children Services received a report on December 8, 2023 and two reports (describing the same incident) on March 21, 2024, regarding the care of Kei’Mani who was in the care of her grandmother, Dorothy Latigue. There had been no prior reports on the home since 2011 when Kei’Mani was an infant.
Children Services conducted investigations and found no evidence that would warrant asking the Juvenile Court to remove the child from the home.
“The grandmother was blamed for excessive physical discipline,” said Muth. However, there was never a mention of Darnell Jones, who is assumed to be the father of Kei’Mani.
“No mention during the investigation of Darnell Jones and no record exists which establishes paternity,” said Muth.
In addition, there had been no calls to Children Services in the year preceding Kei’Mani’s death, according to Muth.
He has asked if anyone does believe they called Children Services, they should call 419-213-3833 – the Family Center Hotline – to make the agency aware.
Going forward, Children Services will be consulting an internal review of the handling of the Kei’Mani case, said Muth, to see if anything could have been done” to prevent Kei’Mani’s death. He has also requested a separate review by the Ohio Department of Children and Youth.
In the meantime, Muth noted that Children Services will fully cooperate with the task established by the Lucas County Commissioners to examine the agency’s practices. The task force’s first three members will include Cowell, former LCCS Executive Director Robin Reeves and Breda Osburn, director of Lucas County Job and Family Services.