Just a couple of quick comments here: If nothing else comes out of this event, I would hope that we as a city and a community of human beings make resources available to assist pregnant mothers who for whatever the reason, find themselves homeless in the final portion of their pregnancy. There is absolutely no excuse for this tragedy to have happened and it almost certainly wouldn't have occurred had the baby been left in the care of it's blood mother, who should have immediately been able to access a Housing First program.
We as a city are waaayyy behind the curve on this innovative and extremely successful method of finding housing and I challenge the Homelessness Commission, Urban Housing Solutions, MDHA and any other agency involved with finding housing for homeless individuals to quickly initiate a real Housing First program.
I also call upon health care providers in the city to establish a respite care facility or provide bed space in an established facility to provide temporary care for those who are late in their pregnancy, sick, and/or injured and in the process of procuring housing. We have seen enough death on these streets as a direct result of our inability to provide the most basic of services to our citizens; even our prisoners are provided with more resources than the average person experiencing homelessness.
Finally, we as a community need to find a way to support our outreach workers in times like this. I realize they understand it comes with the territory as outreach is often filled with direct exposure to misery and suffering most people can't even begin to comprehend, but these people are low paid, work ungodly hours with only slightly better resources than the people they are serving, and they are often left to deal with incredibly difficult moral and ethical dilemmas by themselves.
We as a society owe them a debt of gratitude and respect for the work they do in the face of often unbelievable adversity, and I would hope that those charged with providing resources for homelessness do not leave out the need for care for our frontline troops.
With deepest sympathy and empathy to all those involved in this tragedy, I can only say "I am deeply sorry for your loss and I hope we all will be able to prevent something like this from happening again."
Foster baby's tragic beginning, tragic end
Born on streets, infant placed in foster home may have been killed
By Kate Howard • THE TENNESSEAN • February 5, 2010
A doctor explains to Kimberlee Diedrich what to expect as Cherokeewolf is taken off of life support.
(PHOTO BY TASHA FRENCH / COURTESY OF THE CONTRIBUTOR. FEATURE STORY TO BE RELEASED FEB. 24)Cherokeewolf William Diedrich, born into poverty on the side of a dirty street, was supposed to be getting a better chance at life when he was put into foster care.
His then-homeless mother did not willingly give up the child, but she agreed she could use some time to get her life together before taking on the duties of motherhood. The foster parents took the newborn and they hoped to adopt him if he didn't go back to his mother.
When Cherokeewolf was taken off life support on Tuesday,
dead at the age of 12 weeks, both their dreams died with him.
Kimberlee Diedrich, now living in an apartment, was left to wonder how life had been better for her son. And police turned their attention to the foster home setting after hospital X-rays indicated the baby may have been shaken — more than once.
The medical examiner's office has not released a cause of death, saying more tests need to be completed. No charges have been brought, but police are calling their review of the case a
homicide investigation.
None of the birth or foster family members has talked about Cherokeewolf's death. Diedrich, declined to speak through a friend who said the grief was still too raw. The only comment from the foster parents came through Cheryl Green's attorney, who issued a three-sentence statement on her behalf.
"Cheryl Green is heartbroken over the death of Cherokeewolf William Diedrich, her foster baby she was hoping to adopt with her husband, Earl," said Green's attorney,
Jennifer Thompson. "She strongly denies the implication she has in any way caused injuries to William. Cheryl Green does not wish to make further public statements as this is a difficult and painful time for all those involved."
Cheryl Green's mother, Rebekah Tidwell, said she had been advised by Green's attorney to decline an interview request.
"All I want to say is that we are very sad about the death of this baby boy," Tidwell said. "Our entire family is very sad. We know that the truth is going to come out. We have to wait for that."
Couple met on streets
For months before the night Diedrich went into a
quick labor on the dirty sidewalk of Second Avenue, she'd been trying to get an apartment.
She and her boyfriend, Fred, came to Nashville from out west, hoping to find work. They found short-term work here and there. Diedrich, already visibly pregnant, met Jeannie Alexander on the streets.
Alexander is one of a handful of outreach workers in Nashville known for her work with pregnant homeless women, so Diedrich's situation was very familiar. It was for women like Diedrich, 35, that Alexander, an outreach worker and pastor with the Amos House Community, established the Mercy Fund last year, meant to help parents or expectant parents get off the streets.
Diedrich and her boyfriend applied with Alexander for all the housing programs they could find, encountering waiting list after waiting list. With whatever donations they could land at local congregations, Alexander put Diedrich and her boyfriend up in cheap hotels whenever she could.
"Unfortunately, she wasn't the only pregnant woman we were begging for," Alexander said.
When there was no money, they were back on the streets.
At the same time, Cheryl Green and Earl Green Jr., were sitting for interviews and home visits in their two-story home in a quiet Donelson subdivision.
New parents themselves, the Greens applied to be foster parents last spring, records from the
Tennessee Department of Children's Services show. By October, after multiple meetings with caseworkers, they were approved for their first foster child placement.
"Mr. and Mrs. Green would like to provide a loving, nurturing and safe home environment for children who have been removed from their family," the caseworker wrote in their file. "They would like to offer support and encouragement to the child and family while they are trying to achieve the goal of reunification; however, they are willing to be adoptive parents if the primary goal can not be achieved."
The couple, married on New Year's Eve in 2006, appear in case records to have met all of the DCS requirements. Both passed criminal background checks, and the home didn't have a pool, guns or anything that would be dangerous for a child.
They have a 2-year-old daughter and aspirations for a bigger family themselves. Earl Green, 41, an avid outdoorsman and songwriter, was listed as a senior banquet captain at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. Cheryl Green, 36, told her case worker she loved being a stay-at-home mom, and that they both wanted to have one more birth child and three adoptive children.
Cheryl Green had worked in a group home and knew about the traumas that children in the system often face, she told DCS. She has considered becoming a resource parent for a number of years, she said, but she was afraid it would be hard to say goodbye.
On Nov. 9, Diedrich, now full-term, was sleeping on Second Avenue. She and her boyfriend were supposed to move into an apartment the next day. About 3 a.m., Diedrich went into labor.
Alexander said the labor was quick. Metro police said a passerby saw her in distress, and took them to the hospital. They named the boy Cherokeewolf, a name Alexander said was a nod to the couple's Native American roots and an expression of the mother's free spirit.
Fred isn't the baby's birth father, but he still wanted to put his name on the birth certificate.
"He didn't know his address yet," Alexander said.
He planned to go back and finish it. But soon, the state got involved, and in all the chaos he never got the chance. The baby was taken into state custody. The couple did agree they needed time to get furniture, and they wanted to get into parenting classes. They intended to be reconciled with Cherokeewolf.
"They were committed to getting everything in order," Alexander said.
DCS spokesman Rob Johnson said the reason the baby was put in state custody is confidential. Alexander said they were told it was not just the mother's homelessness, although Alexander said more than half the homeless pregnant women she knows have also lost their children to state custody. Diedrich lacked a real plan to care for the newborn. Across town, the Greens — approved as new foster parents and awaiting an assignment — were ready.
The Greens called him William.
Nothing in their file reflects follow-up visits from DCS, but the agency said in a statement that case workers checked on the family regularly. The baby was taken to the doctor regularly, and visits were arranged for his mother to spend time with him.
On Jan. 9, when Cherokeewolf was exactly two months old, a 911 call came from the family's Cather Court home. The baby had stopped breathing.
Detectives with the Youth Services division of Metro police responded to the hospital, where Cherokeewolf was already on life support. He had no marks or bruises, according to court records.
Police records show that in an interview Cheryl Green said she put their daughter to bed and went to bed herself about 8 p.m. Earl Green stayed downstairs with the baby.
At about 10 p.m., he said, Cherokeewolf pulled the blanket over his head and, after taking the blanket down, he noticed the baby threw up. He took the baby out of the car seat he was sitting in and patted him on the back, Earl Green told police, and the baby vomited again.
He cleaned up and then picked the baby up again. He was having trouble breathing, Earl Green said, and then he went limp.
Brain injury reported
After the baby had been in the hospital two days, test results returned. Police were told he had suffered severe head trauma, and the medical records told the story: non-accidental, traumatic brain injury. Extensive hemorrhages. Signs of multiple bleeding episodes.
Cheryl Green then hired her attorney, and Cheryl Green and her husband declined any more interviews with police.
When a judge ordered the life support removed, Diedrich and her boyfriend were there with friends from Amos House. They'd had Alexander baptize him a few weeks prior, preparing for this day. They took turns holding him until he died. A DCS caseworker left the room as that moment approached, allowing them to grieve privately.
"We were all able to hold him," Alexander said. "That was something that was really beautiful."
Alexander said she fears, as hurt as everyone is, that the community will see this tragedy and look for someone to blame. She hopes there is no rush to judgment. "They (the Greens) need to heal," she said. "We need to heal. There seems to be a jump to find fault, lay blame. … I fear someone will get lynched for this."
A social worker will help Diedrich make arrangements for a tiny casket and burial, if she chooses.
The state will pay.
And all Alexander and Diedrich know for sure is that someone hurt Cherokeewolf, and the way he came into this world and the way he left it was a sin.
As we all know, Bon Jovi have been a worldwide arena and stadium act for nearly 25 years. And despite a few dips here and there, they're going as strong as ever. The band has had a distinct Nashville influence in the past few years and, indeed, has made the rare crossover from metal to country and back again. In the end, it's all arena rock anyway.
Hank Edney
