Family searches for answers, justice for 7-year-old who died while in Louisville foster care

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Still grieving her young son's death, a Lexington mother wants justice for her son, speaking out about the matter following the coroner's office determined a cause and manner of death for the young boy, who died while in state care in Louisville.

Holding a stone memorial marker, Dominique Terry is gripping to keep memories of her 7-year-old son, Ja'Ceon Terry, alive.

"They said my child would be safer in foster care than with me, but see the outcome of what happened," Terry said.

The Jefferson County Coroner's Office said Ja'Ceon died at Norton Children's Hospital on July 17, 2022. The cause of death was positional asphyxia and the manner of death was homicide.

Positional asphyxia occurs when someone's body position interferes with their ability to breathe, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Ja'Ceon was rushed to the hospital from the Brooklawn Child and Family Services location off Goldsmith Lane and Bardstown Road.

While the thought of losing her child causes so much pain, anger also fuels this mother. Terry admits drug addiction is what kept her form caring for her sons.

Terry told WDRB's partner station, LEX 18, that no one called her to tell her a cause of death was determined. She found out from a family member, who saw a headlines in the news.

"No phone call, no nothin,'" she said. "I haven't even gotten the autopsy like I was supposed to get."

Brooklawn Child and Family Services released the following statement Thursday evening after the coroner's notification:

"We are completely devastated by the unspeakable loss of a child in our care, Ja’Ceon Terry. He should not have died on our watch. As protectors of Kentucky’s most vulnerable children, we are dedicated to making sure it never happens again. The health and safety of the Brooklawn family is always our top priority.

We work every day to save young lives and help families in crisis. When we accept responsibility for caring for children, we commit to doing everything possible to keep them from harm.

The coroner’s report was released today. We are still searching for answers to the many questions about what happened on that Sunday afternoon. The leadership of Brooklawn will continue cooperating with state and local officials investigating this tragedy.

We have redoubled our efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of every child. Since July 17, we have taken the following actions:

• Dismissed two staff members who were involved in the incident.
• Increased training for staff members, who provide direct care for children, in deescalation and relationship-building strategies, which have been shown to reduce and prevent the need for holds.
• Retraining staff on behavioral models and therapeutic approaches.
• Increased consultation and coaching with staff on intervention strategies that
• have been shown to create a collaborative and healing treatment environment.
• Increased leadership presence and oversight in cottages to support staff and children.
• Increased screening and assessments of all youth prior to admission.

We have persevered through tough times, and we will continue with the prayers and support of our community."

"It would have meant a lot for somebody to call, like, 'This is how your son passed away, and is everything OK? What can we do to make it better?' It was nothing," Terry said.

Terry said she fears for her two other sons still in the state's care, and is fighting to get them back.

"I already have a lawyer and all of that," she said.

The Louisville Metro Police Department said in a statement following the release of the coroner's report saying "We received the information from the Coroner’s Office.  This case is still an ongoing investigation.  Once we have gathered all of the facts related to this death, we will present them to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to determine how we will proceed."

"I just think that something should happen to the two people they found, that caused my son to not be here anymore," Terry said.