Janiya Thomas' death prompts 'Children at Risk' panel in Bradenton

BRADENTON -- Eleven-year-old Janiya Thomas weighed only 44 pounds when she died.

Her right leg had been broken two to fours weeks before her death, and marks on her hands and feet indicated they had been tied, an autopsy revealed. Her body was placed in a freezer after her death.

A grand jury indicted her mother, Keishanna Thomas, on charges of first-degree murder, abuse of a dead body and aggravated child abuse.

On Monday, the League of Women Voters of Manatee County will host a public panel discussion called "Children at Risk" whose focus is the safety of Manatee children, said Rosalie Shaffer, president of the League of Women Voters of Manatee.

"In light of the death of Janiya and other recent child abuse tragedies, what can be done to better protect children from danger in the home?" Shaffer is asking her

speakers.

The program will be held from noon to 1 p.m. at Bradenton Woman's Club, 1705 Manatee Ave. W.

High-profile child homicide cases like Janiya's have been rare in Manatee, said Manatee County Sheriff investigative bureau chief Connie Shingledecker, one of the panelists.

"Since the year 2000, there have been seven homicides where children were killed in a violent fashion," Shingledecker said Thursday. "Essentially, they were few and far between until four occurred in 2015."

Shingledecker said she researched all seven child homicides since 2000 and determined that 75 percent had a commonality.

"I will explain the commonality at the panel discussion," Shingledecker said.

Although Shingledecker said she will not get into the actual details of the Janiya case on Monday because it is an ongoing investigation, she will discuss some of the issues the case has generated, such as should a child be allowed to be home-schooled if the home-school parent has a history of incidents documented by the Florida Department of Family and Children.

"If you have prior involvement with DCF, should you be allowed to home school?" Shingledecker said, referring to Keishanna Thomas' file with DCF. "This child (Janiya) was home-schooled which was one set of eyes lost as a mandatory reporter. Does that play a role?"

A second panelist, Gigi Kelly, chief operations officer at Manatee Children's Services, said she plans to let people know her agency is part of the solution.

"Last year, Manatee Children's Services provided 13,894 elementary aged children with educational workshops on how to recognize and report abuse," Kelly said.

Since 2010, Manatee Children's Services' pregnancy prevention program has served 1,003 teens, a population proven to be at higher risk of child abuse offenses, with only three reported pregnancies, Kelly said.

"Our emergency shelter and three group homes served 150 unduplicated children in foster care," Kelly said.

"Our parenting program provided intensive parenting education to 285 parents, of which 56 percent had children removed for being 'drug endangered."

Manatee Children's Services' Child Protection Team provided forensic medical exams and forensic interviews of more than 684 children last year to determine whether child abuse occurred, Kelly said.

Lucia Branton, director of external affairs, Safe Children Coalition, is also on the panel, Shaffer said.

About 10 volunteers with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court's Guardian ad Litem program, which provides child advocacy, will also be on hand to answer questions, said Nancy Sanders of the Guardian ad Litem program.

Doors open at 11:30 a.m. for the event, which will include a light lunch buffet and social time. A $5 donation is appreciated, Shaffer said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Janiya Thomas' death prompts 'Children at Risk' panel in Bradenton ."