The more we find out....

[kyburg]

The more we find out it doesn't get any better.

That murder-suicide case, with both parents med-techs at the Kaiser hospital in West LA?

They were rad techs. Yup. Same union as Jim, same job title. Both of them.

One was interventional, the other mammo. He's stumped as to what could have caused them both to be fired at the same time.

It had to be nasty. Like, really stupid nasty. We know the union is better than that, too. He's taken stuff to them himself and gotten satisfaction - they're a good group.

And it looks like both of the parents planned this.

I've asked Jim to keep his ears open on this one - but I'll put this to the world at large.

HAY. I'M A LICENSED FOSTER PARENT IN THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES. I'm also pretty typical.

You want to think of what might happen to your kid in the foster care system, think of me? There are also a lot of me out there, who you will never hear about - because of the confidentiality requirements? Trust me on this?

Just...tuck it away somewhere.

Jim's firmly of the mind we'll never figure this out. I'm with him.

Comments

[catsonmars.livejournal.com]

they clearly decided it was better to kill their five children than place them in foster care. you know, "if I can't have it..." classy parents.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Well, we found out more. He was diabetic - and they were fired for using Kaiser letterhead to falsify documentation for child care. (See comments below, confirmed by Jim.)

And a long history of 911 calls to the house for suspicious behavior. A badly managed diabetic at that.

So - two things that would have raised my suspicions...but Jim reports everyone gobsmacked, and people he works with knew them well and reported they were level-headed, really nice folks.

Unhappy people with guns. Not ever gonna end well.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

Yeah, here's the story:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-children-killed29-2009jan29,0,1026866.story

Excerpt:

The man believed to be responsible for killing his wife, five children and himself in Wilmington had been fired from his hospital job along with his wife for allegedly forging a supervisor's signature on a child care application, according to Kaiser Permanente officials.

Diana Bonta, vice president for public affairs at Kaiser Permanente, said the couple falsified income records so they could qualify for a child care program run by Crystal Stairs, a nonprofit child development agency located near the West Los Angeles medical center where they worked....

Several police sources familiar with the investigation told The Times that Ervin and Ana Lupoe made upward of $40 an hour each in their work as radiological technicians for the hospital. But the couple made it appear that they were earning between $7 and $10 an hour, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yup. That's right in line with what we've been told as well.

[turandot.livejournal.com]

That does make me sad, especially about the parents feeling like they wouldn't trust the children going to someone else. What's maddening is that from the news story, it seems that at least the wife had at least one brother they were on speaking terms with. Wouldn't they trust him, if nothing else, to try and make sure their children would be looked after?

I hear you about most people not realizing that most foster parents are probably decent human beings. The problem is that a lot of the stories in the media about foster care sensationalize it, i.e., only publicize cases where everything has gone wrong. It can't leave a good impression with most parents of young children. :(

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

The plot is thickening - he was a badly controlled diabetic with a history of unstable behavior at home.

That, with the sudden firing of both of them? Man. Red flag city.

But - you just make people take their lumps, walk away and so on. The union can't do a thing for you when you commit fraud -

[muimi07.livejournal.com]

I know someone who was a foster child for most of her life, taken into the system at 6, aged out at 18 and boy oh boy, is she messed up. I mean really, truly, honest to god fucked in the head with massive trust issues. She acknowledges that she had a few good foster families although she also had her share of crappy foster families as well.

I can't think of anything that would terrify me more than the idea of my daughter going into the foster care system. Yes, there are good foster parents out there whose hearts are good as gold but there are also crap foster parents out there and it really is a crap shoot as to who gets the child. This doesn't excuse what this family chose to do (murder is NEVER the answer) but I can certainly understand where their thought process originated.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

"Foster families" - emphasis on the plural. Kids who have had multiple placements are well documented to have attachment issues, and at her age? Back then, it was just hard knocks - today, it's known as a pathology.

*sighs* Poor, poor thing - I have a really good idea of what she's got on her plate with that. It is NO fun, and damn few resources to turn to after you're not a kid anymore to work through it.

Our kids aren't going to have godparents. They're going to have a fricking committee. (Rey's the chairman, want in?) Now you know why.

[drlaurac.livejournal.com]

So very sad. So very stupid.