Bob CollinsIt’s not possible to find a sadder story today than the Star Tribune report on Kendrea Johnson, the 6-year-old girl who was found dead in her foster home in Brooklyn Park.
The case attracted plenty of attention last month but who among us considered the possibility that a 6-year-old girl would take her own life?
Kendrea, who was placed in a foster home in 2013 after Hennepin County authorities accused her mother of abusing drugs and not keeping her daughter safe, changed dramatically after that.
Records show that Kendrea’s behavior changed dramatically in foster care. Her most recent foster mother told Brooklyn Park police that the girl once threatened to kill her with a screwdriver. Kendrea also told her foster mother that she wanted to jump out a window and kill herself, said “Nobody likes me” and drew pictures at school of a child hanging from a rope. Police found healed ligature marks on both sides of her neck, records show.
Authorities haven’t been able to determine for sure whether the girl took her own life, but the possibility that she thought ending up in foster care was her fault is heartbreaking, indeed.
A note near her last month said “I’m sorry.” Another said “I’m sad for what I do.”
Six years old.
