Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and Senator Sherrod Brown are asking the DHHS Office for Civil Rights for an investigation into the systems that failed to protect 16 year old Ma’Khia Bryant from a tragic and untimely death.
Bryant was shot and killed by Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon outside of the foster home where she was living. Bryant was involved in a fight that broke out between her and two women, 20 year old Shai-Onta Lana Craig-Watkins and 22 year old Tionna Bonner. Bryant charged at the women with a kitchen knife when the officer opened fire, shooting Bryant a total of four times. Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther says that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is looking into Reardon’s actions.
Bryant’s death calls into question the capabilities and competencies of Ohio’s foster care system, of which Bryant was a part of. Attorney Michelle Martin, representing the Bryant family, agrees with Ohio lawmakers that there is a lack of resources for kinship care providers and that the current system just is not working as well as it should.
We have the laws that say kinship should be supported in the same fashion that foster care is supported, but we are just not doing that here in Franklin County. I think that these investigations will show that the current policies and procedures that are in place for families like Ms. Bryant’s family, they’re just not working.
Franklin County Children Services removed Bryant from her mother’s home amidst claims of neglect and abuse in 2018. She was sent to live with her grandmother and since then, had been placed in a number of foster care homes.
Bryant’s mother, Paula, had adhered to the basic needs, mental health and safety guidelines required by Children Services, but for some reason, Bryant was not able to return home yet. Paula Bryant claims that if her daughter had been given permission to come home, she would still be alive today.