Gustavo Barraza and Dawn Upchurch Charged with Child Abuse After Toddler Tests Positive for Cocaine
In Las Cruces, New Mexico, Gustavo Barraza, 25, and Dawn Upchurch, 33 were having a good old time smoking weed and doing crack. The couple was charged with child abuse after their toddler tested positive for cocaine.
Police were called to their apartment to do a welfare check after they got a report that a woman was using illegal drugs. Upchurch’s two children, ages three and 10, were in the home at the time.
The officers immediately smelled marijuana smoke and noticed a baggie of weed in Barraza’s pocket. They also found pot throughout the home including a marijuana brick, baggies, a scale, and crack cocaine paraphernalia in a closet Sounds like they were dealing, don’t ya think?
However, there was no food in the home for the children to eat. Gosh, with all that pot you’d think there’d be something to eat when everyone got the munchies.
The kids were taken into protective custody and tested for drugs. The three-year-old girl’s test showed positive for cocaine, and Barraza admitted that he allowed a friend to cook cocaine inside the home.
Tags: child-abuse, crack-cocaine, drug-abuse, drug-testing, drugs, neglectRelated Stories
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8 opinions for Gustavo Barraza and Dawn Upchurch Charged with Child Abuse After Toddler Tests Positive for Cocaine
Cat
Apr 22, 2007 at 6:55 am
The worst thing about this story is that it’s nothing new. How many times have we read stories about mothers and fathers exposing their children to everything from weed to crack to meth to a combination of all of the above. Unfortunately, the mother will probably do a stint in rehab, receive probation, weep crocodile tears in front of a judge, and have her kids back within a year.
Teresa
Apr 22, 2007 at 10:29 pm
You all know the real reason that “reuniting families” and “the sanctity of family” are the guiding principles of just about every child protection agency in the country? Because handing the kids back to their own parents is just plain cheaper than paying for foster care or group homes, that’s why. When state legislators start trying to hammer out budgets, they’ve all got way more important things to spend money on than abused, neglected kids that don’t vote, or have lobbyists speaking up for them. Handing the kids back to their biological parents, no matter how unfit, means the state doesn’t have to concern itself with keeping the kid fed, clothed, housed, given medical care, etc. It becomes the parents’ responsibility, and even if they’re on state assistance, it costs less than for the state to assume all expenses. Quality care, as from foster parents, costs, whereas lousy care, as from unfit parents, is cheap. You do the math.
Teresa
Apr 22, 2007 at 10:32 pm
P.S.-But their pennypinching ways are gonna come back and bite them right on the ass, when these kids grow up and do even worse things to their own kids. Right on the part of their ass where their collective wallet is.
alalee
Apr 23, 2007 at 3:54 am
ACTUALLY…. when children are in foster care, a couple of things happen (what I’ve seen happen in Wisconsin, anyhow):
1. The parent(s) pay child support to the county for the child, in an amount equal to what it costs the county for the child’s maintenance per month (what they pay the foster family). If one parent is unable pay (i.e, unmarried parents), the burden falls on the other parent. If that parent is unable to pay the amount due in full each month, an account is kept WITH INTEREST and they are liable until it is paid in full, subject to garnishment of wages and/or disability benefits.
2. The county receives money from the federal government (Title IV) for every child in foster care and huge payouts from the federal government for every child they remove from the biological parents and place for adoption ($10,000 per child).
There’s big money for states/counties and a huge incentive for them to remove as many children as possible from their homes. Federal laws have changed forcing agencies to place children in a suitable environment in a timely manner (Safe Families Act), but there are always ways around this if a parent knows how to manipulate the system to their advantage.
This happened in Michigan rather than Wisconsin, but it’s still a good representation of what happens all over the country:
http://www.parentsforchildren.net/janetfrederickwilson/fiagame0.cfm
I do agree, though, that children have no voice and no rights in the eyes of the legislators of this country because they do not vote and do not have powerful lobbies pouring money into the cause of protecting them from unfit parents.
Along these lines:
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/25.htm
I just can’t understand how almost 50 years has passed since the passing of this proclomation and children’s rights are still so diminished, so overlooked in the United States, a member of the United Nations that has adopted this document.
Can someone explain this to me like I’m a 3 year old?
Lisa
Apr 23, 2007 at 12:08 pm
These parents don’t deserve children. No food in the house? Not a surprise. All the money was going for drugs.
jessesgirl
Aug 9, 2007 at 11:08 am
This is not uncommon at all.Some people cant seem to put their horrible habits behind them and be a parent and put their childrens needs first.Children raised in homes like this are either going to do the same thing because they dont know any better or they are going to grow to be the people who try to pass new laws for things like this to stop( lets hope it’s the latter).Some people shouldnt have children.I know its a right , but it’s also a privledge, and a huge responsibilty that it doesnt seem like is being taken too seriously.There are so many good people out there who would love to take care of a child, and then we have the idiots who make them and jut dont take care of them
Urbane
Aug 13, 2007 at 5:52 am
This is crazy..
rockdoll_71
Oct 16, 2007 at 10:06 pm
It never ceases to amaze me how any piece of filth in the world can have kids and take them for granted.
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