Boy Doused With Chemicals Out of Hospital

Adopted Barahona boy leaves Miami hospital as investigation continues

The 10-year-old Miami boy who was found doused with chemicals and badly burned in a truck on the side of I-95 in Palm Beach County on Valentine's Day was released from the hospital.

Victor Barahona was released from Jackson Memorial Hospital Tuesday and is staying in an undisclosed therapeutic foster home, a hospital official said.

The young boy had been placed in intensive care following the incident after doctors found he had not only suffered severe burns throughout his body but also had a broken clavicle and fractured arm.

Victor's adoptive father, Jorge Barahona, has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated child abuse in the case. He has not been charged in the death of Victor's twin sister Nubia, whose body was found wrapped in plastic in the back of the truck.

Also Tuesday, during a meeting of an independent Department of Children and Families investigative panel, it was revealed that there were even more warnings that the twins were being abused in the home of Jorge and Carmen Barahona.

A report said that a Miami-Dade judge was told of alleged abuse of Nubia Barahona four years ago, but did nothing to stop the Barahona'sfrom becoming her foster parents.

Child welfare attorney Christey Lopez-Acevedo told the panel that she had told a judge at a 2007 hearing that Nubia claimed Carmen Barahona would beat her feet as punishment. The allegations came after a then 6-year-old Nubia wet her pants in school.

The little girl became hysterical when the teacher said she was going to tell her foster parents about what she had done.  

"Momma is going to hit me with a (flip flop) on the bottom of my feet," Nubia cried.

Carmen Barahona has not been charged with any crime related to the alleged abuse.

The 2007 court hearing was the earliest red flag missed by DCF and the legal system, who permitted the Barahonas to adopt Nubia, Victor, and two other children from foster care.

Just days before the Feb. 14 incident, Carmen Barahona's 7-year-old granddaughter, who spent a lot of time at the Barahona home, blew the whistle on the alleged abuse during a meeting with a therapist.

The girl told the therapist that the twins were getting their legs and arms taped up and were being forced to sit in a bathtub all day. The therapist had called an abuse hotline on Feb. 10 to report the incident.

"She has been seeing abuse and she was threatened not to say anything," the therapist tells the hotline worker in the call, released earlier this week. "When they're being punished, they're being taped up and with their arms and legs and being put in a bathtub. They're in there all day and all night, and she undoes their arms when they eat."

Police were seen removing a bathtub from the Barahona home Tuesday morning.

The investigative panel is expected to meet again on Thursday.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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