COLUMBUS – Three Democratic members of Congress are asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the foster care experience that preceded the fatal police shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant.
U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), along with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, penned a letter Tuesday on behalf of Bryant’s parents.
Bryant was shot four times April 20 by Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon as she swung a knife at a young woman just seconds after pushing another woman to the ground outside a home where Ma’Khia lived with a foster family.
“When a child dies in foster care, the system has failed. It failed Ma’Khia Bryant, who lived in her foster family home for about two months before a police officer shot and killed her in front of that home,” the letter read in part.
It was sent to the acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, JooYeun Chang, and Robinsue Frohboese, acting director of the Office for Civil Rights.
The three cite Ohio data showing that children in the state are placed in foster care 10% more often than the national average.