Project PA | Once you hear her story, you'll never forget her name
Pennsylvania's Auditor General reiterating just days ago that the state's foster care system is broken.
A system designed to protect our most vulnerable, putting them at risk of abuse, and sometimes even death.
Right now, there are about 15,000 kids in foster care here in the state.
You may know some of them. They're children just like your own.
We’re launching a new initiative. It’s called ‘Project PA: Children in Crisis.’ It’s our commitment to you, to the children and families in this community to uncover how we fix a broken system.
We begin with a disturbing story of young girl’s life of abuse, overlooked by the system. This story has graphic details and may not be appropriate for children.
"I have no purpose of life right now. I'm just here. I walk around numb. I feel like I have no purpose on this earth,” Rose Hunsicker said. “I know I have kids out there, but I feel like... my one little girl was robbed from me, so why would the other ones want me?"
In 2001, young mother Rose Hunsicker and her husband Rodney are raising their two girls, a three-year-old and a newborn, in a home in Norristown they share with several members of Rose's family.
Life is going seemingly well, despite Rose's mental health challenges from a 1997 brain injury.
Its effects still slightly visible even today.
"I couldn't have asked for a better life,” Hunsicker said. “I had my two girls, I had everything."
Those two girls, 3-year-old Marybeth, newborn Susan, who would later be renamed Grace Packer.
"I always thought she was growing to be the most beautiful girl," Hunsicker said. "The system failed my children; my daughter. All the way around."
The Hunsicker's nightmare began 12 years prior.
Shortly after they moved from Norristown to Reading, children and youth services removed the girls from the home, citing allegations of neglect from an unnamed source.
"I was like, 'What's the cause of you taking my kids?'’ Hunsicker said. “And that's when they said there were allegations that your girls were being sexually abused and you didn't do anything about it."
Norristown-based attorney David Tornetta handled about 100 custody cases in his more than 30 years of experience.
He represented the family for several years.
"The allegations just became unbelievable,” Tornetta said. “Like they allowed the kids to be subject to sexual abuse, they allowed the kids to be abused. Not Rose and Rodney being alleged to have done that, but other family members. And the other family members weren't even living there!"
Tornetta says the allegations were unfounded. Meaning no one was charged with any crimes.
But CYS required the Hunsicker's to pass a series of tasks before getting their kids back.
"If they would have told me to jump through fire for my girls,” Hunsicker said. “I would have jumped through fire."
"It's my understanding Rose and Rodney fulfilled everything that was asked of them,” Tornetta said. “Completed it successfully."
But Berks County Children and Youth decided to terminate their parental rights for the two girls, and the Hunsicker's baby boy. Torn from Rose's arms shortly after she gave birth while the abuse investigation continued.
"It was my opinion, after that trial and that hearing, that it was an abuse of discretion of the judge, and an abuse of power of Berks County Children and Youth," Tornetta said.
"I think when CYS takes a child, they already have it in their mind that that child ain't coming back to their parent," Hunsicker said.
In March, 2007 the state gave Sara Packer, a social worker, and her husband David the opportunity to become parents to 5-year-old Susan and baby boy Rodney Jr.
Susan's name, changed to grace.
Rodney Jr.'s name was changed, as well.
"I thought Sara was a good person because she already had a history of working with CYS," Hunsicker said.
But the Packer's would soon find themselves at the center of their own CYS investigation.
In 2011, David pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Grace.
He was sentenced to prison and forced to register as a sexually violent predator under Megan's Law.
"It was just horrible the way my little girl had to live, and was never removed from the home,” Hunsicker said. “Never."
In July, Sara Packer reported Grace missing from their home in Montgomery County.
Then months later, the unthinkable.
Human remains discovered in the woods in Luzerne County.
They're later identified as Grace Packer.
Her adoptive mother and Jacob Sullivan charged with her death.
The Bucks County District Attorney says Packer and Sullivan kidnapped Grace. Taking her from their Montgomery County home to a rental property in Richland Township, Bucks County.
There, it's alleged Sullivan beat and raped her while Sara watched.
Court records allege they drugged her and left her alone in a hot attic, hoping the extreme conditions would kill her.
But it didn't.
So, they returned the next day. That's when it's alleged Sullivan strangled her. Ultimately, prosecutors say, killing the 14-year-old defenseless Grace.
"After he killed her, then he put her in the closet with cat litter over her,” Hunsicker said. “And then they lived in the house."
They lived there for several months, prosecutors say, while Grace's body was left to rot upstairs.
Then in October, fearing the authorities were on to them, police say Packer and Sullivan dismembered her body in a downstairs bathtub and drove them to rural northeastern Pennsylvania where hunters discovered her remains on Halloween.
"I just wish I could have done more..." Tornetta said.
"I am the mother that should have been there. These are monsters. I'm her mother,” Hunsicker said. "Her life was robbed from her. Very much...."
While Grace's death may be unique, some experts say her story as a "Child in Crisis" isn't.
And she's not alone.
Pennsylvania's Auditor General admits the foster care system is broken.
The system designed to protect Grace.
But ultimately, contributed to her death.
And so, this is just a part of her story.
Over the coming days and weeks, we'll take a look at the laws currently in place, and whether they were applied the right way.
The system could be failing your child, or a child you love as well.
So, this is "Project PA: Children in Crisis".
And we know Grace and the Hunsicker's aren't alone.
So, we're committed to telling your stories as well to help uncover the truth and ultimately help fix this broken system.
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