Oregon to Garnishee Ecclesia Parents’ Pay

The Children’s Services Division of the state of Oregon says it plans to begin garnishment of wages of Ecclesia Athletic Assn. parents whose children remain in state custody almost a year after the beating death of the group founder’s daughter.

Bart Wilson, manager of the agency’s Clackamas County office, said the state had spent more than $545,000 through July 1 to care for the 53 children taken into protective custody after Dayna Broussard, 8, daughter of Eldridge Broussard Jr., was slain at a group home near Sandy, east of Portland.

Broussard founded Ecclesia at the Watts Christian Center in Los Angeles to provide what he called religious and athletic training for inner-city youths.

Forty of the 53 children have been placed in foster homes, but all remain in state custody.

Wilson said the state has obtained judgments against 15 Ecclesia parents for more than $31,000 in child support.

Broussard has visited his two surviving children twice since they were taken into custody after the Oct. 13 death of their sister.

Four adult Ecclesia members later were convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Broussard was not charged in that case, but is under federal investigation for possibly violating the civil rights of the 53 children.

Authorities said Dayna Broussard died after she was beaten with plastic pipes, rubber hoses and other devices for taking a piece of squash from another child’s plate.