Addict Jailed for Endangering Her Daughter, 3

The heroin-addicted mother of 3-year-old Tamika Triggs has been sentenced to 30 days in jail on a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment, authorities disclosed Wednesday.

Theodora Triggs, 34, was arrested Sunday after a series in The Times that chronicled the difficult life that her daughter--and hundred of thousands of others across the nation--endure every day while living with substance-abusing parents.

Triggs initially was charged with one felony count of willful cruelty to a child. But on Tuesday, she pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor count. Besides her jail time, Triggs was ordered to complete a one-year parenting class and pay fines and court costs of $667.

“This is a rather heavy sentence,” said Long Beach city prosecutor John VanderLans. “Many times, the only thing that happens is the child is taken away.”

After Theodora Triggs’ arrest, Tamika was placed in temporary foster care. Mother and daughter were discovered in the garage of a filthy lower west Long Beach home, where authorities found crack pipes and several hypodermic needles, some of which were uncapped. One was filled with a brown liquid believed to be heroin and was in easy reach of the girl.

Two other adults in the house, a man and a woman, said they had taken in Triggs and her daughter a few weeks earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless.

Triggs told The Times during the reporting of its series, “Orphans of Addiction,” that she loves her daughter but is often so overwhelmed by her body’s need for heroin and cocaine that she can think of little else.

A full hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday to determine whether--and for how long--Tamika would remain in foster care. But the session had to be postponed until today because jail officials had not transported the girl’s mother to court.

The judge did order that the girl receive immediate medical tests, including one to determine whether she, like her mother, is HIV positive.

Meanwhile, a Long Beach pediatrician specializing in AIDS cases said she regularly tested Tamika for the virus during the first 18 months of her life--testing that Triggs herself had arranged. While the tests showed no infection, the doctor said she did notice on one occasion when Tamika was a year old that the girl had a bad black eye and displayed signs of neglect, possibly from parental drug abuse.

The doctor, who requested anonymity because of patient confidentiality issues, said she filed a report with Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, as required by law. She said she was appalled that Tamika was not removed from her mother.

Too often, she said, child welfare officials respond to reports of abuse with only cursory checks on the children at their homes. “They do one or two visits,” she said, “and that’s it.”

Other sources said another report was filed two months ago, alleging that Tamika was being physically abused and that her mother was involved in a relationship plagued by domestic violence.

The sources said child welfare workers went twice to the address they were provided but were told that Triggs and her daughter had moved to an unknown location. The case was closed within 24 hours of receiving the report.

Department of Children and Family Services spokesman Schuyler Sprowles said he is prohibited from discussing specific cases. But he emphasized that the agency’s caseload of reports of child abuse and neglect has jumped from 100,000 in 1990 to 200,000 last year.

“It would be nice to be able to continue to come back, but we are faced with more allegations of other children coming in,” Sprowles said. “We have situations where you just can’t find the child.”

At the Children’s Court in Monterey Park, however, where Tamika’s case is being heard, attorneys and judges agreed that heavy workloads are letting too many children fall through the cracks.

“Children are a low priority in society. Children don’t vote,” said Robert Shiell, who is representing the county Children and Family Services Department in the Triggs case. “Child welfare service agencies need a massive infusion of money to find neglected and abused children and offer them appropriate services.”

This week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, responding to The Times’ series, directed the children’s services department to report back next week on ways to better identify children of substance-abusing families.

Tamika is among the millions of children in the United States raised by a parent who is addicted to either alcohol or drugs.

Federal surveys show that at least one in five youngsters spends at least part of his or her childhood with a parent who is an alcoholic or drug addict. Like many children in such circumstances, they often go hungry, are filthy and suffer serious neglect or abuse.

On the Web

The Times’ two-part series, Orphans of Addiction, including additional photos and a discussion area, is available on the Times Web site. Go to: https://www.latimes.com/orphans/