Grandmother Accuses Texas Child Protection Agency of Fatal Negligence
A grieving grandmother has launched a devastating critique of Texas Child Protective Services, holding the agency directly responsible for the death of her one-month-old grandson. Lisa Cooke asserts that systemic failures allowed her daughter, Swantiera Cooke, to retain custody of baby Zachariah despite documented and severe drug abuse, culminating in the infant's tragic demise from methamphetamine toxicity.
A Catalogue of Warnings Ignored
The heartbreaking sequence of events began with Zachariah's birth on June 3rd. Official CPS records reveal both mother and newborn tested positive for a cocktail of dangerous substances at delivery. Swantiera Cooke tested positive for amphetamines, methamphetamines or heroin, and cocaine. Her newborn son, Zachariah, had amphetamines and either methamphetamines or heroin in his system from birth.
Despite these alarming indicators, the agency permitted Swantiera to take Zachariah home. This decision was made under a formal safety plan which mandated that a friend supervise all interactions between mother and child. Swantiera also agreed to participate in Family-Based Safety Services, including counselling and substance abuse treatment programmes.
Systemic Breakdown and a Deadly Environment
In a tragic failure of this plan, a subsequent CPS investigation determined that Swantiera was not living with the designated supervisor, nor was she residing at the address stipulated in the safety agreement. The supervisor would instead bring the infant to visit his mother in a house described in agency records as "dilapidated and dirty with a very smelly odor and flies everywhere."
Critically, the supervisor admitted to investigators that Swantiera and Zachariah were left completely unsupervised in her bedroom on the night of July 26th. The infant was found unresponsive in his crib at a Fort Worth home the following day, July 27th. He was transported to Cook Children's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Methamphetamine Toxicity and a Mother's Arrest
Authorities have since confirmed the one-month-old died from methamphetamine toxicity. An arrest warrant details a harrowing scene: investigators discovered two glass pipes, commonly used to smoke methamphetamines, on a side table mere feet from the baby's crib. Swantiera Cooke, aged 36, was arrested on January 12th on suspicion of manslaughter charges.
According to the warrant, she allegedly admitted to smoking methamphetamines in the hours before her son was found dead. She stated she was the last person to see him alive after feeding him around 6 or 7 am on the morning of his death. Further disturbing details emerged, with the baby's father telling authorities they would "get together to use drugs, methamphetamines and have consensual sex."
A Grandmother's Anguish and Demand for Accountability
Lisa Cooke's grief is compounded by fury at the system she believes failed her grandson. "I'm not saying my daughter is not guilty," she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "But she's not the only one who is guilty... they need to be accountable for this."
She claims she repeatedly lobbied for Zachariah to live with her or other family members from the moment he was born, but her daughter refused. Cooke cannot comprehend why CPS allowed the newborn to go home with his mother when willing family was available, especially given the known drug use.
"I still do not understand why CPS let Swantiera take Zachariah home from the hospital in the first place," she stated, revealing she is considering legal action against the state agency. Her minimum demand is for a formal acknowledgement and apology from CPS.
Questions Over "Imminent Danger" Threshold
The case raises profound questions about the application of Texas law. The Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS, is empowered to take immediate custody of a child without court approval if the child faces "imminent danger." One specific condition for this is when a parent is using a controlled substance and that use constitutes an immediate danger to the child's physical health or safety.
Yet, according to records obtained by the Star-Telegram, CPS staff never deemed Zachariah to be in imminent danger prior to his death. This is despite Swantiera testing positive for drugs again less than two weeks after her son's death, and the existence of an active warrant for her arrest for a parole violation at the time Zachariah died.
The agency's own public guidance states it "tries to avoid" removing children from parents, highlighting the difficult balance between family preservation and child safety. Swantiera Cooke remains in Tarrant County Jail, where she was already facing unrelated burglary and theft charges. Her bond is set at $75,000.
This tragic case underscores a devastating collision between documented parental substance abuse, a grandmother's desperate warnings, and a child protection system whose interventions proved fatally insufficient.
