How the System and Everyone They Knew Failed Harmony Montgomery and David Almond
David Almond was emaciated, bruised, and was pronounced dead soon after police found him unresponsive in October of 2020. David’s triplet brother Michael was found with him, emaciated but alive.
According to the report,
On March 17, 2021, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled David’s cause of death Failure to Thrive and Malnutrition due to Starvation and Neglect in an Adolescent with Autism Spectrum Disorder and the manner of death Homicide…
The OCA report into David’s death concludes that,
Despite extensive record reviews and interviews with all levels of personnel at the DCF Central Office and the DCF Fall River Area Office, the OCA could not deduce, and no DCF personnel were able to articulate, any clear reason why David and Michael were reunified with Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman…
Unlike Adam Montgomery, John Almond pled guilty in the death of his son, and also injury and endangerment of his other children, and was sentenced to life in prison; despite the life sentence, he is will have parole eligibility after 20 years. Almond’s girlfriend, Jaclyn Marie Coleman, also pled guilty, and received the same sentence.
Prosecutors described David and his brothers as living in a house of drugs, filth, and horrors. Wearing diapers, and so weak from starvation that they couldn't move, they were little more than skin and bones. David and Michael returned to the custody of John Almond March 13, 2020; David was found dead on October 21, 2020, just over 7 months later.
Harmony Montgomery was also murdered by her father less than a year after the state placed her back into his care, despite the fact that in her four and half years of life prior to Adam being awarded custody, he had only spent the equivalent of a 40 hour work week with her, all during supervised visitations.
“Our question is why would the judge make that decision without the home study being done? With the interstate compact being put in or the interstate compact being completed and put into place?” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said in a news conference.
In regards to Harmony, the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), in a report released in May of 2022, said that,
Ms. Sorey’s Review and Redetermination hearing did not take place that day because she was not present in court… because… Ms. Sorey was in a different court on a Care and Protection case involving Harmony’s half-sibling… The DCF attorney objected to the placement of Harmony with him…
No attorney explored Mr. Montgomery’s understanding of Harmony’s visual impairment, her behavioral health and medical needs, or her special education services. The physical safety of the home… was also not explored.
Despite… [this,] the Judge determined that Harmony was no longer in need of care and protection and… Montgomery was not an unfit parent… then awarded Mr. Montgomery, who was living in New Hampshire, full custody of Harmony and determined that the ICPC did not apply… This decision was not appealed by the DCF legal team and the DCF attorney was the only attorney that argued that the ICPC applied to Harmony’s case.
Approximately one-week later [in February of 2019] Mr. Montgomery took Harmony from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Because the Care and Protection case had been terminated by the Judge, the DCF involvement with Harmony ended…
The OCA estimates that Harmony spent approximately a total of 40 hours in supervised visits with her father from her birth to age four and a half.
“We are cooperating to the fullest extent possible with the Office of Child Advocate here in Massachusetts, which is an independent entity that is reviewing this case and has the ability to access the data that is necessary to investigate fully what happened,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said.
The MA OCA report said that,
“Our ability to understand all the nuances of this case is also challenged by the confidentiality protections of attorney client privilege which prevents the OCA from fully investigating the significant role of the various attorneys in this case and their advocacy strategies… The OCA has sought to untangle these complexities to the extent we are able…
At the heart of the OCA’s analysis of Harmony’s legal case is a finding that Harmony’s safety was not placed at the center of the legal proceedings… Because in Harmony’s case her needs were not presented in court by any of the attorneys, they could not be adequately considered by the Judge…
The decision to provide Mr. Montgomery custody of Harmony without an ICPC was based on constitutional considerations and the application of New Hampshire rather than Massachusetts caselaw…
This approach is not in line with Massachusetts caselaw.”
A report released in 2022 by Gov. Chris Sununu's office said that New Hampshire should take immediate steps to create new protections for children in custody disputes.
The report recommended the addition of a new assistant supervisor position to the Division for Children, Youth and Families Manchester District Office, implementation of a new case management system with modern, user-friendly features that let caseworkers easily see the complete history of a child or family.
They also recommended the state pass new border agreements with neighboring states to improve communication on child custody issues. The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children, which regulates custody issues across state lines, was passed in 1965, the report said, and must be modernized.
The report also said that Division for Children, Youth and Families policy should require that if a child's caregiver doesn't respond to confirmation requests, the case should be reported to law enforcement to conduct an immediate welfare check.
Massachusetts has already taken similar measures as a result of the investigation into the death of David Almond, a 14-year-old with Autism found by the Fall River Police Department at the home of John Almond (shared by Jaclyn Coleman and Ann Shadburn) early in the morning of October 21, 2020, after a 911 call about an unresponsive child.
David Almond was transported to Charlton Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. David’s triplet brother Michael, also diagnosed with Autism, and his three-year-old paternal half-brother, Aiden, 4, were in the home as well.
Michael was responsive but also emaciated; Aiden was apparently well fed, with no signs of emaciation, and appeared physically unharmed, with no immediate signs of bruising.
David and Michael’s triplet brother Noah was not in the custody of John Almond at the time of David’s death. Police described the home as filthy, and found substances believed to be heroin and fentanyl.
They were removed from the care of John Almond and their biological mother, Sarah Dawes Almond, three times between 2006 and June 2013 because of substance abuse and other unspecified mental health challenges faced by the Almond’s, and also for deplorable living conditions, medical neglect of the children, inadequate supervision, and a general lack of basic care.
John Almond moved to Massachusetts around April of 2013 and subsequently had limited contact with the triplets, who remained in the legal custody of New York.
A New York Family Court first awarded full custody of David, Michael, and their brother Noah, to John Almond in September of 2016,
while Mr. Almond was living in Massachusetts… Mr. Almond was granted custody of the triplets after years of minimal to no contact with them.
There was no evidence available for the OCA to review that indicated Mr. Almond ever completed any service on his extensive New York service plan. There is also no evidence that New York OCFS ever initiated contact with Massachusetts DCF, or any other state entity, to determine if Mr. Almond had the means and ability to parent these children prior to the New York Family Court placing the children with him in Massachusetts.
This decision remains a mystery to the OCA as returning custody to Mr. Almond appears not to have been the appropriate legal action under the circumstances…
The text in bold appears to be a gross understatement based on the following passage from the same report, which states that,
He and the triplets lived in a small one-bedroom apartment with his nonmarital partner Jaclyn Coleman and his mother Ann Shadburn, who was the apartment’s lessee.
Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman both have histories with child protective services as children and as parents. Both Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman were in DCF custody for parts of their childhoods with histories notable for abuse and neglect, mental health concerns, physical violence, and substance use.
Ms. Shadburn’s parental rights to Mr. Almond and her other children were terminated.
David Almond’s mother, Sarah Dawes Almond, started a GoFundMe seeking funeral expenses after his death. A facebook post from a family member suggests that like John Almond’s mother, Sarah Dawes Almond had her parental rights terminated.
The GoFundMe seeking funeral expenses for David by Sarah Dawes-Amond from Utica was shut down without explanation, though the local newspaper and family drama found on Facebook suggests it may have been a scam of some kind.
The Fall River Reporter wrote that, “We have been told through sources that David’s funeral has been paid for by area companies.”
In an interview, she told a local newspaper that, “This is the worst and most painful thing I’ve ever went through.”
She also said that, “It means a lot knowing that people out there are saying his name and telling his story,” and that, “I hope and pray that David gets the justice he deserves and that things will change and this will never ever happen to another child again.”
In June of 2017, the DCF Fall River Area Office was alerted to allegations of both neglect and physical abuse of all three of the triplets. All three allegedly had poor hygiene, excessive absences from school, and two of the three had injuries.
The investigation into these allegations of neglect and physical abuse of all three children did not substantiate them, but in October 2017, all four children were removed from the home because of allegations of neglect and physical abuse, medical neglect, unsanitary living conditions, excessive absenteeism from school, and substance abuse by both Almond and Coleman.
The children were recommended for adoption, and the report notes,
This was the fourth time in the triplets’ young lives that they were removed from Mr. Almond for the identical pattern of abuse and neglect
In the following months, the case management team reported that Almond and Coleman’s participation in their action plan had improved but remained “at the beginning stages of compliance,” with failures including Almond’s refusal to participate in individual therapy.
Despite this, on July 11, 2019, the DCF Fall River Area Office changed it’s recommendation for all four children to “return to parent.” Aiden was back in the custody of Almond and Coleman the very next day.
This transpired even though “a Juvenile Court hearing on July 10, 2019, one day prior, that deemed Mr. Almond unfit to care for the triplets…”
At the end of December 2019, DCF… made the decision to begin the reunification process of the triplets with Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman. DCF area office management made this decision without any familiarity with the case and without conducting any administrative review of the case record…
the DCF case management team expressed apprehension about the readiness of Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman to care for the triplets. There is no written documentation of the discussion or of the rationale for the decisions made at this meeting.
DCF area office management set a reunification date for the triplets in late January 2020. The DCF case management team, congregate care provider and the triplets’ collaborative school all independently requested a slower transition.
Even Coleman “expressed to the DCF case management team that reunification was moving too fast… hat the family was not ready for overnight visits with the triplets because the apartment was too small.”
The family was under threat of eviction because, “the landlord would not allow seven people to live in a one-bedroom apartment. DCF area office management were aware that there was a notice of eviction from the landlord…”
Only about a month after Harmony was murdered by her father, during the triplets first overnight home visit in February of 2020, “there was a physical altercation. As a result, Noah was returned to his congregate care program late at night.”
Disturbingly, the OCA report notes that,
The DCF Fall River Area Office did not evaluate this overnight home visit in terms of Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman’s ability to appropriately care for Noah.
The reunification process went forward with David and Michael as if nothing concerning had occurred. After this home visit, Noah remained in… DCF custody due to his own self-advocacy and his refusal to return to the care of Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman
Then something very out of the ordinary happened. The triplets care provider, of their own initiative, sent the DCF Fall River Area Office a letter opposing David and Michael’s reunification with their parents. The letter was sent on February 11, 2020.
One month later, on March 13, 2020 David and Michael were returned to Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman anyway, while remaining in the technical, legal custody of DCF. The OCA report states that,
The DCF case management team did not observe the children, the home, or Mr. Almond or Ms. Coleman between… when David and Michael were legally returned to Mr. Almond’s care…
These issues were exacerbated by the response to COVID-19, which created an ad hoc system of “virtual home visits” by social workers, many of which either the family did not attend, or which the children were not present for.
The OCA report notes that,
On October 1, 2020, an attendance officer from the Fall River Public School District went to the family’s home to drop off Chromebooks to facilitate David and Michael’s school participation. The attendance officer did not attempt to see David or Michael and met Ms. Coleman outside the family’s apartment building.
Although the Fall River Public School District staff had contact with Ms. Coleman, school staff never saw or spoke with David or Michael from March 16, 2020, when they were scheduled to begin school, to the time of David’s death.
Between his return home on March 13, 2020 and his death on October 21, 2020, David experienced abuse, starvation, and was deprived of a safe and nurturing home environment.
Mr. Almond and Ms. Coleman made ongoing and deliberate efforts to keep him from receiving any therapeutic or education services, and his presentation during monthly DCF virtual home visits was orchestrated. David never received any community-based therapeutic services.
Although Fall River Public School staff had contact with Ms. Coleman, school staff never saw or spoke with David from March 16, 2020, when he was scheduled to begin school, to the time of his death.
It appears that not only were the parents at fault and negligent in their care of the children, the courts too were negligent. It almost seems like an advocate for the children’s welfare and safety was not present to speak up for them, and seek after their welfare. Thanks for sharing these two stories as it highlights the value of children and their need to be cared for. The role of being a parent requires a great deal of intentionality to prioritize their children’s health and welfare. This should come natural to those who love their children. Parents should naturally be advocates for their children because they love them. Without love for your child, their needs are probably not being met. Thanks for this well researched topic as it highlights the vulnerability of children. Well done! Please stay safe.