Silent Cries

“Yesterday was mine and (Katharine White’s) daughter, Jazmine Rose Robins, birthday and yes she would’ve been One year old God and the Heavens needed her back home, for she had fulfilled her purpose and it was just her time,” he wrote. “Today was down right the hardest day to try to make it through without just wanting to crawl in the fetal position and just balling my eyes out. It was bad enough that I was mostly silent through the whole day. Daddy loves you and misses you soooo much baby Jazmine Rose Robin.”

Despite his doting, Robin Jr. told police he had an uncontrollable temper around Jazmine’s “compulsively crying.” He said it would make his ears “ring all the way to kingdom come and it got to my anger points.” Sometimes, he said, his anger would get the best of him and he would slam a door or punch the grass. He told police that he was reading psychology books to learn to control his temper.

“I would never, for the record, never wanted to hit her. But if even for a second I wanted to, she is too beautiful to hit,” he told an investigator, according to a police report.

This month, nearly a year and a half later, a Harris County grand jury indicted Robin Jr. and White for her death. Robin Jr. is facing capital murder charges and is currently in jail. White is charged with felony murder and is currently free on $40,000 bond.

“The evidence shows Baby Jazmine fell victim to the very people who were supposed to protect her the most,” said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg when she announced the arrests.

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A history of red flags

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In a court-ordered drug test after Jazmine’s death, Robin Jr. tested positive for amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine and marijuana. White also tested positive for marijuana on a court-ordered test. A CPS report noted both parents admitted to historic drug use.

Robin Jr.’s problem extends beyond drug use with a lengthy rap sheet with theft, evading arrest and felony drug possession convictions. He’s also had dealings with CPS dating back to when he was 13 years old. A public CPS report outlines a troubled teen with accusations of abusing family members that lead to a stint in juvenile detention. His troubles continued to follow him into adulthood.

In March 2018, police received an anonymous call accusing Robin Jr. of hitting and kicking his 2-year-old son and alleging White pinched him under his shirt. The tipster said the boy had bruising on his “stomach, legs, arms and buttocks,” according to a CPS report.

But CPS failed to follow up on those allegations because it couldn’t find White or Robin Jr. “Neither of the child’s parents cooperated with the CPS Investigator, or advised the local CPS Investigator of their new address out of town,” a report read.

Robin Jr. had at least one run-in with police at the time CPS said he couldn’t be located. He was arrested and booked on a felony evading arrest charge in April. He bonded out of jail and days later he was placed on deferred adjudication, court records show.

A week later, Jazmine was born.

It wasn’t until Jazmine died that CPS finally followed up on her brother’s case, according to CPS records. He was placed in foster care.

“There’s so many kids that could have been saved if CPS and everybody else would have stepped in and cared, did their job, but they didn’t,” Jazmine’s grandmother Myka said.

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A broken system?

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An average of 78 Texas children die from physical abuse every year, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ statistics.

At least 12 children died violently in the Greater Houston area since 2018, despite their families being on CPS' radar.

There’s the case of 3-year-old A’lona “Halo” Williams, whose parents were under investigation for three abuse complaints when she died; Jiadong Xu, 5, whose mother attempted suicide in front of him and allegedly decapitated him a couple years later; and Ahmad Samuel, whose mother kept custody even after she was convicted of stabbing his father.

One of the biggest issues when investigating child fatalities is complex family situations, said Kathryn Sibley with DFPS.

“Families are dealing with other issues, such as mental health, domestic violence, substance abuse or other things going on in the home and it often leads to child mistreatment in the home or unfortunately a child fatality,” said Sibley, the agency’s lead child abuse fatalities analyst.

She admitted some fault in Jazmine’s case, and questioned if one more call would have made a difference.

“I think in this situation while efforts are made that hindsight’s always there where you wish you could have done just one different thing,” Sibley said.

Sibley wouldn’t go into specifics about Jazmine’s case, citing an ongoing criminal investigation, but said a child can’t be removed if allegations aren’t investigated and a family can’t be found. She pointed out that Jazmine’s parents admitted to avoiding CPS by not taking Jazmine to the hospital early on.

“Until we have an intake that we can investigate, we cannot automatically pick up a child from a hospital once they’re born,” she said.

Sibley said her agency has a renewed connection with law enforcement to ensure all agencies are collaborating. But that didn’t help in Jazmine’s case when Robin Jr. was arrested during CPS’ investigation.

“We maybe have law enforcement come in contact with parents (but) when we maybe try and locate that family, they may not be responsive or open that door for us,” Sibley said. “That is the difficult part in trying to engage and locate families that they may want to be avoiding CPS action.”

Even after CPS locates a family, Sibley said, a lengthy court process may stand between them and removing the children.

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In half the state’s cases, the family had a history with CPS, but only a small number had open cases. More, like Xu and Samuel, had cases that were closed years earlier after the agency determined the children could stay with their families.

After Samuel’s mom stabbed his dad, CPS couldn’t locate the family, so the case was closed. Samuel later died from blunt force trauma. He was found with multiple scars, severe bruising on his chest and a bruised scalp.

After Xu’s mother attempted suicide, CPS offered her parenting classes and therapy, which Sibley said are often presented before children are removed. Months later, Xu’s mother allegedly drowned him and tried to cover up his death by running him over and decapitating him.

In those cases where a child dies years after an investigation, Sibley said “we really have to rely on the family, the community to be vigilant and look out for those kids’ interest.”

“I don’t know if sympathy is enough for those families that have experienced a great loss; you can’t undo that,” Sibley said. “I can’t give you enough to make up for that, but what I can say is that every day there are dedicated folks at this agency who are trying to leave a legacy for that child.”

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Justice for Jazmine

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A year later, Jazmine’s grandparents Myka and Robin Sr. agree they want new protocols put in place at CPS. The way they see it, the current system isn’t working. It might be time, Robin Sr. said, to pass new legislation or get Gov. Greg Abbott involved—whatever it takes to better protect children.

“I don’t want what happened to our granddaughter to happen to somebody else, some other little child that’s innocent to the world have their life taken from them because of somebody’s ignorance,” he said.

A year later, they’re still grappling with Jazmine’s death and who’s responsible. They both believe Robin Jr. didn’t kill her.

“Did he hurt her? Quite possibly. Did he kill her? I don’t see it. Because he’s the only one that ever showed any kind of compassion towards the kids,” Myka said.

Regardless of who’s responsible, Robin Sr. wants justice for Jazmine served, even if it means against his own son.

“If he did it or she did it, if they implemented the death penalty it wouldn’t hurt my feelings,” Robin Sr. said. “I love my son, but he took away something that I never got a chance to love.”
 

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