Petition highlights Phelps case on girl’s fifth birthday
Nearly 1,000 people have signed an online petition in honor of Summer Phelps, just in time to mark what would have been the fifth birthday of the Spokane preschooler who died in March.
Meanwhile, the girl’s half-brother, Jonny Lytle, who shares her July 6 birthday, is developing normally in the care of relatives after his parents were jailed in connection with Summer’s death.
“He definitely is a happy, healthy almost-1-year-old,” Nicole LaBelle, a supervisor with the state Department of Social and Health Services, said Thursday. “He smiles and giggles. He was standing on his own in May. He’s probably toddling around now.”
The fate of the two children who lived in a tiny apartment on Monroe Street continues to rivet interest from here and elsewhere. Child welfare workers declined to reveal the state where relatives are caring for Jonny Lytle, in part because of media attention that followed the arrest of Jonathan Lytle, 28, and his wife, Adriana Lytle, 32, on charges of homicide by abuse.
“Almost all of the relatives have been contacted,” LaBelle said. “There’s just been some caution and respect for the family’s privacy.”
At the same time, people from across the nation and around the world have continued to sign a petition in Summer’s memory that aims to increase scrutiny of child welfare agencies and increase federal prison sentences for anyone convicted of hurting or killing a child.
The signatures testify to continued outrage over the death of the red-haired girl allegedly at the hands of her father and stepmother, an organizer said.
“The 1,000 signatures by her birthday was somewhat symbolic,” said Heather Schlichting, a Connecticut mother who launched the drive after being moved by media accounts of Summer’s death.
Among those signing the petition was Elizabeth Phelps, the 23-year-old woman who was 18 when she gave birth to Summer on July 6, 2002. Schlichting said she has exchanged e-mails with Phelps, whose Poulsbo, Wash., phone has been disconnected.
“I think the thing she’s trying to get across most is how much she cared about Summer,” said Schlichting, 38. “She’s afraid of being lumped in with her ex and his wife.”
Jonathan Lytle and Adriana Lytle remain in the Spokane County Jail awaiting January trials. They were charged days after Jonathan Lytle brought his daughter’s battered body to Deaconess Medical Center late on March 10. Jonny Lytle has not visited his parents since they were jailed, child welfare officials said.
Elizabeth Phelps and Jonathan Lytle were at odds with each other almost from the moment of their daughter’s birth, according to records of complaints filed with state officials.
Jonathan Lytle accused Phelps of neglecting Summer, being homeless, using drugs and abandoning the girl with him in Spokane. Phelps accused Lytle of sexually abusing the child.
None of the complaints between the pair rose above dueling “information only” reports logged by the child welfare agency.
A Spokane Regional Health District nurse, however, did log a low-risk referral in June 2006 alleging that Adriana Lytle was mistreating her then-unborn baby. The mother responded by firing the public health nurse within weeks of that referral and then hiring another nurse through the state First Steps program that provides care to low-income pregnant women and children.
A nurse from that program was in the Lytle home on the day Summer died, but an agency official said Thursday there’s no way the staffer could have known the child was being abused. Jonathan Lytle told police he took Summer for a ride to avoid the nurse’s scrutiny.
“We really felt like we wouldn’t have done anything differently, and we would still continue to provide the really good care we provide,” said Donna Goodwin, vice president of operations for Family Home Care and Hospice Corp.
Investigation into Summer’s death, which police described as Spokane’s worst abuse case in recent history, remains on hold until after the Lytles’ trials.