Tragedy of 10-year-old mom
BY SHARON COOLIDGE | [email protected]

The baby’s birth at University Hospital on Nov. 4 was routine.

What wasn’t routine was the fact the infant’s mother was just 10, impregnated by her mother’s boyfriend.

Now, social workers are trying to figure out how to unravel the mess involving one of the youngest children ever to give birth in Greater Cincinnati.
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Prosecutors were in court Wednesday to discuss what to do with both children, the newborn and her now 11-year-old mom.

The court session in Hamilton County Dependency Court on Wednesday was primarily a status session on how both the baby and young mother are doing.
At the same time Wednesday, Lockland police were in Columbus talking to a convict whose DNA shows he’s the baby girl’s father.

Michael Chaffer, 40, is accused of impregnating his girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter, according to Hamilton County prosecutors.

The baby’s birth set off an investigation by the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services and stunned social workers because the baby’s mother is so young.

The baby has been taken from her mother and put in a foster home while the child-mother is now being taken care of by a relative. Her mother is not allowed to see the baby and can only see her daughter when supervised by social workers.
Lawyers jammed the courtroom Wednesday, representing the prosecutor’s office and all three generations of the family.

The girl’s mother was warned not to let any adult men in her Lockland home while caseworkers tried to track down the infant’s father.

Paternity was not determined until Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors say the girl’s mother ignored that order to keep adult men away from her child, and when a caseworker made a surprise visit to her Lockland home Jan. 4, they found Chaffer.

Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Lee Slocum said Chaffer faces criminal charges for impregnating and sexually molesting a girl under the age of 13.
Lockland Police Chief James Toles said two officers were interviewing Chaffer on Wednesday in a Columbus prison, where he is serving a one-year sentence on an unrelated charge.

Sex with a child under 13 is considered statutory rape, a crime punishable with a life prison term.

As JFS investigated the case, several relatives of the 11-year-old girl contacted the agency saying Chaffer sexually abused the girl for a “period of time.”

The 11-year-old girl’s mother is also under investigation, Slocum said, for allowing her daughter to be abused.

Job and Family Services workers can’t remember a case in which a girl so young gave birth.

“Unfortunately, sexual abuse is pretty common in the cases we see,” said JFS Director Moira Weir. “But it is highly unusual and extremely sad to see a case where a 10-year-old becomes pregnant.

“This is an example of why everyone in the community needs to be extremely vigilant about watching for the signs of abuse and notifying us through our 241-KIDS hotline,” she added. “The sooner we can intervene, the sooner we can make sure the child is in a safe situation.”

Hamilton County prosecutors want a court designation that the 11-year-old girl was abused. They allege the 11-year-old’s mother failed to care for her by allowing Chaffer near her.

Prosecutors also want to take the infant away from the mother because the sixth-grade student is too young to care for the baby.

As she waited for the hearing to start, the child, who was wearing faded jeans and a T-shirt hoody with her hair tied into a ponytail, sat next to her mother. She chatted about school, music and Disney video games.

During the hearing, as prosecutors and attorneys discussed the case and the possibility that the 11-year-old could lose her baby, she wiped away tears with the palms of her hands.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Magistrate Charles Milazzo determined the girl could visit her baby at least twice a week.

But he said the 11-year-old girl’s mother may see her only if social workers can supervise the visits, and that she may not see the baby.

Authorities became aware of the birth after the 11-year-old girl delivered the baby at University Hospital. Hospital officials notified JFS because the mother was so young.

The 11-year-old girl and the infant were allowed to remain in the mother’s home while JFS investigated the case. Two other men were eliminated as the baby’s father before Chaffer’s DNA was tested.

When the caseworker found Chaffer in the home Jan. 4 – a violation of JFS’ order that no men be in the home – they arrested him on a charge of obstruction of official business.

Court records show Chaffer slammed the door on the officer and refused to open it.
Chaffer pleaded guilty to that charge the next day, which violated his probation on an earlier drug charge. As a result he was sent to prison for one year.

JFS immediately took the 11-year-old girl and infant from the home.