Controversial Murrieta foster home operator surrenders license after girl’s death

Michelle Morris, whose foster homes in Orange and Riverside counties were hailed as a godsend by some and denounced as a nightmare by others, has surrendered her license in the aftermath of a 16-year-old girl’s death.

Adam Weintraub, a spokesman for the California Department of Social Services, said the license was voluntarily handed over effective May 10. The state’s query into the death of Diane Ramirez, a foster child who died at Morris’ Murrieta home on April 6, will continue, he said.

The foster children in Morris’ care have been placed elsewhere, Weintraub said. Her home was licensed for five children.

Morris’ husband, Larry Kerin, referred questions to attorney John Vega. Vega did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Diane’s mother, Angel Cadena, is gratified that Morris is out of the foster care business, but bereft that it’s too late for her daughter.

“They should not be allowed to get away with this,” said Cadena, who can’t shake images of her “Princess Diane” in her casket.

“The county, they should have been aware. I don’t understand how you can allow more children to go to that home after all these allegations. My daughter’s life matters.”

Licensed in 1994

Morris was an adoption social worker in Los Angeles who wrote “If I Should Die Before I Wake,” a graphic novel about father-daughter incest published in 1982. It evolved into an off-Broadway play, and Morris became a regular at benefits for abused children.

That led her to Marisol, a home for medically fragile children in Costa Mesa. There she fell for Katie, then a lanky 7-year-old with cerebral palsy. Learning to love Katie and the others taught Morris a great deal, she told the Los Angeles Times in 1992: “If you’re a religious person, when you leave Marisol, you feel closer to God. These children call out the best in us.”

Morris earned her foster care license in Orange County on Aug. 9, 1994. Her home filled up quickly and earned a “pass with flying colors” review from the Orange County Regional Center, which distributes state funding for the disabled.

Complaints begin to emerge

But many complaints were soon investigated, from neglect and lack of supervision to improper record-keeping, according to licensing records.

One report said a frustrated Kerin had abandoned a 9-year-old, nonverbal child at a social services office in August 1997 after the state failed to pay for his care for two consecutive months.

In May 1999, Morris took a child in for surgery but the hospital refused to operate because the child’s legal parents had not been informed. The parents were upset they hadn’t been contacted, and said they had difficulty communicating with the facility. Morris said she was in the process of adopting the child and had the authority to approve surgery, the Regional Center report said.

In May 2001, a male staff member allegedly was found naked in bed with a female child. A report of sexual abuse was made to authorities, but medical evidence wasn’t found, a report said. In 2002, the Regional Center said it had “serious concerns about the quality of care and health and safety of the consumers residing at the Michelle Morris Home” in a letter to a state agency.

Accuse Regional Center of lies

Morris and Kerin said the agency spread lies about them and was malicious, fraudulent and oppressive. They sued the Regional Center in 2004, saying officials had wrongfully accused them of sexually and physically abusing children in their care and of operating an unsafe home.

Regional Center officials also asserted that Morris suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a behavioral disorder in which caretakers exaggerate, fabricate or inflict health problems on children to gain attention and sympathy.

In their suit, Morris and Kerin accused Regional Center officials of inappropriately touching the children’s genital areas and repeatedly “interrogating” them regarding the alleged sexual abuse. The Regional Center’s insurer settled the suit in 2007 for $750,000, seeking to avoid putting disabled children on the stand, officials said at the time. There were no admissions of wrongdoing.

After that, Morris and Kerin moved to Murrieta to escape the harassment they said they received in Orange County. Licensing files show complaints continued, including allegations that an adult in the home had inappropriate interactions with a minor, that a client’s personal hygiene needs were going unmet, that parents weren’t allowed to visit their children, that a child in a wheelchair was left in a bedroom closet unattended.

Many complaints, however, were found to be inconclusive because the children involved are nonverbal.

Morris has adopted at least eight disabled children, including Ryan Morris, a man with the intellectual abilities of a young child who married a man of regular intelligence, 18 years his senior, in Morris’ backyard. Morris was one of Ryan Morris’ legal guardians at the time. Last week, a judge ruled that Ryan Morris doesn’t have the capacity to understand marriage, and ordered that he be removed from the home he now shares with his husband.

Licensing documents show Morris also has an adopted son and daughter who are married to one another and share a bedroom.

Hoping for justice

Critics contend that the home should have closed long ago.

“It is unfortunate that a death was necessary for Michelle Morris’ foster home to be investigated. Signs of abuse were present for years,” said Linda Kincaid of the Coalition for Elder and Disability Rights, which has been following the Ryan Morris case.

Testimony in that case was that Ryan Morris and others were sexually abused as residents in Morris’ home, “yet the county chose not to intervene. Law enforcement often fails to protect society’s most vulnerable members, the elderly and disabled,” Kincaid said.

Ryan Morris’ biological relatives had fought Morris through the years, and now hope for justice.

“I pray that Ryan’s suffering and Diane’s death while under Michelle’s watch pave the way for officials to take the issues of safety and dependent adult abuses more seriously, to serve the people in need with utmost care, timing and due diligence.” said Monica Mukai, Ryan Morris’ aunt.

Meanwhile, Diane’s mother worries about the adopted children in Morris’ care.

“I want to be their voice, my daughter’s voice, even though she’s gone,” Cadena said. “I want to do something in Diane’s name to protect those who don’t have voices, and the ones who have been kept quiet.”