Foster mother beats toddler to death after she was taken from her biological parents because social services discovered them smoking pot

Tragedy: Two-year-old Alexandria Hill died on Wednesday 31st July - two days after she was admitted to hospital in Texas suffering a serious brain injury

A foster mother in Austin, Texas has been charged with beating a toddler to death after she was placed in her care because social services found her biological parents smoking pot.



Emergency services responded to a 911 call from Sherill Small, 54, on Monday 29th of July asking them to come to her house because two-year-old Alexandria Hill was not breathing.



The tragic tot later died in hospital from a brain hemorrhage and doctors told police that the explanation Small gave them for the child's injuries were not consistent with her wounds.

The little girl's life support machine was switched off on Wednesday 31st of July and Small was arrested and charged with murder the next day - allegedly admitting to authorities that she had thrown Alexandria to the ground.



Her distraught parents, Mary Sweeney and Joshua Hill are now working to file a suit against the state and foster agency, Texas Mentor for placing their child in the care of Small in the first place.

'She was placed into foster care for neglectful supervision because her mother and I smoked pot at the time,' explained Hill to KXAN.Com.

According to court records, Alexandria's mother has a medical condition that does not allow her to be left alone with her own child and Hill's marijuana use had become so bad he almost dropped his daughter down the stairs.

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Charged: Sherill Small has been charged with the murder of Alexandria Hill and is being held on $100,000 bail

Foster Care: Alexandria Hill had been released from the care of her parents into child services protection after they became incapable of looking after her

The parents, who are not together, handed Alexandria to Hill's mother to care for - until the state intervened on November 26th.

According to the Department of Family and Protective Services, the family disagreed who should take custody of the girl and decided to involve the CPS themselves - until both mom and dad got their lives in order.

Hill told MyFoxAustin.com that his daughter had always seemed happy with Small - and that the events of last week came as a horrifying shock.



Indeed, Hill realized something was seriously amiss when the 54-year-old foster parent began to change her story about what happened.

Devastated: Mary Sweeney and dad Joshua Hill (right) have lost their two-year-old girl Alexandria Hill after she died in the foster care of Sherill Small in Austin, Texas

'The first thing that she said happened was Alex was running the house towards the kitchen and she slipped and fell backwards and hit her head on the ground...bull****,' said Hill to MyFoxAustin.

'Straight off the bat, bull***, there's no way in hell.



'Forgive my language, but I think that b**** lost her mind and slammed my daughter in the ground...and I think that somebody should do the same to her.'



Hill saw his daughter just days before her death.



'We went to McDonald's to have lunch, she played on the playground,' said Hill tearing up.



'I never really thought that would be the last bit of time I would spend with her, or I would've done more.'



When the state intervened at Alexandria's parents request, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service (TDFPS), placed her with Small in January.

Texas Mentor foster services has launched an internal investigation into how one of its trusted carers came to be charged with the murder of a toddler in their care

The TDFPS concluded that 'Through the assessment of the Department and family members of the parents, it appears the parents have limited parenting skills and need to develop their understanding of being protective of their child. Until these services are offered, the Department does not feel either parent can be the sole caregiver for the child.'



The Department of Family Protective Services is now investigating Texas MENTOR.



Residential Childcare Licensing will take a closer look at how Texas MENTOR made their decision to license the Smalls.



So that means we’re going to take a closer look at the background checks that were done. Were all the background checks that are supposed to be done completed? Training?



Was all the training done? Was everything done in the way it was supposed to be done?” explained DFPS spokesperson Julie Moody.



And on Friday, Texas MENTOR acknowledged it is performing an internal review.



'All of us at Texas MENTOR are terribly saddened by this tragedy. As an organization dedicated to protecting and caring for children, we are appalled by the allegations involving one of our foster parents,' said State Director of Texas MENTOR Wendy Bagwell in a written statement seen by KVUE.Com.