Court orders in case of murdered 8-year-old appear contradictory, puzzle experts

DETROIT (WXYZ) - In court orders obtained by 7 Action News, officials seem to contradict their own findings about the safety of 8-year-old Tameria Greene and her siblings.  Weeks later, Greene would be stabbed to death by her mother Semeria, say police.

A November 23 court order reads, “One of the children was assaulted by the mother and received injuries about her face and body….all the children are at risk of physical assault.”

But in the same order, the children are then released back into their mother’s custody.  Child welfare experts are puzzled.

"It’s unusual because the court doesn’t release children to their parents if they’ve made findings that their parents are too dangerous to care for them," said family attorney Elizabeth Warner.

"It’s pretty chilling actually to think that they said all the children were at risk of physical assault from the mother, and then they sent them home to the mother," she said.

 Five days later, in a November 28 court order, the home conditions were deemed “adequate to safeguard the children."

7 Action News left messages with the judge presiding over the case, but he hasn’t returned our calls.  In addition to the seemingly contradictory court orders, it’s also unclear if Detroit Police were ever contacted by Child Protective Services once they received allegations that Tameria Green had been assaulted.  

Warner says if they weren’t, they should have been.

Late today, Detroit Police officials told 7 Action News that the department received no complaints about the children's safety. 

In 2010, Child Protective Services officials tried to remove Tameria Greene's children from her custody, saying they were being neglected. A judge disagreed, and returned the children to Greene's custody.