The Life Of Lauria Grace

Aug. 6, 1991: Lauria Viola Grace, born addicted to drugs, remains in the hospital for detoxification. Her mother, Rochelle Grace, also tests positive for drugs. Lauria subsequently is released to foster care.

Aug. 19: CPS supervisor Malinda Ervin assigns social worker Gladies Aaron to Lauria's case.

June 1992 Grace indicates she wants to give up the child.

Aug. 17: CPS supervisor Ervin reassigns Lauria's case to social worker Dorothy Thomas.

July 15, 1994: Lauria returns to her mother's care after Grace changes her mind about adoption. Grace agrees to send Lauria to Childhaven daycare, among other court conditions.

Sept. 1: Social worker JoeAnne Taylor begins home visits to ensure that court orders are followed.

Sept. 19: Lauria starts attending Childhaven.

December: Des Moines neighbor calls CPS saying he saw Grace hit Lauria in the head so hard the girl fell. CPS investigates until mid-January.

Dec. 5: Childhaven faxes Thomas, noting Lauria's absences since Dec. 1.

Dec. 14: Fax from Childhaven caseworker Debra Ronnholm is sent to DSHS supervisor Bob Doupe, Thomas and Ervin, Thomas' supervisor. Marked urgent, it says Lauria's guardian ad litem attorney Lori Irwin suggested police check on her welfare. It notes that Lauria has been absent since Dec. 1.

Dec. 30: Fax from Ronnholm to Thomas, reporting Laria's absence from Childhaven.

January 1995: Someone sees Lauria with stitches on her forehead.

Jan. 5, 9, 10 and 11: Ronnholm faxes Thomas, reporting Lauria's absences and expressing concerns. Jan. 11 fax Jan. 18: Ronnholm faxes Thomas, saying Lauria continues to be absent and quoting Grace as saying that Lauria will never return to Childhaven.

Jan. 23: Ronnholm faxes Thomas saying Lauria was absent again.

Feb. 1: Ronnholm faxes Thomas, saying Lauria was absent again.

Feb. 10: CPS supervisor Ervin takes responsibility for Lauria's case because Thomas is transferred. The case remains unassigned in Ervin's cases until Lauria's death.

Feb. 14: Ronnholm faxes DSHS Burien office supervisor Priscilla Bell-Lowe. Ronnholm says Lauria is still not attending Childhaven and, given the history of the case, she is concerned.

Night of Feb. 14: Enid Cooper, Grace's neighbor, tells police that Grace said Lauria "had the devil in her because she never cried despite being beaten for two days straight."

Feb. 15: Lauria loses consciousness. Grace gets Cooper to call 911. Grace tells paramedics the girl drowned in the bathtub.

Feb. 18: Lauria dies from complications due to suffocation. Children's Hospital and Medical Center pediatrician, Dr. David Jardine, noted Lauria had been abused over time and finds no water in her lungs. Neither the county nor the state pays for burials of the indigent. Lauria is cremated; her mother is given her ashes.

Late February: Twice-delayed Juvenile Court review of Lauria's July placement is canceled because of her death.

July 7: Doupe is placed on home assignment after DSHS Secretary Jean Soliz says he misrepresented facts about Lauria's case to superiors and the public.

Aug. 14: DSHS administrators demote supervisor Doupe to social worker status and announce that they're investigating the work of Thomas, supervisor Ervin and CPS supervisor Terry Walker to determine whether they acted in Lauria's best interest.

Aug. 17: Review committee announces its findings.

Seattle Times staff reporters Diedtra Henderson and Elizabeth Perez contributed to this report.