A Fort Worth-area foster mother is facing serious felony charges after a neighbor in Anson, Texas, found a 22-year-old woman with physical and mental disabilities locked inside an outdoor dog kennel on November 22. In a video captured by the neighbor, the woman can be heard screaming and begging for help as she pushes against the fencing of the kennel. Officers pulled her from the backyard and say she is now under protective care while investigators dig into what happened. The caregiver was arrested and booked into the Jones County Jail.
Neighbor Justin Anderson recorded the encounter and called police, according to Majic 94.5, then shared the video with local television outlets. Officers said the young woman had been confined in a wire kennel covered with tarps and secured with a latch. She has since been placed with relatives while Adult Protective Services arranges longer-term care. Neighbors identified the caregiver as Kandice “Kandy” Thompson, who was taken into custody following the police response.
Neighbor’s Video Prompted Rapid Police Response
Anson Police Chief Daniel Graziose told reporters that officers arrived to find a 22-year-old woman locked in the backyard, while two other adult foster residents were inside the home, according to the Daily Caller. In the neighbor’s recording, the woman says she is scared and needs to use the bathroom, and the footage shows a fenced kennel secured with a small lock.
Police said Thompson was first arrested on counts of assault and injury to a disabled person. After additional interviews and a closer review of the evidence, investigators obtained more serious aggravated kidnapping warrants, according to the Daily Caller.
Long Foster History Raises Oversight Concerns
Neighbors and past reporting say Thompson and her late husband, a former small-town police chief, fostered more than 50 children over the years, a track record that has sharpened questions about how foster and adult placements are monitored in rural communities, according to La Opinión. Disability advocates told local outlets that putting a disabled adult in an outdoor kennel, if proven, would amount to severe abuse and a complete failure of caregiving standards…