Arizona Foster Father Who Adopted 18 Kids with His Husband Will not Face Charges in Death of 4-Month-Old Baby Left in Hot Car

Foster parents Roger and Steve Ham. Photo by Michael Chow of The Arizona Republic. Source.

by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

This past August we covered the tragic story of 4-month-old Samora Lesley Cousin who died when one of her foster dads allegedly left her in a hot car for hours. See:

4-Month-Old Arizona Baby Dies After Being Taken from Mother and Put into Home with Two Foster Dads Who Adopted 18 Kids

Roger Ham, the foster parent who left the 4-month-old baby in his car, was not arrested at the time.

ABC 12 News in Phoenix is reporting that the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office will not move forward with criminal charges against Mr. Ham (who is not named in the article.)

The foster father of a 4-month-old baby girl who died in a hot car near 39th Avenue and Cactus Road in October will not face charges at this time.

The Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Tuesday it will not move forward with criminal charges after meeting with the family. (Source.)

The current, newly appointed Maricopa County DA is Allister Adel, the former general counsel for the Arizona Department of Child Safety (CPS), the agency responsible for putting children into foster care.

The Arizona Republic has published multiple articles about foster dads Steve and Roger Ham over the past several years, portraying them as wonderful parents who have adopted 18 kids.

Reporter Karina Bland even published an article just after 4-month-old Samora Lesley Cousin died, casting the foster parents in a positive light.

Samora Lesley Cousin with her mother, Jennifer Haley photo

Samora Lesley Cousin with her mother, Jennifer Haley. Image source.

The baby was taken away from her mother Jennifer Haley due to her mother allegedly testing positive for drugs, something that Jennifer Haley denies.

“They take our kids because they say we’re unfit, and when they take our kids a lot of bad things happen,” Haley said. “I want CPS to look at this, remember my daughter, and realize nobody is perfect and bad things happen.” (Source.)

So while baby Samora’s mother and father had to mourn the loss of their baby girl twice, once when the State of Arizona took her away from them, and then again when she died a few months later, the Hams are allowed to continue as foster parents.

This tragic situation just further highlights the disparity between how the State treats biological parents as opposed to foster and adoptive parents, and the apparent double standard.

Of course understanding that the foster care system is a huge business of child trafficking that brings in BILLIONS of dollars of taxpayer funds when a child is removed from the home while there is very little assistance available to help disadvantaged parents keep their children is the first step to solving this problem.

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Published on December 18, 2019

5 Comments

Malinda Sherwyn April 9, 2020 at 5:03 pm - Reply

Rick-Black said:

Whether child or adult “protective” services we continual see the same bias and double standard in the court’s decisions. Family members are bad and court appointed untrained unlicensed third parties are best. All while they get paid to destruct families.
Seems pretty obvious to me we have a problem.

AZ prosecutors have a sick agenda. They want Melissa Diegel to serve 145 years for what? Mind Control and Macaroni and Cheese? DCS constantly, negligently place children in dangerous foster homes and forced adoption in which they are severely neglected, starved, over medicated, battered, raped, scalded and murdered…and no one from this failed agency is EVER held accountable. The price of doing business?…The misery and death of children and the utter destruction of their real families.

JM February 12, 2020 at 10:55 am - Reply

They let homosexuals have 18 kids??!! And they’re not being charged?? This is totally upside-down. This shows the craven evil behind CPS across this nation! They don’t mention that the original DSM was correct about homosexuality being a mental illness. The two lesbians who went crazy and drove off a cliff in California went to their deaths and dragged 6 adopted children with them. 
The entire CPS system is BROKEN! The sick demons behind the CPS are also the same ones behind the Franklin cover up, the "Reagan Bush Child sex ring" (reported in the 1980’s in the newspapers), and the global trafficking of children. These children are victimized in horrific ways, while they generate "black money" for government projects ("Thanks for the Memories" by Brice Taylor).

Pat December 20, 2019 at 2:54 pm - Reply

Arizona’s CPS has been a serious problem for decades that I know about. It makes me ashamed of an otherwise excellent state that hasn’t yielded to many other destructive influences. And letting two homosexuals have 18 kids? Should not be allowed. A child needs a mother and a father to learn how to interact with both. I am not against equal rights for people regardless of proclaimed sexual orientation, but this is about the rights of the child, not the rights of people who cannot have children because of this issue.

In this case, clearly there is a double standard. A tiny baby (who belongs with her mother) was taken because of possible harm, but the person who actually killed her gets off scot free! No responsible parent leaves a baby in a locked car alone.

DR December 19, 2019 at 11:06 am - Reply

Admin said:

This past August we covered the tragic story of 4-month-old Samora Lesley Cousin who died when one of her foster dads allegedly left her in a hot car for hours. Roger Ham, the foster parent who left the 4-month-old baby in his car, was not arrested at the time. ABC 12 News in Phoenix is reporting that the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office will not move forward with criminal charges against Mr. Ham. The current, newly appointed Maricopa County DA is Allister Adel, the former general counsel for the Arizona Department of Child Safety (CPS), the agency responsible for putting children into foster care. The Arizona Republic has published multiple articles about foster dads Steve and Roger Ham over the past several years, portraying them as wonderful parents who have adopted 18 kids. Reporter Karina Bland even published an article just after 4-month-old Samora Lesley Cousin died, casting the foster parents in a positive light. The baby was taken away from her mother Jennifer Haley due to her mother allegedly testing positive for drugs, something that Jennifer Haley denies. “They take our kids because they say we’re unfit, and when they take our kids a lot of bad things happen,” Haley said. “I want CPS to look at this, remember my daughter, and realize nobody is perfect and bad things happen.” So while baby Samora’s mother and father had to mourn the loss of their baby girl twice, once when the State of Arizona took her away from them, and then again when she died a few months later, the Hams are allowed to continue as foster parents.

My heart goes out to the real mother and father! The kidnapping of children by CPS MUST be stopped! These foster dads need to be convicted …they just killed a baby! I would not be surprised if they are traffickers! Why would they have so many kids? Get these kids away from them NOW! People in Arizona and around the world need to fight back against these monsters! We must protect the children from the CPS and other corrupt agencies associated with them. That includes some of those in government, police, doctors, nurses, teachers, etc. Anyone turning a blind eye to this also needs to be removed from their position. The Maricopa County District Attorney’s office should be flooded with calls and letters demanding justice be done.

Rick Black December 19, 2019 at 10:56 am - Reply

Whether child or adult “protective” services we continual see the same bias and double standard in the court’s decisions. Family members are bad and court appointed untrained unlicensed third parties are best. All while they get paid to destruct families.

Seems pretty obvious to me we have a problem.