RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)- Two mothers connected to the death of 8-year-old Marty Cobb have a criminal history involving child abuse, and both were ordered to take parenting classes at Greater Richmond Stop Child Abuse Now or SCAN.
On Wednesday, CBS 6 reported the mother of the 16-year-old boy accused of killing Cobb, has a criminal past.
Faith Turner was arrested in 2008 for child abuse-neglect, and she was ordered to take parenting classes at SCAN.
Cobb’s mother, Sharain Spruill, was also ordered to the class after her arrest on domestic assault charges in 2011.
SCAN said their parenting classes are meant to be part of a larger solution, and say they try their best to help parents with a history of abuse become better parents.
“They still might be good candidates for a wide variety of intervention,” Ian Danielsen, Greater Richmond SCAN, said.
SCAN will not talk about specific clients, but Danielsen said the program teaches caretakers how to be better parents.
“Our facilitators focus specifically to help those caregivers grow those tools for nurturance and protection,” Danielsen said.
The suspect’s mother successfully completed the program without incident, but we learned Cobb’s mother failed to appear three times to start the program.
However, according to court records, SCAN gave her another chance, and she did finish the program.
“Is there some type of accountability structure in place when it comes to this parenting group?” CBS 6 reporter Melissa Hipolit asked.
“There are structures of accountability that have to do with attendance and quality participation,” Danielsen said.
Now, the two mothers are tied up in a local tragedy, something SCAN works to try to prevent through its programs.
“What one caretaker does with those tools after they move on from us is the part we can’t control,” Danielsen said.
