Telephone Tag With A'Kiera Burrell Sledge

On December 25, missing fourteen year old A'kiera Burrell Sledge, from Kansas City, Missouri, finally called her mother from an untraceable number. This is great news for Iyonna Burrell, who, prior to this phone call, had no real idea what had happened to her daughter. A'kiera has a history of running away from home, and was taken into state custody and placed in Crittenden because of it. Iyonna has not lost parental rights, just custody, but when her daughter disappeared while in the state's custody, she was treated as if no one owed her any answers. This is simply not true. What's really going on is that a facility that accepts monies from state funded insurance failed to protect a child in it's custody, and when the parent demanded answers, pretending she had no right to answers was the most convenient way of blowing her off. Unfortunately, the court in Kansas City, Missouri is vested in covering for Crittenden, and refuses to establish a profile with NCMEC for A'kiera. No one has forced Crittenden to turn over it's security footage from the cameras that provide surveillance around the perimeter twenty-four hours a day. Crittenden, so far, has gotten away with falsely stating that there is no surveillance footage.

At least Iyonna Burrell knows her daughter was alive on Christmas. A'kiera has been missing since the last week of November. She does not wish to live at Crittenden anymore. Missouri will not allow her to live with her mother, and as of late, will not even allow her mother to advocate for her while she is a missing child. Missouri was not making any efforts in improving communication between mother and daughter, and it appears that Crittenden just wanted to make sure that A'kiera was not reported missing too close to the middle of the month, lest they lose the funding for A'kiera's enrollment in their program. Or something like that. Any time stamped video footage of A'kiera leaving the facility might mean Crittenden would owe the insurance company or the state a prorated refund. The only other reasons for discouraging communication between A'kiera and family members and for withholding the surveillance footage are much more sinister.

Right now, A'kiera needs her mother more than she needs anything. The state of Missouri needs to realize it's failure in this case, and either return A'kiera to her mother or find a family member or friend who can keep A'kiera until communication and balance can be established. Telling Iyonna not to parent is one and the same as telling A'kiera she can't have a mother, at this point; and that is morally repugnant. Why can't there be an advocate, or legal counsel, for A'kiera? If there was, how would she know who to contact, and who to trust? If someone can answer those questions for her, she might place another phone call to her mom.