A Family Court judge in Manhattan on Tuesday ordered the three surviving siblings of 4-year-old Jahmeik Modlin, the Harlem boy who died of starvation and neglect, placed temporarily in a Westchester County foster home while permanent custody is hashed out.
The three children, ages 5, 6 and 7, had been receiving medical treatment at Harlem Hospital and Bellevue Hospital after they were rescued Oct. 13 from the apartment where Jahmeik died.
Their parents, Nytavia Ragsdale, 25, and Laron Modlin, 26, are awaiting trial on Rikers Island, charged with manslaughter, assault and endangering the welfare of children for their alleged abuse and neglect of Jahmeik and the other kids.
Judge Janet McFarland refused Tuesday to immediately place the surviving children with Jahmeik’s aunt Nyisha Ragsdale, or allow her to visit them, after a lawyer with the city’s child welfare agency opposed those requests.
“The aunt saw the three kids on Facetime a week before Jahmeik passed away and indicated that the kids were fine,” said Morgan Malinoff of the Administration for Children’s Services.
Nyisha Ragsdale had hired lawyers less than 10 days after Jahmeik died and filed a $40 million notice of intent to sue, blaming the city for failing to remove Jahmeik and his siblings from the home.
Malinoff noted the aunt had not seen the children in-person for the past four years and only spoke to them through the internet. No assessment of her home has yet been made, Malinoff said.
Laron Modlin’s family is also seeking custody of the survivors. Their lawyer, Alexandra Rosin, said an aunt on his side resides in New York State and should be explored as an option.
Brad Martin, the lawyer appointed by the court to represent the children’s interests, said their health needed continued assessment.
McFarland ordered a medical report on the three siblings prepared by Nov. 19. She also asked ACS to evaluate all the relatives on both sides of the family and look at other placement alternatives.
Meanwhile, the survivors will live in a Westchester County foster home arranged by Children’s Aid, a large nonprofit based in Harlem.
Cops were called before 8 a.m. Oct. 13 after Jahmeik became unresponsive in the apartment on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. near W. 144th St. He died the next morning.
The ensuing investigation revealed that Nytavia Ragsdale and Modlin had been starving Jahmeik and his siblings for two years, prosecutors said.
One of the bedrooms was covered in feces. None of the children were in school, nor had they seen a doctor in two years.
At death, Jahmeik weighed just 19 pounds and suffered from malnutrition, dehydration, and starvation, prosecutors said.
