PARKERSBURG – A Ripley woman blames the state foster care system for her three-year-old autistic son’s drowning death.
Shyana Townsend, individually and as administratrix of the estate of P.S., filed her complaint March 6 in Wood Circuit Court against the West Virginia Department of Human Services as well as foster parents Rebecca and David Prall. She filed an amended complaint March 17 to add Necco LLC as a defendant.
According to the complaint, P.S. was a non-verbal three-year-old boy who had autism spectrum disorder. He had an autistic trait of getting out of the front door and wandering off to return to a favorite place he had visited with his mother.
“Through our investigation, we became aware that Necco was allegedly contracted by the West Virginia Department of Human Services to train and certify foster parents, including the Prall family," Morgan & Morgan attorney Wesley White and firm founder John Morgan said in a joint statement. "Their alleged role in this tragedy also included ensuring the homes of foster parents were safe prior to the placement of foster children. We amended our complaint to allege that CPS and Necco placed Shyana Townsend’s son in a predictably unsafe environment that led to his tragic death.”
On August 22, 2023, the boy got out of the front door and left his mother’s residence to return to a local park with a splash pad his mother had taken him to previously.
The boy made it three houses down the street before his mother could get to him, but P.S. was picked up by a Ripley police officer. The complaint says the boy was not injured, not afraid and showed no signs of abuse, but Townsend was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of a child.
The boy was removed from Townsend’s home and taken into custody by DoHS’s Child Protective Services. Townsend spent seven days in jail, and her son was placed in a temporary foster home.
CPS worked with Necco, a third-party child placing agency that recruits and trains foster parents, to place the boy with the Pralls.
Townsend says CPS paperwork showed her son was a flight risk and required special attention and supervision because of that. The Prall home was located about 30 yards from the Little Kanawha River and included a boat dock. The complaint also says the home did not have any type of gate or structure blocking access to the river or boat dock.
While residing with the Pralls, P.S. continued to get out of the front door and leave the home on multiple occasions. Townsend says CPS and Necco did not attempt to reunify her with her son and continued to allow him to live with the Pralls.
The complaint says the Pralls told Necco and CPS they planned to purchase technology and equipment to stop P.S. from leaving the home or to inform them when he did.
Meanwhile, Townsend says she substantially complied with all parts of the CPS reunification plan while she went through the legal process, but she says CPS still refused to recommend P.S. be returned to her home.
Townsend say her son on June 17, 2024, and was told by CPS he still was running away from the Prall home. She says she begged CPS to return him to her or to place him somewhere else, but CPS again refused to do so.
Later that day, Rebecca Prall left P.S. in her home as she took out the trash and did not immediately return to check on the boy. The complaint says she began cleaning her garage for an unknown amount of time.
“Co-defendants Prall left their patio door unlocked when Rebecca Prall took the garbage out and stayed outside for an unknown time but reasonably is believed to be several minutes,” the complaint states. “Despite having been aware that P.S. has left their residence on multiple occasions, co-defendants Prall left three-year-old P.S. and another minor child believed to be seven years old unsupervised alone.”
When Rebecca Prall came back in the home, she could not find P.S. and began looking for him. She then called 911 and said he had been missing for 10 to 15 minutes.
“Per the 911 recordings, Rebecca Prall claimed that she had already checked the riverbank but was checking the street in front of her house because P.S. usually escapes out the front door,” the complaint states. “Before hanging up with 911, Rebecca Prall made a statement that she needed to call Necco.”
The complaint says P.S. was allowed to freely walk out of the unlocked back patio door 30 yards to the river.
“Within approximately six minutes of arriving on scene, Wood County Deputy Sheriffs searched outside Ms. Prall’s home and found P.S. 30 yards away from the residence floating face down in the Little Kanawha River slightly under Ms. Prall’s boat dock at approximately 9:01 p.m.,” the complaint states.
Deputies called EMS and began CPR, and EMS then P.S. to Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg. He was pronounced dead at 9:52 p.m.
Townsend accuses the defendants of wrongful death. She says she has suffered emotional injuries, pain and suffering, distress, sorrow, mental anguish and solace as well as expected loss of income of and care provided by her son. She also says she has suffered expenses for the care, treatment and hospitalization of her son as well as funeral expenses and loss enjoyment of life.
She seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, special damages, general damages, pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
Townsend is being represented by Wesley H. White of Morgan & Morgan in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge John D. Beane.
Wood Circuit Court case number 25-C-79