CANTON TOWNSHIP — The biological mother of a 2-year-old girl who died of blunt trauma fled a drug rehab recovery house Monday after learning the toddler’s foster mother was charged with her murder.
Now, family and drug rehab workers fear she is on a crack binge or dead.
Anne Marie Hirsch, 26, was making another effort to kick her five-year habit and seemed committed to regaining custody of her daughter, Allison Newman, family members said. Her outlook changed after she buried the brown-eyed girl Friday, said her father, Craig Hirsch.
“At the funeral she had a rude awakening and she showed a lot of remorse,” said Hirsch, 64, a Canton mechanic. “Anne has been suicidal, but I am hoping that we don’t have another funeral to go to.”
The fears arise as more details emerge in the sad case.
In foster care three months after her birth because both biological parents are drug addicts, Allison was placed by Lutheran Social Services this summer with Alan and Carol Poole. On Sept. 22, Carol called 911 from her $320,000 house to report the child wasn’t breathing and injured her head the previous day.
Monday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy charged Carol Poole with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and first-degree child abuse. Alan Poole was out of town at the time of the death and faces no charges.
The announcement prompted Anne Hirsch to walk away from Stanford House, a 12-step drug rehab program for women drug users, her father said. She didn’t return after she was let out on a pass to visit a nearby library, said Val Davis, director of the drug rehab facility.
“She was excited about the new addiction treatment plan at Stanford House,” Davis said. “Her behavior worsened after leaving the hospital with Allison. She was very hopeless and immediately she became in denial of her drug disease.”
Anne Hirsch, who always wears her hair in a ponytail, was dressed in a dark overcoat, a red and white striped shirt, blue jeans, and brownish black ankle boots the day she left the recovery house.
Craig Hirsch said a warrant could be issued for her arrest if she doesn’t return to Stanford because she is to appear in the 35th District Court today on domestic abuse charges for allegedly punching him in the face.
Allison isn’t the first child Anne has lost; she has a 7-year-old daughter who was taken from her by the father’s family, said Melissa delaGarza, Anne’s aunt.
“It hurts that we never got a chance to get to know (Allison), delaGarza said. “The hope was that with Allison she would get her life back together and make a home for her daughter. Now that is gone and she may not have the motivation she once had.
