Written by Patrick Harbinson
Directed By Steve Shill
A young boy dies in the emergency room after passing out at a late night church service headed by a Faith Healer. After an investigation, his foster parents and a social worker are charged with his death. His foster mother, however, was bilking the system for money and the agent assigned to his case was overburdened with cases to the point she couldn't make regular visits or respond to the foster father's phone calls.
Tropes
- Abusive Parents: Lori-Ann Dufoy is a foster parent example. She only takes in foster children for the money, and then neglects and/or physically abuses the kids in her care. She's not only the one who murdered Jamie, but then sent her other foster child, Megan, to a mental hospital for witnessing the act.
- Cassandra Truth: No one believes Lori-Ann's other foster kid until Fin comes along because Lori-Ann tells the psychiatric hospital that she's crazy and harming herself.
- Department of Child Disservices: A more nuanced example. Jamie's social worker was trying, but was trying to juggle an impossible number of cases at once (at the time Jamie was murdered, she was in the middle of removing another physically abused child) and the situation just unfolded faster than she was able to respond. (Subverted in the end anyway, as it turned out the foster father's calls to her had nothing to with the murder, which was committed by the foster mother.)
- Diagnosis: Knowing Too Much: Megan witnesses little Jamie's murder. To make sure nobody believes her, Lori-Ann sends her to a mental hospital, claiming she self-harms (the injuries are caused by Lori-Ann). It takes Fin to get her out.
- Driven to Suicide: Mariel, the social worker, shoots herself to death after losing her job, negative press and a barrage of threatening phone calls finally convinces her that despite all the children she's tried to help, she will only be remembered for the one she failed.
- Fake Faith Healer: The episode has the rare sympathetic version. Not only does he believe in his own powers, but he also believes he's responsible for the death of a child— and he's wrong about that too.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Lori-Ann married Sam because he was a potential basketball star, but after his Career-Ending Injury, she resented their marriage. She outright blames him for letting her down. That is scarcely an excuse for physically abusing (and in this case killing) the children you are supposed to take care of, and then letting him take the fall.
- Henpecked Husband: Sam Dufoy is implied to have been this to Lori-Ann. After he overhears Lori-Ann deliberately pin Jamie's murder on him, Sam is very much done with her.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Mariel's last words are that she's saved hundreds of children, but she'll only be remembered for the one she failed.
