JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Months after a special needs child was dropped off at Wolfson Children’s Hospital in extremely poor condition, her caregiver was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect with great bodily harm.
Mikaela Green, 37, has been identified as the girl’s caregiver. Her arrest report was redacted so it’s unclear if Green is the girl’s biological mother.
News4JAX has learned the girl is under the age of 13 and non-verbal. She suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. The girl also depends on a feeding tube that is inserted directly through her abdomen.
Jacksonville police said back in June of this year, Green brought the girl to Wolfson Children’s Hospital and told doctors the child had been vomiting for more than a week and only tolerating one feeding a day. Police said right after the girl was admitted to the hospital, Green left and never returned.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney read over Green’s arrest report and was shocked to learn that according to investigators, Green ignored calls from the hospital, Department and Children and Families, and law enforcement officers.
“It lets law enforcement know this is exactly what we think it is. This is somebody on paper who is a caregiver that is not caring for the child and not responsible,” Hackney said.
According to a First Coast Child Protective Team medical evaluation, the child was severely malnourished with less than 2% fat on her entire body and bones visibly showing through her skin.
When she was first admitted into the hospital, doctors tried to feed her through her feeding tube, but she was so malnourished that she developed refeeding syndrome – a life-threatening condition that comes from prolonged periods of starvation.
She also had pressure sores throughout her body. The girl had not been able to use her wheelchair for at least a year because it was broken but that was never reported to her team of doctors. The medical evaluation also revealed the girl was supposed to see her neurologist, her nutritionist, and her pediatrician every three months, but had not seen those doctors since the fall and winter of 2023.
The arrest warrants stated that the child would have never been in that condition had she kept seeing her medical team.
Fortunately, the child survived.
It’s unclear as to who is now caring for the girl.
Green remains in jail on a $150,000 bond.