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Missouri Foster Mother Escapes Jail Time After Swapping Teen for Monkey
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In Short: A Missouri foster mother was found guilty of child endangerment but avoided jail time after swapping a teenage girl for a monkey, according to court documents.
A Missouri foster mother accused of swapping a teenage girl for a monkey has been found guilty of child endangerment but escaped jail time, according to court documents.
The case dates back to November 2024 when the Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division received an anonymous tip about the teenager suffering mental and physical abuse at the foster mother's hands.
Lincoln County prosecutor Mike Wood revealed that a number of allegations of abuse had been made against the foster mother, who had fostered more than 200 children over the years and had her foster care license revoked.
In February 2025, a school-security officer began investigating after hearing a rumor that the girl had been swapped for a monkey.
Deutsch, the foster mother, had a history of collecting exotic animals, with the daughter explaining that her mother had at least seven monkeys in her home.
The foster mother was seated with a former foster child during the proceedings, and the daughter expressed her disappointment, saying, 'I’m kinda lost for words because this is not the end we wished for.
According to reports, the 'check' was a reference to a government stipend given to Missouri foster parents, highlighting the financial incentives involved in the case.
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- Johnson, a priest from the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told EWTN News that the inspiration for the podcast came from those involved the first time around who realized that many of the original listeners of the podcast were now having kids and becoming parents.
- “We live in the inner city here in Baton Rouge. We serve a very impoverished low-income neighborhood. And so we have a lot of stuff we do for the teens in my neighborhood, but I was like, what if I could put this podcast, ‘Bible in a Year,’ in the hands of their parents to do it with them at home and this could be the reason why the parents would start coming to the sacraments,” Johnson explained.
- Each episode will include a Scripture reading, age-appropriate reflections from Johnson, time for prayer, and answers to a variety of Bible questions from children.
Sources
- Independentlink