Solano County

Family Fights for Custody of Tortured Fairfield Children

As the Fairfield, California, couple accused of child abuse and torture sit in jail, the future of their 10 children is up in the air.

Six of the children, who police say were forced to live in squalor and endured torture at the hands of their parents, have been placed with their maternal grandmother while the other four are with their aunt.

"I love my nieces and nephews with all my heart and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep them with me," said Tanyeka Morrison, the children’s aunt.

Morrison and her husband have been caring for her sister’s four youngest children after investigators removed them from their Jonathan Allen and Ina Rogers' Fairfield home seven weeks ago. She said that she hadn't seen her sister for years and hadn't met the four youngest children until recently. 

The Morrisons say they have since bonded with the children, who have been slowly healing and acclimating to a new life and a new home.

"They just adjusted," said uncle Donte Morrison. "They're coming out of their shells, they're showing their individuality now."

They say child welfare services has now decided to put the youngest four children in the foster care system, and the couple will have to go to court to try keep them.

"They're happy — now they’re happy," Tanyeka said. "They deserve to be children and be happy and to be around loved ones and family and to be able to strive and be."

A Solano County child advocate wouldn't talk about this specific case but says that keeping the children with their family is their primary goal, even if that family doesn’t have a perfect past.

"If it's something that life happens and they've gotten past it and able to parent and take care of that child, being with family is number one," said Dana Martinez from CASA of Solano County.

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