Rodney and Christine Covington were desperate for assistance. But they say the help they received from the state made their family's struggles worse.

A brush with a high-profile double murder, ongoing medical problems and a domestic violence arrest combined to exacerbate their daughters' already troubling school attendance records. That landed the girls, then 11 and 16, in truancy court and eventually in a state-run psychiatric facility for children in Columbia for three months.

Their institutionalization occurred during a time when the DSS training program had been halved, support services had dwindled and its work force was a little more than two-thirds the size it had been six years earlier.

It also happened in the aftermath of the death of Ebony Smith, a 4-month-old who died in her father's care after DSS returned the child to the family following an investigation of a suspicious broken leg.

Three months after the girls were sent to the psychiatric unit, a judge ruled they should not have been removed from their home. The family's lawyer said the girls were taken because of the fallout from Ebony Smith's death.

The Covingtons first entered the DSS system in 2004, after the girls' repeated absences from school prompted Horry County Schools to refer them to truancy court. The school district can intervene after three consecutive absences, five total or a combination of tardies, according to testimony given during a Family Court hearing.

Felicia Keeling, 16, and her then 11-year-old sister, Courtney Covington, had a history of attendance and medical problems dating back five years.

Those absences increased after a chance trip through a Burger King drive-through on March 26, 2002, made their mother a key witness in a double homicide case.

Keeling, Courtney and two dogs were in the back seat of a white Chevrolet Impala and their mom and a friend were in the front seat during what Christine Covington said was the first warm day of spring.

The worker, who they'd later learn was Angle Joe Perrie Vazquez, yelled other choice four-letter words. Covington asked him to stop because her daughters were in the car.

According to police, he returned about four hours later with his cousin, Michael Howard, and forced Williams, 19-year-old Kuma Walker, and two other employees into a cooler. A short while later, Williams and Walker were dead.

Rodney Covington, armed with two guns, spent several nights after the shootings standing guard in front of their home, afraid someone might seek retaliation for his wife's unwitting role in the crimes.

Keeling knew it was taking a toll on her mother so she didn't want to let on that it was tough on her as well. She dealt with the stress by cutting herself late at night with a large pair of black-handled scissors.

"I didn't want anybody to know it was my fault ... because if I wasn't in the car, my mom wouldn't have cared that [Vazquez] was cussing," she said. "I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I'd hear her crying."

Christine Covington was the initial prosecution witness during Vazquez's death penalty murder trial. He was convicted and is on death row. Howard pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a 20-year sentence without parole earlier this year.

Absences, illnessesEven before the Burger King murders, Courtney had chronic health problems. As a 6-year-old, she picked up a used needle while playing in their former neighborhood. She accidentally pricked her finger, triggering a precautionary month-long regimen of anti-HIV medicine, which meant ingesting 14 pills every day. She had her tonsils removed after several bouts with strep throat, according to the Covingtons and records provided by the family.

During the year of the Burger King episode, she was present in school for 120 days of the 180-day school year, according to school records. By the 2003-04 school year, she was in school for 50 days. It dropped to 16 the following year.

There were diagnosed allergies and asthma, eczema from head to toe, low-grade fevers and frequent visits to pediatricians, according to the medical records provided by the family. Those records also showed that a former pediatrician for the Covington girls called their parents liars.

Courtney was first referred to Family Court for truancy by Horry County Schools officials Nov. 9, 2004, according to school documents. Christine Covington was held in contempt of court for Courtney's absences for not providing proper approved medical excuses. It was later dropped.

Keeling's absences also increased. Her grades suffered. She was on homebound study much of the past school year. She had migraines and oral ulcers. She spent three days in an intensive care unit after a late-night seizure, according to the family.

"I met with Ms. Covington to keep this from the court system," Karen Fowler, the attendance director of Horry County Schools, testified in Family Court. "We wanted to get help for these kids."

In early March, after the initial truancy hearing, the Covingtons submitted to court-ordered psychological evaluations, conducted by Dr. Mahir Shah of the Waccamaw Center for Mental Health.

He wrote that Keeling had a history of self-mutilation and that Courtney experienced extreme separation anxiety, according to a copy of the evaluations the family provided to The Sun News.

"Whenever possible, the greatest possible effort should be taken to avoid a child separating from their nuclear family," Shah wrote. "However, I feel in this case because of the ... repetitive nature of the medical symptoms and the resulting school absenteeism, that in-patient evaluation is necessary."

The evaluation included several errors, said Thomas "Val" Guest, the Covingtons' lawyer. Guest once handled cases for DSS while working in the solicitor's office. Shah did not testify and the executive director of Waccamaw declined comment about the case, citing privacy laws.

Among the errors: Shah wrote that Courtney had oral ulcers and migraines; those were Keeling's symptoms. He wrote that Courtney was Rodney Covington's stepdaughter; Keeling is.

The family said other mistakes were more damaging. Christine Covington "has had a history of mental and severe physical abuse at the hands of her husband," Shah wrote. "This has lasted for 10 years with the beatings taking place about every six months."

Christine Covington said she told Shah a domestic violence incident had occurred six months earlier, not every six months, and once two weeks into their marriage.

Christine Covington called 911 in October 2005, saying her husband was hitting her. Her husband was handcuffed as the girls watched. The couple separated for several weeks before reconciling and taking court-ordered parenting classes and an anger management course.

Girls sent awayFamily Court Judge Lisa Kinon ruled that Christine Covington had "educationally neglected" her daughters. DSS was granted custody March 9.

"I was shocked," said Evelyn Califf, a parent trainer, counselor and executive director of Parents Anonymous. Califf has been conducting parenting and anger management counseling for the family.

Officials with DSS and the Department of Mental Health said it is best to keep families together or to keep the children in the area. But there is only one private in-patient psychiatric facility in Horry County for teenagers and adolescents, and it is often full and more expensive than state care.

The girls were sent to William S. Hall Institute in Columbia. Waccamaw Center for Mental Health, which covers Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties, referred 34 kids to the psychiatric center last year.

Patients at the center are at risk to cause "harm to themselves, harm to others or have serious psychiatric problems," said Dr. Steve Cuffe, director of medical services at William S. Hall.

Once at the facility, Keeling and Courtney Covington were separated even though Waccamaw Center for Mental Health advised that the girls be together because of Courtney's separation anxiety.

The Covingtons also say they weren't allowed to speak to the girls for the first three weeks of their stay. The hospital director said that would contradict hospital policy, although DSS has the authority to limit parental contact.

Christine and Rodney were allowed supervised visits five weeks after the girls were admitted, according to a discharge assessment by Dr. Deepa Sobti, the center's attending psychiatrist.

But other experiences were disturbing. Courtney said her privileges were taken every time she cried or didn't eat. Nurses watched as she showered after two boys were caught "being sexually active in the shower," she said.

"They'll wrap a sheet around their necks as a gesture, sometimes a paper clip to scratch themselves," Cuffe said. "It looks bad" but usually isn't serious.

Keeling said she lived on a hall with a rapist. An 18-year-old girl threw garbage cans and a radio at a staff member. A boy stabbed another in the neck with a pencil. Her roommate cut her wrist. A girl wore diapers.

"We do have kids with significant issues," Cuffe said. "We investigate any allegation that our staff didn't follow procedure. We have a dedicated staff. They know how to deal with kids like this."

The girls were there for 45 days, according to discharge documents. The typical stay is 14 days or less, said Murry Chesson, executive director of Waccamaw Center for Mental Health.

"It took my daughters' innocence away," he said. "There are not the same hugs and kisses I used to get before bed. I don't know how to make my kids feel better. I don't know how to make my kids feel safe."

One of the Covington's caseworkers, Christy Esposito, testified that the girls missed many days from school even after the state began investigating. She visited the family's home and saw no reason that the girls needed to be removed, even while arguing that they needed to remain in state custody.

Caseworker Tameka L. Williams said she visited the girls twice at William S. Hall Institute while DSS was waiting on a therapeutic foster home to become available.

After a few hours of testimony over two days, the ruling by Family Court Judge H. E. Bonnoitt Jr. came within minutes: The girls would be returned to their parents and DSS would monitor the home for nine months.

"We've got some kids who must be the most chronically ill on the face of the planet," he said. "Those people are failing their children in some way. But there is a burden on the state [to prove] substantial risk of harm through educational neglect. I am going to find that DSS has not met the burden of proof."

Courtney jumps every time the phone rings, afraid DSS is planning to take them away again. She locks the shower door behind her - even if it takes "14 or 15 times" to get it to work - something she didn't do before. And she takes her food into her room to eat alone, another change.

"I did not know why they were taking me away from my family. I was mostly confused," Courtney Covington reflected in some writings after being returned home. "I did not know why I was there. It was for abused, neglected and sexually assaulted teens. None of them had happened to me. But I'm home now. And I'm finally happy."

One staff member got her to open up about the Burger King killings and persuaded her to tell her mother - for the first time - her worries about that incident.

"In William S. Hall, I was treated like a criminal. I felt like an animal," Keeling said. "There are hundreds of kids in the same situation our family was in. I don't think it's fair."

Parenting Anonymous, headed by executive director Evelyn Califf, offers free parenting classes and low-cost counseling and anger management courses for adults and teenagers.

Weekly classes are at 803 Howard Avenue on the former Air Force base in Myrtle Beach, at Cherry Hill Baptist Church on Racepath in Conway and at the Myrtle Beach YMCA. Call 448-5804.

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