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Fundraising for infant brother of abuse victim

Posted at 10:24 AM, Mar 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-20 10:24:34-04

The community is rallying around a grandmother after she took in a baby in need of a home.

Dominic is Ethan Bigham's eight-month-old brother. Ethan died last week after he was brutally beaten by his 17-year-old babysitter.

According to a GoFundMepage for Dominic, he was also in the home when Ethan was beaten, but did not sustain any injuries during the attack.

Dominic and his older brother and sister were taken away from their home and placed in the care of a family friend who was not able to continue caring for Dominic, according to the fundraising page.

The page says a case brought in front of an Erie County family court judge to place Dominic into foster care. His parents provided a list of "approved" people to take care of him, but no one showed from the list.

The GoFundMe page says the only person who showed up was Dominic's paternal grandmother, Rhiannon Hart - a former foster parent and not on the list of approved caretakers.

The family court judge heard Hart's case and granted her custody of Dominic.

According to the GoFundMe page, Hart is already a single mother to a 7-year-old girl and already struggling to make ends meet with just one child. The GoFundMe page was set up by Julie Fay on Hart's behalf to help with the financial burden of taking on a baby.

Hart is currently not receiving assistance from the county for being Dominic's foster parent and needs help with expenses like daycare, baby furniture and her unpaid time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to the fundraising page.