CPS was aware of Fort Worth mother’s drug abuse before baby died, records show
The grandmother of a baby who died from drug toxicity last summer said Texas Child Protective Services is as much to blame for the death as the infant’s mother, who is facing a manslaughter charge.
On July 27, 1-month-old Zachariah Cooke was found unresponsive in his crib in a south Fort Worth home. He was transported to Cook Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from what turned out to be methamphetamine toxicity, according to police and medical examiner records.
The day Zachariah died, a Fort Worth police detective found drug paraphernalia near the baby’s crib in a bedroom Zachariah shared with his mother, Swanietra Cooke, 36, and one of her friends. Swanietra later admitted to smoking methamphetamine when questioned by police, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
On Jan. 12, following an investigation, Swanietra was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection to her son’s death. Her court-appointed attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Swanietra’s mother, Lisa Cooke, said her daughter was already in custody in the Tarrant County Jail on an unrelated charge when she was arraigned on the manslaughter charge.
Lisa doesn’t make excuses for her daughter, nor does she gloss over the fact that Swanietra allegedly exposed Zachariah to drugs. But Lisa said CPS was aware of Swanietra’s problems and didn’t take drastic measures to protect her grandson.
What did CPS do to protect Zachariah Cooke?
According to CPS records obtained by the Star-Telegram, Zachariah had amphetamines and either methamphetamines or heroin in his system when he was born on June 3, 2025. Swanietra tested positive for the same drugs, as well as cocaine, while she was in the hospital giving birth.
Despite that, Swanietra was allowed to take Zachariah home, though records show CPS did implement a safety plan.
That plan called for a friend of Swanietra’s to supervise her interactions with Zachariah. Swanietra also agreed to participate in CPS’ Family-Based Safety Services, which include things like counseling and substance abuse treatment.
Lisa confirmed Swanietra’s CPS caseworker had attempted to get her into a drug treatment program.
After Zachariah died, a CPS investigation revealed Swanietra was not living with the friend who was her designated supervisor, and she wasn’t living in the residence stipulated in the CPS safety plan. Instead, the supervisor, whose name was redacted in the records, would take Zachariah to visit Swanietra in a home that CPS records describe as “dilapidated and dirty with a very smelly odor and flies everywhere.”
That unnamed friend/supervisor admitted to CPS investigators that Swanietra and Zachariah were unsupervised in Swanietra’s bedroom the night before Zachariah died.
Lisa said the home Swanietra was living in was unfit for a child, and she alleged Swanietra’s drug use went unchecked while she was there. Lisa also scoffed at the idea of having a friend supervise Swanietra when she was with Zachariah.
All along, Lisa said, she had lobbied to have Zachariah live with her or with her son and daughter-in-law, but Swanietra refused.
The arrest warrant for Swanietra showed she was interviewed by a CPS investigator the day Zachariah died. At that time, she admitted to using drugs and tested positive for benzodiazepines and methamphetamines, according to the warrant. A CPS official told police Swanietra tested positive for drugs again in early August, less than two weeks after Zachariah’s death.
Swanietra, however, was not immediately arrested in connection to her son’s death, though CPS records say she had an active arrest warrant for a parole violation when Zachariah was born.
As late as Oct. 2, Swanietra was still not in custody. That day, she agreed to a voluntary interview with detectives from the Fort Worth Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit. It was during this meeting that Swanietra admitted to using methamphetamines, the affidavit states. She told detectives she was the last person to see Zachariah alive when she fed him at around 6 or 7 a.m. the morning he died.
The following day, Oct. 3, the detectives received the autopsy and toxicology report that showed Zachariah had died from drug toxicity. The manner of death was listed as homicide.
When she was booked on the manslaughter charge in January, Swanietra was in Tarrant County Jail facing burglary and theft charges on which she was arrested in November. She remains in jail with a bond set at $75,000.
What Texas law says about CPS removing a child
Based on the records, at no time did CPS staff believe Zachariah was in imminent danger leading up to his death, and this is what Lisa can’t wrap her head around.
She said her home would have been a safe environment in contrast to where Zachariah was when he died, and Lisa believes Swanietra’s caseworker should have done more to forcibly remove Zachariah from his mother’s care.
But what does state law say?
According to the Texas Family Code, a court order is typically needed before the Department of Family and Protective Services, which CPS falls under, can place an endangered child in a temporary emergency conservatorship.
There must be proof the child is in danger, and the DFPS must show “reasonable efforts” were made to eliminate that danger.
However, the law allows DFPS to take possession of an endangered child without first going through the courts in cases where the child is in such danger that there’s no time to obtain a court order.
The DFPS website says the agency’s Child Protective Investigations arm “may have to remove your child from your home if there is a danger to your child and no other options are immediately available to ensure your child’s safety. CPI may get a court order before or after removing your child, depending on the situation.”
In the Texas Family Code, one of the conditions under which that is allowed is when “the parent or person who has possession of the child is currently using a controlled substance … and the use constitutes an immediate danger to the physical health or safety of the child.”
Citing confidentiality, a CPS spokesperson would not say whether the agency had pursued a court order to remove Zachariah from Swanietra’s care and place him in a conservatorship.
The DFPS website’s guide to Child Protective Investigations says the agency “tries to avoid” removing a child from his or her parent(s). The page then outlines the efforts CPS makes to keep families together, which include developing a safety plan and offering Family-Based Safety Services, both of which were done in Swanietra’s case.
Lisa is heartbroken over her grandson’s death, and she doesn’t understand why CPS let Swanietra take Zachariah home from the hospital in the first place, especially when there were family members willing to take him in.
Lisa is also angry — angry enough that she said she’s considering legal action against CPS. At the very least, she wants someone from the agency to acknowledge what happened and apologize.
“I’m not saying my daughter is not guilty,” Lisa said. “But she’s not the only one who is guilty... they need to be accountable for this.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 9:30 AM.