FRONTLINE: WHO KILLED ADAM MANN? (TV)

Summary

One in this series of documentaries. This documentary chronicles the brief, tragic life of Adam Mann, a New York child who was murdered by abusive parents and ignored by the Bureau of Child Welfare. Before Adam's birth, the Mann family had been featured on an earlier "Frontline" episode about New York's emergency children's services caseworkers. Previous footage, hospital records, and relatives' testimonies help to provide a clear pattern of extreme child abuse, but the evidence is challenged by the fervent denials of both the parents and some city workers. The program traces events leading to the death of Adam, the fourth of the Mann children. First, the Bureau of Child Welfare places Adam under protective custody after his birth. In order to gain guardianship of Adam and maintain rights to his siblings, their mother, Michele, checks into a rehabilitation program at the New York Foundling Hospital. Although she reportedly abuses Adam while in the program, Michele Mann regains custody of her four children. Rufus Chisolm, their father, rejoins them and soon both parents resume their pattern of abuse. A Foundling Hospital official subsequently recommends that the children be removed from the home, but city social workers botch the case, apparently due to incompetence and indifference. After Adam's murder and the sentencing of Michele Mann and Rufus Chisolm, the other Mann children grow violent and suicidal while residing in their foster homes. The Bureau of Child Welfare plans to reunite them with their mother when she is freed from prison. No commercials.

Details

• NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
• DATE: December 3, 1991 Tuesday 8:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:57:50
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:29600
• GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: Bureau of Child Welfare; Child abuse; Child welfare workers; New York Foundling Hospital; Social work
• SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1983-
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• David Fanning … Executive Producer
• Michael Sullivan … Senior Producer
• Martin Smith … Senior Producer
• Carole Langer … Producer, Director, Writer
• June Cross … Staff Producer
• Jim Gilmore … Staff Producer
• Mason Daring … Theme Music by
• Martin Brody … Theme Music by
• Joe Rosenbloom III … Reporter
• Robert Gearty … Reporter
• Rufus Chisolm
• Adam Mann
• Michele Mann