A mother who knowingly allowed a convicted child abuser to live in her home before her baby’s alleged murder has blamed social services for permitting him to be around the child.

Jessica Petty spoke out after her four-month-old daughter, Neveah, died at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday.

Doctors told detectives that the infant had suffered fatal head trauma and retinal hemorrhaging consistent with abuse and shaking.

Petty’s partner, Bobby Randall Conner, whom she knew had been convicted of child abuse in 2020, has now been charged with Neveah’s murder.

But Petty suggested social workers were to blame for the baby’s killing in an interview with NewsChannel5. 

Petty told the outlet: “I didn’t do anything to my daughter. I was okayed by DCS [Department of Children’s Services] to leave her with him.”

“If anything, DCS should be the one answering why they would allow him to be around my kid.”

Conner, who was also convicted of child neglect in August, allegedly said he left Neveah on a bed while he used the bathroom. When he returned, he claimed, she was unresponsive.

Asked whether she understood the risk of leaving her daughter in her boyfriend’s care, Petty responded: “No comment.”

Neveah’s biological father, Eddie Wagner, told the outlet: “It is my first daughter, and to put my first daughter through all this, I am hurt.”

Wagner said he had urged Petty not to leave their daughter with Conner, but she ignored his warnings.

He added: “I wanted [Jessica] to realize that this was not okay. She’s stubborn and she don’t really listen to other people.”

Wagner contacted the DCS, which sent officials to the home and found the child unharmed.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Children’s Choir Delights Melania Trump and China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan

Although Petty’s claim that DCS approved leaving Neveah with Conner has drawn outrage, state law does appear to support that aspect of her account.

DCS officials would only have been authorized to remove Neveah from a home where Conner lived if he had previously been convicted of sexual abuse.

According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Conner was arrested at a motel on Wednesday.

Conner initially faced a charge of aggravated abuse, but prosecutors upgraded the case to murder. He remains jailed on a $500,000 bond and has not entered a plea.

A GoFundMe has since been launched to help cover funeral costs for the little girl, with excess funds going to support Wagner. 

A post to the fundraiser said: ‘Precious baby girl Nevaeh Faith Wagner entered into the presence of the Lord on Wednesday, September 23, 2026 after being unalived by her mother’s boyfriend, who was a repeat child abuse offender. 

‘Please help us raise the funds needed to give Nevaeh a proper burial, as well as an honorable memorial service. 

‘Any additional funds received will go directly to assist the father to recoup funds during his time of bereavement.’

In a statement to the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for the DCS said they were unable to comment on specific cases due to state and federal laws. 

A statement added: ‘In general, DCS responds to allegations of child abuse or neglect. 

‘A person’s criminal history, by itself, does not necessarily provide DCS with grounds to open an investigation or prohibit a parent from allowing that individual to have contact with their child. 

‘Parents generally retain the authority to make decisions about who is around their children, subject to any applicable court orders or other legal restrictions.’

Pope Leo XIV cautioned on Friday that humanity must not be sacrificed in a “paradise of machines” as thousands of people gathered to greet him during his visit to France.

“If we are to preserve our humanity in the face of a paradise of machines that increasingly enter and shape our daily lives, we urgently need education that teaches ethical judgment,” Leo said.

During the first official papal visit to France in 18 years, the pontiff also argued that the country’s firmly secular identity should not mean pushing religion out of public life. France has maintained a formal separation between church and state since 1905.

“Authentic secularity” does not mean excluding faith from public institutions or education, he said. Instead, it should encourage the state and religious organizations to engage in dialogue and work together for the common good, according to the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

In recent years, French politicians have cited the nation’s secular model when defending restrictions on religious symbols, including Muslim women’s clothing in schools and other public settings.

The papal visit comes just seven months before France begins the first round of its presidential election to succeed Emmanuel Macron. The anti-immigration far right sees the contest as a major opportunity to take power.

The first US-born pope also raised concerns about developments that could turn science and technology into profit-focused industries, citing genetic modification, surrogacy, the sale of human organs and the prospect of allowing people to arrange their own deaths. His remarks followed France’s June legislation giving some terminally ill adults access to assisted dying.

Leo, whose paternal grandmother was born in France, called on the country to remain a “tireless champion of peace” around the world as Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine continues into its fifth year.

Macron and Brigitte Macron greeted the 71-year-old pontiff at the airport, where a red carpet was laid across the tarmac. The trip is the Vatican leader’s first official visit to France since Pope Benedict XVI traveled there in September 2008.

Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane, Leo said he was traveling to France, as he does elsewhere, as a follower of Jesus Christ determined to spread “the peace of Christ throughout the world.”

He described that message as especially significant in the current international climate.

ALSO READ: Yakuza boss who was sentenced to death has his execution overturned – NewsFinale

Organizers expect as many as one million people to attend events in Paris during the opening two days of the visit.

The centerpiece of the apostolic journey will come on Saturday, when the pope leads a large outdoor Mass at Place de la Concorde and along the adjoining Champs-Élysées.

Leo is also scheduled to travel to Lourdes, one of the world’s best-known Christian pilgrimage destinations, where he will meet privately with survivors of clerical sexual abuse. In Metz, near the German border, he is expected to continue his calls for peace in Europe.

“The pope’s visit gives me a feeling of peace in a troubled world,” said Andrée Estienne, 76, who was eagerly awaiting the Mass on the Champs-Élysées.

“I don’t believe I will ever see anything on this scale again in my lifetime,” she added.

Later on Friday, Leo was due to greet crowds during a 2.5-kilometre (1.5-mile) journey in the popemobile to Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris. He will be the first pope to view the landmark’s restoration work since the devastating fire in 2019.

His predecessor Pope Francis – who visited France three times, but never officially – did not attend the Gothic masterpiece’s reopening in late 2024, when then president-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk were among the guests.

Carmen Quintana, a 71-year-old Peruvian, said she would be among the crowd.

‘We’re very happy to be able to be near him,’ she said of the pontiff, who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru and also holds Peruvian nationality.

Last on his agenda for the day will be a mass prayer and hymns with 80,000 young believers aged 17 to 35 in a stadium in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

A relic, believed to be the tunic Jesus wore during the Passion, will have been transported out of the nearby Saint-Denis Cathedral to the stadium for the occasion.

Only around five percent of France’s 69 million residents go to Catholic church regularly, a survey last year found.

But while the number of infant christenings has dwindled in recent years, teenage and adult baptisms are on the rise, with thousands choosing to embrace the faith.

Australia Post executives have been accused of deliberately undermining post offices and making them financially unviable as part of a wider plan to reduce the retail network and move the organisation towards a FedEx-style model.

A Senate inquiry heard allegations that corporate policies were effectively “running post offices into the ground” by reducing customer traffic, eroding profits and diminishing the value of small businesses.

The investigation, led by Senator Sarah Henderson, accused Australia Post of using “unethical” and “improper tactics” as part of what she described as an “insidious” push to close stores.

Chief Executive Paul Graham appeared before the inquiry earlier this month after being accused of misleading a budget estimates hearing in May.

Mr Graham, whose $3.3 million salary package makes him the Commonwealth’s highest-paid chief executive or government official, told budget estimates that no active closure program was under way. However, a leaked, board-approved business case emerged two weeks later outlining plans to buy back 36 stores.

The confidential document detailed a proposal known as “Licensed Post Office Reimagined”, which would convert post offices into parcel lockers and shift key services to “host businesses”, including pharmacies and newsagents.

Mr Graham described the proposal as “embryonic” and strongly rejected claims that he had misled the budget estimates hearing.

Senator Henderson also alleged that Mr Graham launched a “shocking spate of threats” against post office owners after the leak. The inquiry heard she believed those actions brought him “perilously close” to being held in contempt of parliament.

Mr Graham denied that anyone had received legal threats, saying Australia Post was instead conducting due diligence into the alleged misuse of sensitive information.

Licensees who spoke anonymously told the Daily Mail that Australia Post engaged law firm Mallesons within 48 hours of the leak to identify the whistleblower.

One source said several employees received legal letters because, despite the document being confidential, it could be accessed by anyone with entry to Australia Post’s internal systems.

Senator Henderson also accused Australia Post of using a “classic bait and switch” to persuade Licensed Post Office owners to move from perpetual agreements to fixed-term contracts.

Unlike conventional franchise arrangements, which generally run for fixed periods and must be renewed every five or 10 years, LPOs operate under perpetual agreements with no specified end date. That arrangement makes them valuable, continuing business assets.

In June, licensees in rural and regional areas were told they would need to sign fixed-term agreements and surrender the certainty supporting much of their businesses’ value in exchange for higher short-term commissions and improved pay.

The proposed change would substantially alter the balance of power, potentially reducing the value of individual businesses, leaving licensees with assets they could not sell and exposing them to negative equity.

The consequences could be particularly severe for the two-thirds of licensees who, according to Australia Post, hope to sell their businesses and retire within the next five years.

One licensee said she would be put in ‘an extremely vulnerable position’, with the stability and confidence of a perpetual licence being taken away.

‘It is difficult to plan for the future when the foundation of our business can be altered or taken away at the end of a term,’ her submission said.

However, an Australia Post spokesperson said its current modelling suggested that 70 per cent of eligible licensees would be financially better off under the arrangement, which was ‘entirely voluntary’.

Sources told the Mail that all signs point to Australia Post’s ‘widely known vision’ to become a parcel-focused carrier rather than a community-facing hub.

In doing so, post offices are no longer being seen as critical pieces of community infrastructure, but as a network of corporate franchises.

This theory is strengthened by the professional backgrounds of many current executives, including Executive General Manager Josh Bannister, who has previously worked at McDonald’s and Domino’s.

Mr Bannister, who also appeared before the Senate, helped author the leaked business case and was ‘intimately involved’ in the LPO Reimagined proposal.

Another strategy raised at the inquiry was that Australia Post was intentionally causing services to withdraw from its stores to decrease foot traffic and make them less profitable.

In the past 12 months, more than 60 services have disappeared from post offices, the Senate heard, the latest being Western Union, which will withdraw its wire transfers from October.

A licensee told the Mail that the withdrawn services were ’60 less reasons for somebody to walk into my post office, 60 less things that bring my business value’.

‘Their [Australia Post’s] view is anything that doesn’t help us become a parcel carrier is unnecessary.

‘If they want to turn us into a logistics company they can at least be honest about it and make us a fair offer instead of driving us into the ground.’

An Australia Post spokesperson said the ‘vast majority’ of services withdrawn reflected decisions made by ‘third parties and government services moving to digital channels or choosing not to renew their contracts’.

They also said they were investigating additional over-the-counter services, and had expanded the available banking services with licensees receiving a 30 per cent commission increase. 

Aggressive management, compliance demands and disciplinary action have also reportedly intensified in recent years.

A source said leadership was ‘handing out breaches left, right and centre’.

‘They are very aggressive and they are in control of all the livelihoods of their franchisees,’ the source said.

The peak body for licensees, the Licensed Post Office Group, argued the rules are so broad that licensees ‘cannot reasonably understand their own obligations’.

LPOG also said there was a double standard in how licensees and management received consequences.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman for Small Business wrote that Australia Post’s dispute-handling processes should ‘afford natural justice’ and ‘proportionate outcomes’.

Parcel lockers placed outside LPOs – without consultation or warning – are also cited as eating away at commissions earned over the counter from handling and processing packages.

LPOG chair Scott Etherington told the inquiry that loading and unloading the parcel lockers involved double the work of processing parcels over the counter, yet paid only half the commission.

However, Australia Post insists the parcel lockers are ‘designed to complement not replace’ post offices, with parcels accounting for the majority of post office transactions.

In a statement, the spokesperson said Australia Post was committed to its extensive post office network: ‘We reject any suggestion Australia Post is seeking to run down or close its retail network.

‘Australia Post has strict regulations to maintain a minimum of 4,000 retail outlets nationally, with 2,500 in non-metro areas and LPOs remain central to how we serve customers and communities.’

‘Consultation on the proposed Licensed Post Office Reimagined (LPOR) model remains ongoing and no final decisions have been made.

‘The proposal is entirely voluntary, and licensees who choose not to participate will remain on their existing agreements.’

The Senate inquiry will reconvene for a third hearing on September 30.