From foster care to a Food Network family, how did an adopted 3-year-old SC girl die?

After winning the Food Network television show “Worst Cooks in America” last August, Ariel Robinson turned to forging a career as a comedian.

The former middle school teacher posted frequently on social media about her life, her friends, and often featured amusing interactions with Victoria, a 3-year-old she and her husband, Austin, adopted last year.

Now, Victoria is dead, and Ariel and Austin Robinson are charged with homicide by child abuse, held under no bond in the Greenville County Detention Center.

Deputy Coroner Kent Dill said he could not give much information on Victoria’s death because it is early in the investigation, but an autopsy showed she died from blunt-force trauma. That means either she was hit by someone or with something. He would not say which.

He also would not say whether investigators are looking into a pattern of abuse.

But amateur online investigators wasted no time last week scrolling through Ariel Robinson’s photos on social media, pointing out what could have been bruises and scrapes on Victoria’s neck and arms. Also raising questions were posts she made on a Facebook memorial page dedicated to dead Black children and a video of her stand-up routine in which she joked about hitting her sons in the throat.

Yet other social media posts from the Robinsons show upbeat YouTube videos about marriage and life, Ariel’s Monday motivational talks and her deep religious faith on Facebook and Twitter. Her online persona is a woman on a mission to find humor in everything.

Adopted into a family

Victoria was taken into child protective custody when she was several months old, said Michelle Urps, who was given permission to talk to the media by the child’s biological family. Urps is a longtime friend of Victoria’s mother’s aunt and lived with the family as a teenager,

Urps said Victoria’s two older brothers, both then preschool age, were taken as well after a neighbor saw them outside playing when the mother was asleep inside. The neighbors said they had seen other disturbing situations before, Urps said.

The boys were sent to one foster home and Victoria to another. They all spent time over the past three years in several foster homes, but the biological family had twice monthly visits with the children, Urps said.

“These children were loved,” Urps said.

Aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents would show up. They’d bring gifts and cupcakes and make it special. Urps said a favorite story was about Victoria picking up the last cupcake and when someone teased, “Hey, I wanted that,” she quickly licked the top and smiled. “Whoops,” she said, and smiled.

“She was a princess, smart, sassy, sweet and beautiful,” Urps said.

A spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Social Services said only that they are aware of Victoria’s case and are investigating. By law, the agency cannot release any information about specific cases.

But family members and foster families said Victoria’s mother was given specific goals to reach before she could get her children back. At some point, Victoria, then a few months old, had tested positive for marijuana, Urps said.

“Reunification is always the goal,” said Tiffany Huggins, who was Victoria’s foster mother before the child went to the Robinsons.

Victoria’s biological mother did not meet the goals set by DSS, and her parental rights were terminated, Urps said. That freed the three children for adoption.

Huggins said she and her husband wanted to adopt Victoria, who they called Tori, but were told DSS wanted to keep the children together.

“That child lit up the room,” she said. “There is no telling what she could have done with her life.”

The biological family last saw the children in February 2020. They were told the children would be going to an adoptive family who would love and care for them. They did not meet the adoptive family. When they asked if they could continue to have visitation with the children they were told no, the family wanted time to bond with one another.

Huggins said she met the Robinsons and liked Austin but did not care for some of the things Ariel Robinson said to the children. In March, Victoria and her two brothers went to live with 29-year-old Ariel and 34-year-old Austin and their two older sons.

Ariel on Food Network

No one from Food Network returned a call about when Robinson’s appearance on the competition show “Worst Cooks in America” was filmed, so it’s hard to know how it fits in with the timeline. Robinson started posting about the show on social media last summer, showing photos of her in New York City and on set.

Known on the show as Ari, she had a big persona, happy and loud and talking about her stomach, which she named “Shirley.”

“Do you talk to your stomach, like, ‘Hey’?” joked Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, one of the hosts of “Worst Cooks.”

Robinson responded, “You know, she talks to me. I’m like, ‘I’m going to get a salad today.’ And she says, ‘No, we want a cheeseburger today.’ Shirley gets what she wants.”

Chef Anne Burrell, the other show host, jokingly upbraided Robinson for cooking funky-looking burned hot dogs.

Robinson talked on the show about adopting three children and how the prize money would come in handy.

Since the Robinsons were arrested, Food Network has removed Season 20 of “Worst Cooks” from its streaming services.

Robinson, whose Facebook page has been taken down since her arrest, posted a video of her family watching the show when she was announced as the winner in August.

Her Facebook page was full of family photos, especially of the intricate hair designs she did for Victoria, neatly separated rows of tight braids, topped with a large bow. She posted several times a day on Twitter, family photos as well as a rash of political commentary and videos of her talking to the camera about racism.

“I live by two things,” she said in one video. “Love God and love others.”

She also kept a personal Instagram page and one from the two years she spent as a middle school teacher in Greenville and Laurens counties. Last week, the state Department of Education suspended her teaching certificate until the court case is resolved.

She and her husband adopted the slogan “Clean Comedy Matters.” He worked as a driver for various delivery services, according to his Facebook page.

They videotaped a present giveaway at Christmas, Austin’s birthday in a restaurant, a family trip to see holiday lights at Hollywild, and a conversation about how messy Victoria’s hair was when she woke up one morning. “You can fix it, Mommy,” the child said.

Their public life was lived out loud through social media.

The day Victoria died

At 8:01 on the morning of Jan. 14, the day Victoria died, Ariel Robinson posted this on her social media platforms: “If it didn’t break you, it can’t dictate you.”

Almost seven hours later, a call came into 911 at 2:45 p.m. saying a child in the sprawling middle-income Westwood neighborhood in Simpsonville was unresponsive. Paramedics raced Victoria to Greenville Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Robinsons were arrested five days later, last Tuesday, by Simpsonville Police and the State Law Enforcement Division. SLED, by law, investigates all cases involving child abuse.

There are many questions about the death that cannot be answered publicly yet: Who was in the home when emergency responders arrived? What was Victoria’s condition? What did the parents say happened?

Some people are wondering why Ariel Robinson asked the owner of a Facebook page titled Black Kids Haven, which posts about children who die without a lot of media attention, whether her white child could be added. The post has circulated on several other Facebook pages, but the date of the post was not included.

No, came the answer along with a question: What are you asking for? “You can’t pre-enter your child.”

When contacted by a reporter, the owner of the page responded in an automated response on Facebook, asking to be left alone.

In a stand-up routine Robinson posted on her personal website, she talked about the day a social worker came for a home visit before the adoption of Victoria and her siblings. Her two biological children were wrestling upstairs, she said, and she instinctively yelled for them to be quiet or she would punch them in the throat.

“We were approved,” she said. Then the punchline: Anyone can adopt in South Carolina.

Family friend Urps said she and Victoria’s biological family believe DSS did not do its due diligence in protecting the little girl.

DSS did not give specific information about Victoria’s brothers or the other two children in the Robinson home after the parents’ arrest, saying only they would take “appropriate action” after weighing safety and risk.

DSS has long faced criticism for failing to adequately protect vulnerable children, including failing to ensure proper medical care. Heavy caseloads have long been reported for social workers. The agency remains under federal court supervision as it works its way out of several lawsuits. A new director who had worked on the aftermath of lawsuits in Tennessee was hired in South Carolina in 2019.

As of Friday, about 4,000 children were in foster care in the state. Last year, about 1,500 children were reunified with their parents.

Urps and Victoria’s former foster mother Huggins said they are upset that they have been told they will not know about or be able to attend whatever funeral is planned for the child. They said they were told they have no right to know.

“The people that love her need closure,” Huggins said. “Why the secrecy? It’s kind of cruel.”

This story has been updated to include information about Ariel Robinson’s teaching certificate being suspended and Food Network removing her show from the Internet.

This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 11:12 AM.