The judge sent Bradley to the foster home of Pam and Jim Kirkland. They live in a roomy, cedar house, built in the shape of a barn. An upright grandfather clock stands in the living room. A basketball hoop hangs in the driveway. They had reared other foster children.

They quickly fell in love with blond, blue-eyed Bradley. He called them Mommy and Daddy.

Jim Kirkland, a high school shop teacher, said, "He was a clown. He loved to entertain people -- do somersaults and dance around on the tips of his toes like a ballet dancer. . . . He was happy, joyous, lovable and smart."

The little boy was eager to please. He'd run to get things the Kirklands asked for. He wept broken-heartedly when scolded even gently, Pam Kirkland said.

"When it was time to change him, he would run get the diaper, the powder, the wipes and bring it all to Mamma and lie down for her to change him," Jim Kirkland said.

On Sept. 20, 1988, after six months in foster care, a judge held a required hearing on the boy's case. No one had heard from the mother. She had never called HRS to find out about her son.

The caseworker told the judge parental rights should be severed and Bradley put up for adoption.

But the very next day, the mother telephoned HRS. She said she wanted Bradley back. She had married Tom Coe and they were already parents of a new baby girl.

HRS then had the couple sign a contract. It set out what they had to do to regain the boy. They began attending classes to learn about parenthood. And they started seeing Bradley for short visits every two weeks.

He was then about a year and a half old. HRS caseworker Barber monitored the visits: "Bradley has had a very tough time as he clings to his foster mother and cries loudly when she leaves the room."

In May 1989, Barber recommended to Judge Fulmer that the Coes get the boy back, with regular supervision from HRS. They had "substantially complied" with the contract, she said. Tom had a job; Sheryl was home, pregnant once again.

Barber did not tell the court that a child protection team recommended that Bradley not be returned home. The team, a group of medical and social work professionals, evaluates cases for the state. HRS spokesman Steve Konicki now calls Barber's omission "a major oversight."

The judge had other facts before her that raised questions. As a condition of Bradley's return, HRS required the Coes to get drug and alcohol abuse counseling. Sheryl's mother had been an alcoholic who died of cirrhosis of the liver.

But the Coes had angrily broken off with a drug and alcohol abuse agency. "The Coes are both in need of intensive mental health counseling. They have failed to satisfactorily complete their treatment recommendations," two counselors wrote. HRS gave the letter to Judge Fulmer.

Perhaps more troubling was a letter from the Kirklands, pleading with the judge not to give Sheryl Coe her son. They told Fulmer:

* Bradley was frantic upon return from visits with his mother. He went on crying jags. He panicked when his foster parents left the room.

* Bradley returned once from the Coes with suspicious abrasions on his fingers and a red swollen inner ear -- injuries observed by HRS caseworker Shirley DuBoise.

* The Coes' home was unclean. Pam Kirkland got lice there. Flies swarmed over garbage on the screened porch. Glass bottles containing moldy Coke stood on the edge of a table, within easy reach of a child.