A FOSTER mum who was accused of trading a teen girl for a monkey has avoided jail time.

Brenda Deutsch, 70, pleaded guilty to child endangerment and had allegedly once threatened to kill her foster daughter “if she did not shut up”.

Brenda Deutsch, 70, pleaded guilty to child endangerment after allegedly swapping a child for a monkey

Brenda pictured with another monkey – a witness said she owned at least seven

The foster carer was sentenced to seven years in prison for child endangerment, but given a suspended sentence

She was accused of sending a child to Texas to swap her with a monkey

The foster carer was sentenced to seven years in prison for child endangerment, but given a suspended sentence and placed on three years of probation, FOX 2 News reported.

If Deutsch follows the rules of her probation, she will remain free.

She was accused of shipping a young girl, now 17, in her care to Texas in exchange for a friend’s monkey.

After the teen’s Missouri school noticed a string of unexplained absences in 2025, police tracked her down to where she had been staying in Texas.

The new carer allegedly claimed she kept the child because she and her foster mum “weren’t getting along”.

Deutsch admitted in court that she knew nothing about the Texas home where she had sent the child.

A witness told cops it was unsanitary and full of exotic animals.

Investigators were later told the girl had been swapped for a monkey.

Deutsch admitted in court that she knew nothing about the Texas home where she had sent the child

She had reportedly fostered more than 200 kids in total

A prosecutor told NBC: “It was described to me early on that the defendant became frustrated with this individual child and asked her friend in Texas if she would just take the child and keep her.

“And at that point I think is when she says, ‘You know, why don’t you send a monkey and you can just keep the child?’”

The friend later told police she no longer wanted the responsibility, but said Deutsch refused to pay for a return flight for the girl.

She was eventually returned to Missouri, where she alleged she was beaten with wood, shoes and a paddle by Deutsch.

Lincoln County Judge Thomas Frawley slammed Deutsch as “reprehensible” and said the system had failed her victims.

The judge revoked her foster care licence, condemning the state of Missouri for not doing so sooner.

She had reportedly fostered more than 200 kids in total.

Deutsch’s biological daughter Brina Johnson, who testified about the alleged abuse, said: “This shouldn’t have happened.

“None of it should. And the system did fail us, failed them all.”

She added: “This is not the end we wished for.”

Brina claimed: “That’s what she did; she had at least seven monkeys.

“That’s just her thing. But she wasn’t any nicer to those monkeys than she was to a child.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/16959673/foster-mum-traded-teen-monkey/