The recent deaths of four children who had contact with the state child welfare agency has raised questions over the agency’s practice of leaving abused and neglected children in their homes rather than putting them into foster care.
None of the four children were in the state child welfare system when they died; however, all of them or their families had prior contact with the state Division of Family and Children Services, the agency that investigates child abuse and neglect.
Concern was raised against two of the children’s households, but the agency determined that the children were not in sufficient danger to remove them. Instead, the children were left in their homes, a practice called diversion. The agency often offers family assistance in diversion cases.
A 6-month-old boy who died in Chatham County was twice involved with diversion, in November and January, DFCS Director Rachelle Carnesale said. The child was a premature baby and the agency was called in on two occasions because of concerns the parents wouldn’t follow the child’s medical plan. The child died on Jan. 27. DFCS is awaiting autopsy results on the cause of death.
Carnesale said the agency will determine if it did anything wrong in the four cases. However, she said that four deaths in three weeks is statistically significant.
“Some of these children were killed by caregivers, and we need to see if DFCS is a significant variable in the outcomes,” Carnesale said. “And we need to see how to adapt our policies to make better outcomes.”
Carnesale said the practice of diversion was already under scrutiny, and the deaths will heighten that scrutiny. The practice has been controversial among child welfare advocates, and was the subject of a critical report by the state Child Advocate’s Office in 2009. That report said some state caseworkers did not adequately investigate complaints of child abuse and neglect, and left children in dangerous households.
“Obviously in these instances, we failed these children with diversion,” said Normer Adams, executive director of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children.
The practice of diversion was instituted six years ago to restore a Georgia child welfare system that was overwhelmed, having placed 14,000 children into foster care. Critics said the agency was too quick to remove children from their homes, a practice that can be traumatic for a child. Diversion was credited with lowering the number of children in foster care, and proponents said the practice didn’t put the children at risk.
“Our expectation is that staff and supervisors will work diligently and consistently on all investigations until they are completed,” said former DFCS Director Mark Washington in 2009. “We have already seen the benefits of this practice.”
Clyde Reese, the newly appointed state human services commissioner whose agency oversees DFCS, recently told a state Legislature committee that he would take a concentrated look at the practice.
Meanwhile, the State Child Advocate Office, several state lawmakers and a child welfare watchdog group are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these four children, all under 5.
The state House Children and Youth Committee will discuss the children’s deaths on Tuesday. State Child Advocate Tonya Boga, also a new appointment under Gov. Nathan Deal, said her office will also investigate the deaths.
DFCS often investigates cases of alleged abuse and neglect and leaves a child with parents, overseen by numerous visits from a state caseworker. Diversion is different in that often no formal investigation is done after an initial assessment. The family is offered services, but in many cases does not have to accept them.
DFCS declined to identify the four children who recently died but offered details of their deaths and history with the agency.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has determined that one child whose case was diverted was Justin Walker, 3, of Hogansville in Troup County. He died on Jan. 28. Police have arrested the mother’s roommate, Lakeivius Rosser of Hogansville, and charged her with child cruelty and murder. Rosser was watching the boy while the mother was out, said GBI spokesman John Bankhead. The child died of a physical assault and the GBI has ruled the death a homicide. DFCS was called in 2009 as the boy’s parents were splitting up, Carnesale said.
The other two children who died did not involve diversion. A Rabun County boy, 2, was the sibling of another child under the watch of the agency. When DFCS came to the home to remove the children into state foster care, the boy died when his mother fled in a car and crashed the vehicle.
Another 5-week-old boy in Coweta County was the child of teenage parents. The agency was called in over concerns the parents wouldn’t follow a medical plan for the child, who was placed with relatives, with the parents permitted to live in the same residence. That boy died from homicide, but Carnesale did not have more details.
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