At a meeting of the county’s Commission for Children and Families, the chiefs of both the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the Office of Child Protection (OCP) grew visibly and audibly frustrated with commissioners’ questions about the Cuatro case.
Michael Nash, who leads the OCP, had been invited to take questions regarding the report he wrote detailing DCFS’ actions in the case. That report, which was released after a delay on Sept. 11, essentially absolved DCFS of any wrongdoing, despite the fact that DCFS staff agreed to ignore a court order to remove the boy from his parents’ custody less than two months before he died.
Commissioner Wendy Garen asked Nash whether he had conducted outside interviews or relied entirely on documentation provided by DCFS and the juvenile court to conduct his report. Nash answered that because he had reviewed “thousands of pages” of documents, he “didn’t deem it necessary” to conduct other interviews.
“To me there is a closeness of ‘we are the county’ looking at the county,” Garen said. “And without spending the additional work to do direct observation and interviews, I am uncomfortable relying on the opinion.”
To which Nash replied:
That’s your prerogative at this point. But quite frankly I resent what you just said. OK. The fact that I represent, that I work for the county, does not mean that I cannot provide an objective perspective on what’s out there. In fact, I was hired specifically because of my experience, and the fact that I can provide an objective perspective. So in effect you have accused me of just the opposite. And I don’t appreciate that.”
“I am not impugning you,” Garen said. “But I am saying that the underlying work to this product to me isn’t enough. Given the scrutiny, and the outside level of scrutiny. This won’t make it go away.“
Later in the meeting, DCFS Director Bobby Cagle, who regularly attends commission meetings, interjected to protest the tenor of the commissioners’ questions.
“The thing that strikes me here, and know that I have spent 31 years doing this work. I come at this because I have a personal reason for doing this work. I could have found easier jobs,” Cagle said.
“And it strikes me, though, because people are so concerned about the death of a child, and Lord knows I am, there is no satisfaction for anyone unless there is a pound of flesh to be had on the part of somebody in the department.”
To which, Commission Chair Wendy Smith said:
“From my point of view it’s not about a pound of flesh, it’s about what can we learn to help us prevent this from happening. It’s really not about assigning blame. It’s about understanding how, with the best intentions of everyone in the situation – which I assume – things can wrong.”
“They can,” Cagle responded. “And the fact here is that these are very complex cases. These families have very complex lives before any of us ever became involved in their lives.
“But the questioning here is along the lines of what didn’t you ask that you should have asked in order to be able to get to who is responsible for this. And the fact of the matter is we have a set of recommendations, we have a very thorough report here that we will act on. But that does not seem to be enough.”
On July 5, Noah’s parents called 911 claiming that their son had drowned in their Palmdale apartment complex pool. At a July 9, press conference Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that when deputies arrived on the scene they saw “what looked like a trauma on the body inconsistent with what the explanation was for the cause of death,” spurring his department to launch a homicide investigation. Noah died on July 6.
The Sheriff’s investigation is ongoing.
This article was republished with permission from The Chronicle of Social Change.
Previous related stories:
Report clears DCFS of wrongdoing in suspicious death of 4-year-old Palmdale boy
Relative files damages claim over death of 4-year-old Palmdale boy
Funeral held for 4-year-old Palmdale boy at center of abuse probe
LA County board says shortage of Antelope Valley social workers amounts to crisis
Authorities ordered Palmdale child removed from home weeks before death
Investigation launched into 4-year-old Palmdale boy’s death
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Joe smith says
I am telling you CPS is a total joke, lived the nightmare!!! Adopted my gran niece what a fight I had to put up to get her out of foster care. CPS are not trained, human trafficking to the max. They are all idiots! Something needs to be done NOW! I could right a book on this absolutely bunch of idiots. Does not matter which state. They don’t care about the kids! Hope someone sues their pants off and puts the whole bunch in jail. To all stupid politicians, stop your childish behavior arguing over who wears a MAGA hat and start doing something productive like take care of the children. Heck you idiots can’t even pick up poop on the streets!!!!
Mark says
Wow, another child abuse/death here in the good old Antelope Valley,, how unusual.
Susie Hills says
A Warrant for removal is not a court order to remove a child.
Popgoestheweasel says
@Susie Hills
Perhaps you didn’t read the July 12 article in the avtimes…its very first sentence clearly states that the court issued the order for removal two months prior to Noah’s death. So don’t come here trying to muddle the facts. The court issued the order persuant to the csw filing a warrant with the court. And no, they’re not the same thing.
David G says
Let me break it down to you all…..what you have…what you always have is a cover your ass situation. No Govt employee will ever accept personal responsibility..it is not in the culture….cover up…misrepresent….blow smoke…this is every day stuff. The end result will be everyone gets a pay raise and promotions…yes that is the way it works.
The Mad Hatter says
It is one county agency excusing another county agency. Merely reading documentation provided by dcfs is grossly insufficient and reeks of a cover up. Here’s why: In another case ( Dr. Susan sues dcfs for $750 million) two social workers admitted to falsifying documentation. I don’t think anyone can trust any documentation prepared by dcfs due to the prevalence of lies and the seriousness of the culture of megalomania within the agency. Time to get the State Attorney General and the FBI involved. This is akin to Lee Baca investigating the LASD.
SandraB says
These families have very complex lives. No they don’t. The Country dropped the ball. Once again.
john stern says
Or move to a country where there is no DCFS to blame every time some Ahole abuses a child. Oh wait that would be most countries. I guess in those places they just blame the people who do the crimes instead of some understaffed agency.
Investigators says
He Johnny, wake the f up and smell the coffee and the flowers on that little boy’s grave. As soon as dcfs injected itself into the life of that child, they took on the grave responsibility to protect and ensure his safety. There’s no shirking that duty.
Your feeble attempt to place blame elsewhere was rather banal.
Controversy says
DCFS Director Bobby Cagle should resign.