3 DEATHS IN 5 MONTHS

3 Deaths in 5 Months


Prompts CPS Review


http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/090904_cps_cases_under_s...

Updated: Friday, 04 Sep 2009, 9:45 PM CDT

Published : Friday, 04 Sep 2009, 2:13 PM CDT

SALLY MACDONALD

HOUSTON – The recent deaths of three Houston area children known to be at risk have prompted a serious review of Child Protective Services. CPS has been under intense scrutiny this summer.

Now, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services commissioner has sent a review team to Houston to investigate what could have been done differently to save the three children. Critics, though, aren’t convinced the team will do any good.

When Emma Thompson died in June, she had 80 bruises and trauma to her abdomen. CPS knew she also had genital herpes. In April, two month old Amber Maccurdy died of an untreated staph infection. CPS had visited her family less than four weeks earlier. Then on Monday David Tijerina was found with bruises and broken bones at his home in Montgomery County, which a caseworker randomly checked just six days before his death.

“With each child who dies from abuse and neglect, we try to learn from that. It’s a tragedy, but we try to learn what we could have done differently,” said Estella Olguin, spokeswoman for CPS.

For the next month the review team will examine a random sample of 200 open cases in response to the three deaths. There will also be interviews with staff members at all levels. Reviews of the agency are routinely done but Olguin says this one is different.

“It’s different in that the commissioner asked this to be done now in the Houston area so we can address this problem immediately and try to come up with solutions to help the staff,” said Olguin.

Critics have been pushing for changes within CPS for years.

“It’s the same old thing over again. I mean they’ve (CPS) done this before with similar results. Kids still continue to die,” said Bobby Parnell.

Parnell used to work for CPS. He’s now part of the non profit Justice for Children and one of CPS’s harshest critics.

“There needs to be systematic, sweeping changes that will allow law enforcement to take a bigger role in investigating child abuse,” said Parnell.

Olguin says two big changes are already taking place. Former police officers employed by CPS will be sent out with social workers on the most serious of cases to act as an extra set of eyes and ears with investigative skills. Plus, case workers will be given immediate access to a summary of a family’s history with CPS before initiating contact with them.

“The whole issue of child abuse is not a simple solution, and people want a simple solution to a very complex problem,” said Olguin.

The review will be completed in October. The information will be shared with the commissioner who will then pass it on to Governor Perry and other lawmakers.