Two Tyler children have died in less than a month, and court records reveal that both families were subjects of Child Protective Services investigations detailing neglect - and in one case a threat to kill the child.
Court records obtained by the Tyler Morning Telegraph Thursday indicate the Texas Department of Family Health CPS case workers were aware of threats made by Catherine Stevens toward her son, William, and also had documented abuse at the home of Jose Luis Aguilar
William Stevens
Mrs. Stevens remains in the Smith County Jail on a $1 million bond for allegedly strangling 2-year-old William to death earlier this month.
THREATS AND MENTAL ILLNESS
A court document filed by a Tyler CPS investigator in May 2006 said the agency went to investigate allegations of abuse of William at the hands of Mrs. Stevens.
When the investigator arrived at the home on Memory Lane in Tyler, she discovered Mrs. Stevens was in the Rusk State Hospital for treatment for "depression with psychosis."
According to the document, "The report alleges that Mrs. Stevens was scheduled for release on May 19, 2006, but she made threats that if she was to return home, William would drown, suffocate or something else. The report states that Mr. Stevens has visited the hospital trying to get his wife released, because he doesn't want to take care of the baby himself."
CPS officials said the report was not substantiated.
"The comments reported came from an anonymous tip and could not be confirmed," Shari Pulliam, CPS public information officer, told the newspaper in an interview Thursday night.
The document further stated that the case worker was verbally abused by Mickey Stevens, the child's father, who told the investigator he worked for the agency until 1997 and was familiar with CPS procedures and would not be bullied.
Mickey Steves
"Throughout my contacts with Mr. Stevens, I observed him shaking. It appeared as if he was shaking from anger and had difficulty controlling his impulses due to his passive aggressive behavior ordering me out of the home, then allowing me to return," the document states.
Stevens remains in the Smith County Jail after allegedly assaulting a public servant in the district attorney's office earlier this week.
When asked to enter into a Safety Plan with the agency concerning his child's safety, Stevens replied, "I am the father, I will make sure he is safe. There is your safety plan."
However, the documents filed in the 321st District Court in 2006 included a petition to the court in aid of investigation. The request from CPS stated the agency was afraid William would be removed from the state before the conclusion of any investigation.
But the investigation was suddenly halted.
Ms. Pulliam said mental health professionals later told CPS that Mrs. Stevens was not a danger to herself or her child and the investigation was concluded.
Catherine Stevens
"We had no further contact with the family and the case was closed 14 months ago because there was family support both inside and outside of the home," she said. "At the case closure the mother was not to have unsupervised contact with the child."
William was found dead, with Mrs. Stevens hovering over his body earlier this month. She told authorities she strangled her son.
BROKEN PACT WITH CPS
A fatal car crash on West Gentry Parkway the night of July 20 claimed the life of Jose Aguilar and sent his step-father to jail only hours after a CPS investigator visited the family's home.
CPS and court records indicate that the agency had been dealing with Jaime Patrescio and Bobbie Aguilar, Jose's mother, for several years and the couple had entered into a safety plan with the agency to keep the children from being put into foster care.
Jamie Oscar Patrescio
The reports of abuse and neglect stated that Jose was found wandering blocks away from his home in March of this year and that the children had been placed with family members with the parents having no unsupervised visitation and no visits if the parents were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The documents also state Tyler Police officers found Jose blocks away from his home in 2006 and that a CPS investigator heard Ms. Aguilar slap the child. The investigator also learned the family was going between the homes of family members and a local motel.
In November 2006 CPS received unconfirmed reports that Ms. Aguilar was abusing methamphetamines.
Documents dating back to 2004 indicate the agency investigated claims of Bobbie Aguilar shaking the baby and injuring him, but the report was ruled out.
Ms. Pulliam said Aguilar's parents broke the pact with her agency which resulted in Jose's death.
She added that the family was active in many of the agency's services and were being supervised with daily visits.
"The family was seen that day and a removal was not initiated in this case due to the many immediate and extensive family members who were willing to provide supervision and care to this child," she said.
But Patrescio allegedly put Jose in the front seat of his vehicle and then ran a stop sign and was struck by another vehicle.
"Anytime a child dies it is tragic, and I can see where the community would be outraged at these two deaths, but we rely on the family being truthful and the community calling us when they see anything that indicates abuse," Ms. Pulliam said. "We need new safeguards."
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN
Concern and thoughts of how to better protect children spurred State District Judge Carole Clark to hold a meeting Thursday to address the inadequacies of the system.
"When I read the two reports on these children I was very concerned and thought, what can I do and what can our community do to better protect our children?" she said.
Her answer was to call a meeting with representatives from the district attorney's office, judges, attorneys, CPS investigators and other agencies to find a solution.
"We needed to get everyone together to learn what we could do to help this problem and we came up with one solution," she said.
Ms. Pulliam agreed new policies are needed and that the stress of the job often takes a toll on caseworkers leaving the agency with a shortage of investigators.
"Removing children from the home is always a last resort," she said. "The law requires that CPS has made reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need to remove the child from the home."
The results of Thursday's meeting brought the court into a new role when dealing with CPS cases. She said a more open line of communication between all involved agencies is needed.
New procedures were enacted to safeguard children who are 3 years old and younger and whose parents are drug addicts.
"There will now be court ordered protection where the children will be immediately housed with family members or in the worst cases placed into a foster care situation if there is no safe family member," Judge Clark said.
The judge said dealing with parents suffering from mental illnesses was a more complex issue that needed additional study before the problem could be solved.
"Mental health issues are a lot more complicated and we are trying to put our heads together to come up with ideas. We just do not have the mental health resources that we need at our disposal," she said.
Judge Clark was pleased with the meeting Thursday and said she felt confident children would be the beneficiaries of collaboration.
"Will we protect 100 percent of the children? No, because things will happen, but at least we can build-in all the safeguards we can put in place," she said.
Posts
