County social services in NY botch many child death investigations, system failing kids, audit says

Syracuse, N.Y. — County social services agencies botched investigations into child abuse in nearly half of the child fatalities in New York state over a three-year period, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

The audit, by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, said the state could do more to hold counties accountable for weak investigations into child abuse and that the system is failing children statewide.

The audit shows investigators across the state failed to reach out to required people involved in cases, review prior child abuse calls involving a family, engage with other children involved, review the home environment and adequately assess a family’s needs.

Problems noted by the state audit are prevalent in recent Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard investigations into child deaths in Oswego County.

In the death of Lance Dotson, a 13-year-old boy who died in a Granby house fire despite family begging for help, investigators failed in all of the categories the audit revealed to be weaknesses. The boy’s brother, Bryce Dotson, who survived the fire by jumping out a second-story window, told Syracuse.com that investigators only entered their garbage strewn home once.

Similar problems arose in investigators’ response to the calls leading up to the death of 17-year-old Jordan Brooks.

Brooks, a child with cerebral palsy, died from abuse and neglect inflicted upon him by his mother Lisa Waldron and step-father Anthony Waldron, police said. Both Lisa Waldron and Anthony Waldron were charged with murder and have ongoing criminal court cases.

Ways to improve county social service investigations were detailed in the state audit.

The state can improve how child deaths are reviewed and improve the office’s Program Quality Improvement Plan, a team created in 2020 to review and improve local counties’ handling of cases, the audit said. The Program Quality Improvement Plan team has not met since April 2021 and does not issue required annual reports.

Issues commonly reported at the local level have not been evaluated at the state, the audit found. The issues must be addressed at the state level to improve local responses to child abuse, the audit found.

Additionally, the audit found unfounded calls of child abuse are deleted from record after 75 days. That creates problems when they attempt to review if the determination was correct. Keeping record of unfounded calls for longer would help improve reviews, the audit said.

Investigators also need to be allotted more reasons for closing calls. Due to limited options in the computer system the reason for a report to be ruled unfounded is often incorrect, according to the audit.

State Office of Child and Family Services officials responded that their call retention timelines are appropriate. Officials also said they would review their list of reasons for closing calls.

When county-level investigations are inadequate the state implements a program improvement plan. This plan is intended to address and improve the areas where the investigation failed.

The audit found that these plans are implemented inconsistently across the state and only address issues on a case-by-case basis, thus missing opportunities for systemic change.

System change is needed because these plans are often implemented after a death.

“While the identification of deficiencies after the fact may prove useful information and areas for improvement, ultimately the worst outcome has already occurred,” according to the audit.

When a child dies, the state Office of Children and Family Services does a review of each time caseworkers visited the family in the three years before the death. They review each visit and list the inadequacies each time.

The state reviewed 641 investigations from January 2018 until November 2021 that involved a child’s death. Those investigations resulted in the state issuing 2,752 citations against the counties.

Onondaga County received 228 citations, the most of any county in Upstate New York, the audit said.

The state audit requires that the Commissioner of the Office of Family and Children Services, the governor, the state comptroller and the leaders of the legislature and fiscal committees meet to discuss improvement on the recommended actions by the audit.

Staff writer Rylee Kirk covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, photo, question or comment? Reach her at 315-396-5961, on Twitter @kirk_rylee, or rkirk@syracuse.com.

Contact Michelle Breidenbach | mbreidenbach@syracuse.com | 315-470-3186.