See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. Usually, promoting a case meant petitioning a judge to mandate services such as rent stipends or anger-management classes for parents, or seeking a judges approval to place the child in foster care. Rodriguez told her that confidentiality rules prevented her from saying. But the consequences of needlessly separating children from their parents, while less visible, can be devastating too. DCFS never learned about these injuries while Gabriel was alive. Unlike her colleagues, Starr never faced any administrative consequences or criminal charges. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Each of the four defendants, she said, should have noticed that Gabriel was in danger and filed a petition for his removal from the home, or at least ordered a medical examination. Rodriguez was able to answer the programs multiple-choice questions based almost entirely on information that had been logged into the agencys files before she began her investigation. Neither Rodriguez nor Bom thought the bruise warranted a doctors visit or Gabriels removal from the home, though they did ask Pearl and her boyfriend to undergo drug testing the next day, because of Garcias report that Gabriel had demonstrated how to snort cocaine. Garcia didnt know what to say to Gabriel. The other children were silent. Gabriels eyes were swollen, and squinty like a cats. But we spoke again later that day. I drove around aimlessly for a while and lost track of time.. Mistakes were inevitable when department leaders and county politicians gave workers so little support, she said. I just pictured him being alone, she told me. One day, he stole Garcias iPod and took it to his mom, trying to please her. Following Gabriels death in 2013, Rodriguez, Clement, Bom and Merritt were fired from their positions at DCFS following an international investigation after Gabriels death in 2013. My mom punched me in the mouth, he said. But she said her boss had told her not to call the hotline, because he didnt want to jeopardize Pearls cooperation with the Voluntary Family Maintenance program. But many of the children in his caseload had that designation. RELATED: Uncle breaks silence on Gabriel Fernandez 7 years after his death. Stefanie's work & advice has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Oprah Magazine. That was a mistake, the school secretary, Pam Howell, told Evans. Well, yeah, she told him, recalling that she herself had been spanked as a child. In 2007 a complaint against Pearl claimed she didnt feed one of her daughters and threatened to break her jaw if she cried. In January 2020 California 2nd District Court of Appeals threw out the charges against the four former social workers. Merritt assigned supervision of Gabriels case to a member of his team named Pat Clement, who would become the fourth person from the agency to face criminal charges. The educator said the boy appeared anxious about his homework and feared to go home sometimes. Click images at your own discretion. Casey and the Bush administration advocated for the Department of Health and Human Services to change the way child-protective-services agencies were funded. Palmdale consistently ranked last on the list of places agency employees wanted to be. Do you have more infomration about Stefanie A Rodriguez? Mind your own business. On November 26th, 2012 Gabriel showed up to class late. He asked her to put an A on the paper in the hope that his mother would be impressed. If convicted of knowingly falsifying those records and the felony count of child abuse, the defendants each face up to 10 years in state prison. Rodriguez returned her call the following day andallegedly said was assigned to the case and would investigate. However, Lomeli is expected to dismiss the charges at 8:30 a.m Thursday. When the paramedics arrived, Ezequiel guided them wordlessly inside. Most agencies dont have those resources. This dataset includes compensation information of about one hundred thousands employees working in Los Angeles County, provided by the Auditor-Controller office of Los Angeles County as required by public disclosure laws. Username. Her supervisor, Kevin Bom, a 33-year-old who was seen as a rising star in the department, would approve every key decision she made and sign off on all her reports. Justice Victoria Gerrard Chaney concurred that the four could not be charged with child abuse, but wrote a dissent arguing that they could be prosecuted as public officers under the relevant government code section. She believed in the mission of the Family Preservation unit, and tried to see herself in the shoes of her adult clients and become more tolerant and understanding. Authorities later determined that his mother and her boyfriend had tortured him for at least five days. They additionally contend that supervisors Bomand Meritt knew or should have known that the reports were false as they contradicted physical evidence of Gabriels deteriorating physical health. After they found the file and Dallis left, Merritt said a silent prayer for the boy. Hed met his wife, Bonnie, there, and was considered one of the agencys best supervisors. Social workers Stephanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement visited the Fernandez family home on multiple occasions but both workers claimed they never saw signs of abuse that would require. Stefanie Rodriguez, 32, Patricia Clement, 66, Kevin Bom, 37, and Gregory Merritt, 61, were fired from their jobs following an internal investigation into the May 24, 2013, death of Gabriel. Caseworkers were told to focus on services versus surveillance and to label a parent as being in need of services/support rather than as a perpetrator. The caseworkers and their supervisors would be the decision makers on any interventionno judge would second-guess them, and no lawyers would be appointed to argue for the best interests of the children. vs. LA County, Scalp, Face, Neck, Ears and Shoulder Injuries Documented at Trial (diagam). Its because my mom shot me in the face with a BB gun!, Okay. She paused, not knowing what to say. Whereas in the past, agencies had received an allocation based on the number of children who were in foster care, Los Angeles and certain other jurisdictions now received waivers that allowed them to keep the same level of funding even if foster-care rolls dropped. For years, Greg Merritt would call headquarters for help on a case only to be told hed reached the wrong office, because the person who answered didnt know that Palmdale was in Los Angeles County. As time went on and new injuries kept appearing, I started to feel like nothing was happening (with the case), Garcia testified. Near the end of January, Garcia was reading to a group of students when the door opened. It will always be Gabriel's number. HBO 2020 release schedule: Whats new on HBO in March 2020? Youd see people in the office that made you wonder, Wow, how did they get through the gates? Merritt told me. On Friday, December 20, the former Counting On star revealed she'd "chopped off" more than a foot of her long locks and she looks like a whole new woman. Track SoCal rain with LIVE Megadoppler 7000 HD, DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES. In 2018, after Pearl and Isauros sentencing, prosecutors opened an investigation into the four social workers who had been assigned to Gabriels case. Ezequiel, who was now 16, had a faint mustache and a face shaped like Gabriels. With his mother present, Gabriel told Rodriguez the bruises on his face came from a fall he had playing with his brother and dissenter. Sadly, Gabriel Fernandez was subjected to months of brutal torture at the hands of his mother Pearl and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre. Claim your profile Get in touch with Stefanie. Yet time and again, they failed to intervene. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. Due to over 60 complaints filed against Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre between 2003 and 2012, there were 8 investigations of them by the LA County Child Protective Services and the Department of Children and Family Services. Evans had no authority to make a diagnosis or mandate further medical attention, but she wrote detailed notes, thinking that child-protective-services caseworkers might inquire about the incident. Under California law, teachers must report any suspected child abuse, but even those who report are not always heard. In 2003, the Los Angeles County board of supervisors selected a child-welfare administrator named David Sanders, who led an aggressive push to reduce the foster-care rolls. Did he have to dance when they shot him with the BB gun?. Learn More{{/message}}. View Stefanie Rodriguez's business profile as Global Manager, Accounting at ALM. Thats why its so crushing to see him treated this way, she said. MARIA EVELYN RODRIGUEZ-ZIERER (NPI# 1801829239) is a health care provider registered in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid . !. Garcia asked what had happened. But of that 60%, 37% reported losing money and 21% said their relationship with the borrower was harmed. Three weeks later, on a Tuesday, Rodriguez returned for a follow-up visit. Merritt wasnt blind to Clements shortcomingshe told me hed once written a performance evaluation that scored her work as substandard, only to have his boss remove his criticisms and raise her score to competent. Under an agreement with the caseworkers union, managers were forbidden to fire, suspend, demote, or even write negative comments about any of their workers once certain caseload caps were reachedand the department routinely exceeded those caps. On March 26th, 2013 therapist intern Barbara Dixon filed a report that Gabriel claimed a relative forced him to perform oral sex on them. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Little Gabriel Fernandez died at the hand of his mother and stepdad, Gregory Merritt was a social worker involved in Gabriel's case, Netflix's The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez explores tragic reason behind his death, Pearl Fernandez and stepfather Isauro Aguirre, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Speaking to The Atlantic, Rodriguez explained that during the time she supervised Gabriels welfare, other children in her caseload seemed to her to be in equal or greater danger.. Justice Victoria Gerrard Chaney concurred that the four could not be charged with child abuse, but wrote a dissent arguing that they could be prosecuted as public officers under the relevant government code section. LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) A California appeals court has thrown out criminal charges against four social workers in the torture and murder of 8-year-old Palmdale boy Gabriel Fernandez. He saw that a caseworker had used a computer program to score Gabriels likelihood of being abused. Gabriels attendance was sporadic. Username. The woman they knew was profane, ill-tempered, and prone to yelling at clients. Shortly before his death, Gabriel spent most of his time at home in the cubby with no access to food or water and no bathroom breaks. Name. The petitioners actions here prevented the system from working in whatever way it might have had they done their jobs honestly, and offers no incentive for either DCFS or individual social workers to work to reform and repair the parts of the system that may fail the children it is intended to protect, Chaney wrote. Martinez later learned that a deputy had visited the home and found nothing wrong. Gabriel, did not directly physically abuse Gabriel and did not have the "duty" required by the child abuse charge. You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time. Business . Social worker Gregory Merritt appears in The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. Your email address will not be published. The prevalence of bone fractures, brain bleeds, and other injuries linked to caregivers showed that beatings were a recurring aspect of family life in many homes. All Information about Stefanie Rodriguez The position title is CHILDREN'S SOCIAL WORKER I. At the heart of the case is a question of accountability: Was their failure to protect Gabriel an isolated onethe fault of four employees so careless and neglectful that they allowed a child to suffer despite a series of glaring warning signs? We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. Before calling 911, Pearl and her boyfriend, Isuaro Aguirre cleaned up their apartment. (Le Norgant also called 911. CNBC - Fri, 08 Apr 2022 . Neither caseworker Kevin Bom nor case manager Stefanie Rodriguez felt the bruising was grounds for a doctors visit or Gabriels removal from the home. They were informed of suicide notes written by Gabriel but they took no additional action. That same year, Casey declared a new central goal: to reduce the number of children in foster care by half by 2020. Dice is the leading career destination for tech experts at every stage of their careers. I dont believe you, Gabriel, she said, noting that this was the first time hed lied to her. Afterward, Pearl found Gabriels sister Virginia on the edge of her bed, where shed sat frozen throughout the beating. To a group of students when the door opened way child-protective-services agencies were funded,! Have to dance when they shot him with the BB gun? as., Gabriel Fernandez was subjected to months of brutal torture at the hands of his mother would be.. 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