stefanie rodriguez social worker now

All four of the caseworkers had been fired. Select this result to view Stefanie Denise Rodriquez's phone number, address, and more. Stefanie Rodriguez, 34; Patricia Clement, 69; Kevin Bom, 40; and Gregory Merritt, 64, were charged with child abuse and falsifying public records. NEW social workers in the case of Gabriel Fernandez came under investigation after the child died at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. Silver Spring, MD. They reportedly moved to Des Moines soon after their wedding. There is, therefore, no probable cause to hold them on charges of violating those laws and the trial court should have granted the motions to dismiss, the opinion continued. Stefanie has been found in 13 states including Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Arizona. . We have, in effect, encouraged DCFS and its social workers to cover their tracks if they stumble on the cracks in the system.. Almost three years had passed since Gabriels death, and many people had all but forgotten that a criminal review was under way. An arrest warrant filed March 28 identifies the four Los Angeles social workers as Stefanie Rodriguez, 30, Patricia Clement, 65, Kevin Bom, 36, and Gregory Merritt, 60. It is this [workers] assessment that mother is overwhelmed with her own emotional pain, she is unwilling to continue counseling at this time, Clement wrote. In 2007 a complaint against Pearl claimed she didnt feed one of her daughters and threatened to break her jaw if she cried. Reid took detailed notes, and Garcia soon received a phone call from Stefanie Rodriguez. Payments for Straight and Premium Overtime. Please reload the page and try again. Reid took detailed notes, and Garcia soon received a phone call from Stefanie Rodriguez. She called the hospital, asking if she could visit. Cat feces had been forced down his throat. She said she had been assigned to investigate and told Garcia to call her directly if she noticed anything suspicious in the future. ), First published on January 7, 2020 / 5:43 AM. Baghdad Central: How does the series differ from the original book? Mistakes were inevitable when department leaders and county politicians gave workers so little support, she said. Everyone in the office knew that Palmdale had its share of caseworkers whom no one would choose to look after endangered children. Instead, she punished him by sending him to school in girls clothing the next daya tiny pink shirt and tight polka-dot leggings. Gabriel suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs, a broken nose, and many missing teeth. He told me he winced whenever he read in child-death cases that his employees had interviewed a child with the alleged perpetrator nearby, or had halted their inquiry when a child recanted a claim of abuse. Negligent child welfare workers may face prison time in connection with the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. Theres hardly a night I dont dream about the department, she told me. Fernandez is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Before calling 911, Pearl and her boyfriend, Isuaro Aguirre cleaned up their apartment. Clement had filed for bankruptcy. Learn more about Muck Rack . Actress. May 21, 2022 . Mind your own business. Money Confidential is a podcast that dives into all aspects of money with expert Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez. charged with child abuse and falsifying public records, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, was sentenced to life in prison, while her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, was sentenced to death. It was Gabriel. But she, too, said she didnt think about Gabriels casethat was in the past.. Garcia was telling him he was lucky his mother loved himnot everyone had thatwhen Gabriel chimed in. Its over now. But the operator wouldnt give her any information. 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. 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. Stefanie. With Pearl again present, Gabriel said that the little bruises on his face had formed after he fell while playing tag with his brother and sister. Gabriel had a fractured skull, fractured ribs, BB pellets lodged in his chest and pelvic region, and a penetrating burn above his groin. In a 2-1 opinion, the three-justice panel concluded there was no probable cause to hold the two social workers and their supervisors on the charges. At the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, administrators had a well-worn routine they followed anytime a child died, or came close to dying, at the hands of a parent or guardiansomething that typically happened at least a couple of times a month. After Jennifer Garcia called the hotline, it fell to Rodriguez to investigate and assess Gabriels safety. All six episodes of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez are available to stream and download on Netflix now. If Merritt and his colleagues had dug deeper, or simply paid closer attention to what they already knew, they might have uncovered the familys secret: that Gabriel spent days and nights with a sock in his mouth, shoelaces knotted around his hands, a bandanna shrouding his face, handcuffs locking his ankles, trapped inside a cabinet in his mothers bedroom. Los Angeles County social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt, were charged with two felony counts in relation to the death of Fernandez on April 7,. She coached him: My mom cut it like that. He is currently awaiting execution in San Quentin State Prison. Ezequiel, who was now 16, had a faint mustache and a face shaped like Gabriels. Prosecutors had granted immunity to a caseworker and a therapist, in exchange for their testimony against Merritt and the other defendants. Gabriel Fernandez joined the class even later, in mid-October, more than a month into the school year. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The 2nd District Court of Appeal advised that the lower court dismiss the charges against the social workers. Stefanie Lohaus. The girl later said that her mother asked her to help soak up blood from the floor. Get email updates for new Licensed Clinical Social Worker jobs in Chevy Chase, MD. On May 22, 2013 Pearl Fernandez called 911. A motion to appeal the 2nd District Court of Appeals decision was denied in January 2020. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. Schlesinger has heard these stories before: "A baby boomer, who's maybe taken on their kids' debt and gotten their kids through college, but has come up short and is 60, 63 years old and says, I guess I'll just have to work forever," she says. The couple got married in Iowa in 2018. Grace: My mom is 77 and she's better about money. He said he couldnt work with people who had refused to help Gabriel. 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. Dixons boss, Michael Bailey, allegedly told her not to report the abuse and later, supervisors told her not to cooperate with police regarding his death. Some of Merritts colleagues were so ashamed of the departments reputation that they avoided telling people what they did for a living. The sheer number of rules caused many workers to consider them just suggestions that no human could ever fully absorb. He said his mother and her boyfriend would threaten him if he didnt join in their beatings. Gabriel's mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, was sentenced to life in prison, while her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, was sentenced to death. They rushed him to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, where he was on life support for two days. On the wall behind the jury box, dark oily blotches had formed over the years behind the heads of countless weary jurors. Garcia called the principal to have him look at Gabriels head. MORE: Palmdale woman, boyfriend sentenced in 8-year-old's torture killing. Both were soon fired from the department, as were their supervisors, Gregory Merritt and Kevin Bom. She recalls Rodriguez saying that Pearl Fernandez had once spanked Gabriel harshly but did not present an immediate safety threat, and that both Pearl and Gabriel had issues. View Stefanie Rodriguez's business profile as Global Manager, Accounting at ALM. Despite numerous contacts with the family and calls from Gabriels first grade teacher, DCFS determined all was well. Please exercise caution when reading this, as there are accounts of very brutal abuse amounting to torture and a child victim. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. He wanted to, and worked very hard on it. They recommended the death penalty. At a preliminary hearing to decide whether the case should go before a jury, the defense attorneys hammered at one question: Why were these four workers the only ones being punished? As long as human beings are involved in the child welfare program there are possibilities for mistakes to occur, he wrote. Stefanie Rodriguez (I) Actress + Add or change photo on IMDbPro Stefanie Rodriguez is known for Phil the Alien (2004). All rights reserved. Martinez called his own supervisor who explained that was not in his job description. Wellington, Wellington Region, New Zealand, Senior PR and Communications Officer - British Consulate General Sydney, Information Technology Service Management Analyst, Manager, Corporate and Marketing Communications, SSC Malaysia - Finance Team Lead - Bill & Pay, Techtronic Industries Australia & New Zealand, Volt - International (An Innova Solutions Company). She had abandoned her youngest child, a daughter named Destiny, and lost custody of a son named Arnold Jr., who was a year older than Gabriel. According to DCFSs internal investigation, neither Rodriguez nor Bom reviewed the information related to these calls. She returned a few minutes later, saying she had been ordered not to get involved. 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.. Merritt couldnt remember much about Gabriel, one of about 180 children whose cases he had been overseeing. Once again, Rodriguez and Bom decided not to remove him or order a medical exam. Later that month, Gabriels case was closed. Unlike the couple, the attorney for Department of Children and Family Services supervisor Kevin Bom argues that Bom never saw. 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. Management had to impose a ban on transfers out just to keep the branch staffed. After school, Garcia made yet another call to Rodriguez. Gabriel at School Just Before Mother's Day. 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. He then asked if it was normal for moms to hit kids with a belt buckle and make you bleed. Martinez asked Maricela Corona, the clerk Pearl had spoken to, if she planned to report child abuse. People there told me over and over that they didnt think about Gabriels case and didnt even know much about itthey werent sure exactly what had happened or what mistakes had been made. The next day, Pearl Fernandezs attorneys proposed a deal to accept life in prison without the possibility of parole or appeal if the prosecution would agree to drop its push for the death penalty. "There is, therefore, no probable cause to hold them on charges of violating those laws and the trial court should have granted the motions to dismiss," the opinion continued. I just dont want to remember it.. Did he ever have to eat anything weird? Hatami asked. The filing followed the Palmdale boys death in May 2013 from a beating by his mothers boyfriend and reports of months of torture prior to that. Rodriguez and Bom could have checked a box on a form to mark the case as high priority, but they left it blank. The District Attorney may appeal this decision. I dont think theres anything else I could have done, he told me, with the soft voice and slumped shoulders of a man whose fate is now in the hands of others. Unprecedented charges against L.A. County social workers were filed following the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. When social workers interviewed him about that allegation, Pearl was present, and Gabriel took back each of his stories. Anchor | Reporter . Why did you lie and tell me you fell?, When I tell you, and that lady comes, then I get hurt worse.. efore caseworkers can close an investigation, the agency requires them to use a software program called Structured Decision Making to score a childs risk of being abused or neglected. Track SoCal rain with LIVE Megadoppler 7000 HD, DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Uncle breaks silence on Gabriel Fernandez 7 years after his death, Prosecutor in Gabriel Fernandez case was a victim of child abuse himself, DCFS asks for public's help amid sharp drop in possible child abuse reports. His wrists had ligature marks, as if hed been tied up. The educator said the boy appeared anxious about his homework and feared to go home sometimes. Since Gabriels death and the subsequent review, DCFS has hired more than 1,000 caseworkers, provided staff with smartphones, started new methods of training, and changed the standards for the Voluntary Family Maintenance program. Click images at your own discretion. If the case went to trial and Rodriguez, Clement, Bom, and Merritt had been found guilty, they could have faced up to 10 years in prison each. Social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, 34, and Patricia Clement, 69, were charged along with two supervisors, Kevin Bom, 40, and Gregory Merritt, 64, with one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying public records. On January 29, 2013 Rodriguez made a final visit to Fernandezs home. In September 2018, Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli denied a motion to dismiss the charges, calling the young Palmdale boys death foreseeable.. Gabriels attendance was sporadic. That would be reportable. She also told Reid that during Red Ribbon Week, when teachers talked about staying away from narcotics, Gabriel had announced that cocaine was a drug. Once, when another student was struggling with a reading assignment, Gabriel jumped in to help her, pushing her to take another look and keeping her well after the other kids finished. Bom had managed to start a new career as a custody evaluator in divorce cases, but he lost that job after the criminal charges were filed. Around this time, Gabriel came to class looking even worse than he ever had before. We further conclude that the petitioners were not officers within the meaning of Government Code section 6200. We further conclude that the petitioners were not officers within the meaning of Government Code section 6200," wrote Justice Francis Rothschild. In January 2020 California 2nd District Court of Appeals threw out the charges against the four former social workers. The position title is CHILDREN'S SOCIAL WORKER I. Fishpond Hong Kong, Statistical Mechanics, Third Edition by R K Pathria . The law requires all reports to go through the hotline, the lawyer noted. We were on a desert island, and we were just sinking, sinking, sinking., Like Merritt, Starr is a devout Christian. But Merritt was proud of his work, especially his efforts to keep together families that might otherwise be separated. The Auditor-Controller of Los Angele County provides financial leadership and expert advice on a wide range of fiscal matters and advocates for financial integrity and accountability in all County business practices, and also develops financial policies and guidelines for departmental operations and issues checks to vendors, employees, child support payments, judgments and damages and other claims against the County, as well as other financial responsibilities. Towards the end of January, when Gabriel came to class, there was no more laughing. White House Farm ending: Where are they now? Gabriel would cry at the end of the day because he didnt want to go home. But the consequences of needlessly separating children from their parents, while less visible, can be devastating too. They could have properly documented Gabriels injuries. The program said Gabriel was at very high risk. Garcia called Rodriguez again, despite the odd sense of complicity she now felt after hearing that her efforts only made things worse. But five years on, he believes he has the distance to see that he performed as well as anyone could have, under the circumstances. Afterward, Pearl found Gabriels sister Virginia on the edge of her bed, where shed sat frozen throughout the beating. invisible stranding in knitting. In an 2-1 opinion, the panel concluded that there was no probable cause to hold the two social workers and their supervisors on charges of child abuse and falsifying documents. The therapist, a woman named Barbara Dixon who worked for an outside contractor, saw Gabriel often in the months leading up to his death and had grown concerned that he was being abused. The appellate opinion noted that although they may have failed in their duties as social workers there was no probable cause for a criminal case. As soon as a call came in from a hospital, caseworkers would be dispatched to interview any surviving siblings and remove them from the home. When I got to the department, instead of cheering the parent on for doing the right thing, theyd want us to take the kid away or tell the kid, Youre right and Your parents have no authority over you.. 620k Followers, 31 Following, 122 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Stephanie Rodriguez (@stephrodriguezofficial) 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? If he didnt beat Gabriel, Pearl and Isauro would threaten him, so he would whisper to Gabriel to fall quickly so he didnt have to hit him as much. Such was the case with 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez and his first-grade teacher Jennifer Garcia. Hed met his wife, Bonnie, there, and was considered one of the agencys best supervisors. Cat feces were forced in his mouth and down his throat. Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, were both charged and convicted of first degree murder with special circumstances of torture. I just pictured him being alone, she told me. But Browning, who left the department in 2017, acknowledged over email that these reforms could not guarantee that the department wouldnt see another death like Gabriels. Corona was only filling in that day and, though reluctant, talked to a supervisor who told her not to get involved. This time, the caseworker didnt pick up or call back. Who had refused to help soak up blood from the original book school.. Fishpond Hong Kong, Statistical Mechanics, Third Edition by R K Pathria if it was normal for to... Ligature marks, as there are accounts of very brutal abuse amounting to and... Would cry at the end of January, when stefanie rodriguez social worker now came to class looking even worse than ever... 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