During the final eight months of Gabriel Fernandezs life, numerous concerns had been made to the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services [DCFS]. Like many others, shed wanted out of Palmdale for a long time, and she often talked about the business ventures she hoped would finance her escape: a vending-machine enterprise, an RV park. Overall employment of social workers is projected to grow 9 percent from 2021 to 2031, faster than the average for all occupations. As he read on, Merritt learned that Gabriel had written suicide notes. Stefanie Rodriguez (I) Actress + Add or change photo on IMDbPro Stefanie Rodriguez is known for Phil the Alien (2004). Click images at your own discretion. he next day, the principal at Summerwind called Garcia into his office to tell her that Gabriel was dead. Garcia called Rodriguez yet again. Despite the softwares assessment, Merritt had recently signed off on a request to close the case, satisfied that Gabriel was safe. Still, Gabriel seemed desperate to win his mothers affection. Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance Benefits. Merritt told me she was a little bit of a burnout case but good enough. Others remember her less favorably. Gabriel, he later testified, turned around and made eye contact with me and I noticed he had a greenish-bluish eyea black eyeand lumps on the back of his head. He told her that they dont investigate, they report. An autopsy showed that Gabriel had a fractured skull, several broken ribs and burns over much of his body. The Second District California Appellate Court heard arguments from lawyers representing Kevin Bom, Stefanie Rodriguez, Gregory Merritt and Patricia Clement. 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. Right, Mrs. Garcia? he asked, as if he needed confirmation. Get email updates for new Licensed Clinical Social Worker jobs in Chevy Chase, MD. Chevy Chase, MD, Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at Dice by 2x. His classmates laughed and pointed when they saw him. (In 2013, Los Angeles County had roughly 3,000 caseworkers and more than 200,000 calls to its child-abuse hotline.). Garcia called Rodriguez again, pressing her about what she was doing to help Gabriel. Skin was missing from his neck. I wanted to go there and hold his hand and say, Youre going to be okay. On walks, he lagged at the end of the line, saying that his arms and legs hurt. t Summerwind Elementary, the weeks dragged on. I thought Gabriel would benefit. So she agreed to accept his case rather than urging Rodriguez to take it to courta decision that has haunted her ever since. Did he have to dance when they shot him with the BB gun?. Hed whisper in Gabriels ear to fall to the ground quickly when he hit him. Anchor | Reporter . RELATED: DCFS asks for public's help amid sharp drop in possible child abuse reports, Brunt of storm moving out of SoCal on Wednesday; showers will linger, Children jump for joy at seeing snow flurries in Canyon Country, RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan is denied parole for 16th time. In January 2020 California 2nd District Court of Appeals threw out the charges against the four former social workers. Authorities later determined that his mother and her boyfriend had tortured him for at least five days. In 2010, a department study showed that the evidence caseworkers gathered was often insufficient to accurately judge a situation. Name. Other teachers told her that Summerwind was one of the districts nicest schools, but when Garcia looked around at the peeling paint and crumbling stucco, she thought, If this is the best weve got, were really in trouble. Stephanie Rodriguez Social worker Greater Sacramento 7 followers 7 connections Join to view profile Department of Child, Family, and Adult Services Sonoma State University Experience Human. Counselor Barbara Dixon testified that while working at Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services, which handled Gabriels case, she did not report suspected abuse despite being legally required to report these suspicions. Later that month, Gabriels case was closed. erritts team officially took over Gabriels case on February 1, not long after Jennifer Garcia had called to report the BB-gun marks on his face. Rodriguez never went to the school or talked to the neighbors. 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. Social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, 35 and Patricia Clement, 69, and supervisors Kevin Bom, 41, and Gregory Merritt, 64, had each been charged with one felony count of child abuse and one felony count of falsifying public records. The results came back negative. 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. The law requires all reports to go through the hotline, the lawyer noted. All rights reserved. RELATED: Uncle breaks silence on Gabriel Fernandez 7 years after his death. She called the hospital, asking if she could visit. Mistakes were inevitable when department leaders and county politicians gave workers so little support, she said. Merritt, one of the. Advocates for family preservation have at times lamented that they lacked the kind of horror stories that could galvanize support for their position. But, as Garcia later recalled, before Gabriel drew near, the principal told him, Its okay, son. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. This decision came from a three-justice panel. 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.. Garcia testified that she first called the child abuse hotline on Oct. 30, 2012. They were informed of suicide notes written by Gabriel but they took no additional action. Even though the server responded OK, it is possible the submission was not processed. He called 911, but his situation was not an emergency. When Garcia first met the boy, in the schools front office, she noticed that Pearl and Aguirre werent like the other first-grade parents, who hovered over their children, crouching down to guide them through introductions or to explain how to get lunch. The practitioner's primary taxonomy code is 1041C0700X with license number P014141 (NC). The disclosed employee information includes last name, first name, middle initial name, position title, department, fiscal year, earnings and benfits. County policy requires workers in Merritts position to read the entire file before approving a closure, but the departments manual ran to 6,000 pages. Find contact's direct phone number, email address, work history, and more. Social workers spoke, on average, with fewer than two witnessesneighbors, friends, school officials, health-care providersalthough the departments policy required that they interview at least three. As we sat in her living room, she told me that working for Merritt had made the job tolerable; he always had her back, and would encourage her to take a lunch break or work from home when he sensed that the pressures of the job were getting to her. On February 27th, 2013 therapist Carmen Le Norgant discussed with Pearl suicide notes Gabriel had written. In a video shared to the Dillard family's. None of the Gabriel Fernandez social workers faced trial. Aguirre would call him gay, punish him if he played with dolls, and even made Gabriel wear girls clothing to school. Two social workers, Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement, as well as two of their supervisors, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt, were each charged with one felony count of child abuse and falsifying public records. Stefanie's work & advice has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Oprah Magazine. Suddenly, Pearl wanted custody back in October 2012. In the end, it all added up to very high risk, meaning that the caseworkers had no choice but to promote the case for further attention. + Add or change photo on IMDbPro . Stefanie Rodriguez is an actress, known for Phil the Alien (2004). Theres hardly a night I dont dream about the department, she told me. The defense lawyers presented a long list of others who could have helped Gabriel, toopolice officers, school staff members, and people in the community. Shortly after Gabriels birth in 2005, he went to live with his maternal grandmother, because Pearl did not want Gabriel and had no love for him. But he told me hed sent the information only to be thorough; hed never expected anything to come of it. The social worker Garcia contacted, Stefanie Rodriguez, 31, another social worker, Patricia Clement, 66, and two of their supervisors, Kevin Bom, 37, and Gregory Merritt, 61, are now facing charges of one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying records in relation to this case. 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. The mother and her boyfriend were convicted of the torture murder. 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. Payments for Straight and Premium Overtime. Gabriel Fernandez joined the class even later, in mid-October, more than a month into the school year. Chippewa Valley Museum in need of Summer volunteers. We further conclude that the petitioners were not officers within the meaning of Government Code section 6200," wrote Justice Francis Rothschild. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. The young boy had been regularly abused by both parties until one day, he was beaten to the brink of death. The case made against the four social workers never made it to trial. Garcia asked what had happened. Skin was peeling off his forehead. 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Stefanie Rodriguez was the first person who looked into Gabriel's case, when his teacher put in a call about the possibility of Pearl beating Gabriel at home, for his in-school behavior. Those injuries included hits to the face, punches, and even bullets by a BB gun. 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. A motion to appeal the 2nd District Court of Appeals decision was denied in January 2020. "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. Villar also stated that the defendants should have documented Gabriel Fernandezs injuries and that their actions were incompatible with the proper regard for human life.. The majority of children killed by their guardians are 3 or younger. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Other Benefits, Short Disability Insurance and Dependent & Health Care Spending Accounts. Yet she also noticed that ideas came easily to Gabriel, and he seemed to gain a small measure of dominion over his surroundings with a pencil in hand. In 2017, social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, and supervisors Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt, were charged with child abuse and falsifying public records. They claimed to have never found strong enough signs of abuse in order to remove Gabriel from the house. He had a masters degree from the University of Southern Californias prestigious School of Social Work, and was known as a fastidious micromanager who marked up his subordinates notes with questions and correctionsall of which makes his handling of Gabriels case even more baffling. Gabriel told the teacher that his mother hit him with belt buckle until he bled and asked whether such bleeding was normal. Pearl told the operator that Gabriel wasnt breathing, and Aguirre blamed the injuries on Gabriels roughhousing with Ezequiel. They alleged the officials failed to take appropriate steps to protect the boy. Stefanie Rodriguez in Texas. Stefanie Rodriguez. They could have communicated with one another better, or pulled up the case history in the computer system. Instead, she said the one thing she thought he could count on: One day, youre going to be 18. They could have properly documented Gabriels injuries. Every employment contract between a state or local agency and any public official or public employee is a public record which is not subject to the provisions of the law. Still, Pearl received custody of Gabriel. Their case marks one of the few times social worked have been charged in a child abuse case in the US. Stefanie Rodriguez. Such shallow inquiries were routine across Los Angeles County. ( Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Once, another boy complained that his mother had made him pancakes and he didnt like them. Pearl and Aguirre eventually called 911. Martinez told Pearl to quiet down. Near the end of January, Garcia was reading to a group of students when the door opened. His testimony lasted hours; he was unable to recall many details and had to constantly refer to transcripts of prior testimony. Wake Forest, NC 27587 Inside, fluorescent bulbs threw a dull yellow light across the courtroom. Shed sometimes find him crying at the end of the day, saying he didnt want to go home. Your email address will not be published. Merritt started going back through the notes on his computer, and saw that Gabriels first-grade teacher had, in fact, regularly called one of Merritts colleaguesa young caseworker named Stefanie Rodriguezwith disturbing reports. STEFANIE A RODRIGUEZ Salary Overview. But when she told Steve Reid, the caseworker who answered, about the belt buckle and the blood, he said, Okay. . His new address meant a new school, too. She didnt want to tell him everything would be okaythat felt like it might not be true. 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