Madera County supervisors won’t explain child abuse reporting fixes. Public needs to know

Several months have passed since Bee staff writer Yesenia Amaro first reported a disturbing story from Madera County: A social worker was accused of discarding hundreds of child abuse reports without anyone else knowing, or worse yet, being able to act on the information to protect vulnerable children.

In the words of county officials in emails obtained by Amaro, the worker’s neglect likely “placed children in danger” by keeping them in abusive situations. Some of the abuse was sexual.

Yet today the county refuses to disclose what, if anything, it has done in response to the situation coming to light. The county counsel’s office has even described The Bee’s legitimate journalistic effort of asking follow-up questions as “harassment.”

It is well past time for top county officials to give Madera County residents at least a general sense of how they are fixing this major problem in the Social Services Department. Despite the county counsel’s push to keep a lid on, the elected members of the Board of Supervisors owe an explanation to the community of how the system of child abuse reporting is being overhauled so one social worker can never do such a thing again.

What happened

In the fall of 2019 at least 357 child abuse and neglect reports, which came through the Social Service Department’s hotline, were hidden by the social worker. She kept them around her desk and in locked trash cans typically used for shredded documents.

Her negligence meant that the abuse reports did not get investigated for months. Once they surfaced, the department director, Deborah Martinez, placed the social worker on leave, and within the week the worker’s employment with Madera County was ended.

But Martinez admitted to the county’s chief administrative officer in an email that children almost certainly endured “incredible pain and suffering” due to abuse that was not investigated in a timely way.

County response now

When a news organization breaks a big story, it is fundamental to follow up some months later to see what may have transpired. The main subject gets a chance to explain itself further, in this case, Madera County.

The response to The Bee? Stop pestering with your questions, and trust us, we have it under control.

How else to understand comments like this:

“We will always take protecting those who can’t protect themselves with the upmost seriousness.” — Supervisor Brett Frazier

“We are very concerned and we are working on it.” — Supervisor Tom Wheeler

“Be assured Madera County immediately initiated, and continues to undertake, all necessary and available remedial action to address the situation.” — Regina Garza, an attorney for the county

When The Bee filed several public records requests in May to find out what that remedial action may be, the county counsel’s office asked the newspaper to “refrain from the continued harassment of county staff.”

Said Deputy County Counsel Matthew Lear: “County Counsel has already made it abundantly clear that neither County staff nor the County Board of Supervisors have any further comment relating to your requests.”

To be fair, the county has a criminal investigation into the social worker’s alleged negligence. And the topic of child abuse and young victims is obviously sensitive. Both are legitimate grounds for confidentiality.

But the county still has the ability — and responsibility — to describe the steps it is working on to ensure such a situation is not repeated. It can do so in a way that does not identify any victims or staff, or jeopardize the criminal case.

As it stands, Amaro was able to obtain an email that described a new phone system that could record reports from its child abuse hotline.

Whether that system might be feasible or implemented is unknown because officials refuse to discuss it.

Time for transparency

Government officials today frequently acknowledge the value of being transparent in their policies, practices and decisions. But it is when situations like what has happened in Madera County develop that true transparency is revealed.

To the Madera County supervisors: The time for silence is over. You need to explain how the abandonment of hundreds of child abuse cases will not ever happen again. If staff is still working out the details, say that, and give a date when you can tell the public how you will guarantee the safety of children under your watch.

In light of the damage done by one social worker, simply saying you have the best interests of children in mind does not cut it.