Family Says DSS Child Abused, Death Not Accident

Romney Says System Failed Boy, Family

BOSTON -- The family of a 4-year-old boy who died while in Department of Social Services custody said they are convinced the child was abused prior to his death and was not the victim of an accident.

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that the results of Dontel Jeffers' autopsy were not released Tuesday.

Dontel died of heart failure Sunday after his foster mother brought him to Caritas Carney Hospital.

The family went to the medial examiner's office Tuesday and demanded to see the boy's body.

"Seeing a lot of bruises on Dontel's face, and his face was swollen with a lot of different bruises on the face. I seen a lot of bruises, and that is what I seen," said Dontel's uncle, Vincent James.

Dontel had lived with his father and grandmother until his father's incarceration and deportation. He stayed with his mother until she entered a drug rehabilitation program. DSS took custody of the boy in December and placed him in a group home run by St. Mary's Church. Then, for reasons unknown to the family, Dontel was taken out of that group home and placed in a private foster home in Dorchester.

"What we want to find out from DSS is if he had any bruises on his body before he went into a foster home," said James.

There were several reports of domestic violence at the home at the foster home before the boy's arrival.

"We want to know why DSS put kids into a home with domestic issues," said James.

Dontel's grandmother, Agatha Jeffers, said when she last saw her grandson the week before he was sent to the foster home, there were no visible bruises on his body.

"He was in good condition," she said.

Gov. Mitt Romney said the system failed Dontel and his family.

"What is overwhelming is the sense of sadness and the sense of having let down a child. Whenever the state intervenes in the case of child, it is to hopefully make the condition better, not worse, and that certainly did not happen here," he said.

The district attorney's office and DSS did not comment on the case Tuesday.