Toddler's death no social work success story

Darryl Lynette Figueroa and Jonetta Rose Barras

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

What a D.C. Department of Human Services social worker didn't know about Dontray Kevin Bradley's world may have killed him.

The only time the social worker visited the home of the 2-year-old boy beaten to death Wednesday was in January, when the child was placed with an aunt under protective supervision. The worker visited Dontray again in March, DHS officials said, but that was at the Maryland home of the child's grandmother.

The social worker did not know that after the March visit, the family moved from the home Dontray was placed in.

And the social worker had no idea the aunt's boyfriend, whom police have charged with second-degree murder in the case, lived in the home or that the man had a violent criminal record.

According to court records, 27-year-old Reginald N. Hunter had four domestic violence charges pending against him when he was arrested this week. He was released from court custody May 12 after agreeing to stay away from Rhonda Bradley, Dontray's aunt.

His trial for the three assault charges, one count of making threats and one count of possessing a prohibited weapon is set for Nov. 4.

Mr. Hunter was also convicted in 1989 on a misdemeanor PCP possession charge.

"It's unconscionable," said Jim Evans, executive director of the Metro Washington Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. "Not having been back [to the home] for two to three months is just simply bad practice."

DHS social workers are supposed to speak to anyone living in a home where a child has been placed. Good social work practice would also require at least monthly visits while a new family stabilizes, Mr. Evans said.

In recent interviews with dozens of foster parents, many complained that DHS social workers rarely come to their homes, that some workers were completely inaccessible and do not know what is happening with the children.

One woman who recently adopted a child who came to her as a foster child three years ago said after that experience she would never provide long-term foster care to a child again.

"The worst part was not being able to get a hold of the social worker," said the woman, who requested anonymity.

"I mean [that social worker] would not return phone calls, and they didn't know if I was going to say the child had had an injury or I didn't want the child or what the problem was," she said.

"It was really frightening to me," the woman said. "That social worker never saw the child while she was with me, never came to the home."

The lack of social worker visits and coordination contribute to a number of DHS problems, including monitoring and tracking children under the agency's care, according to critics.

An internal review recently revealed the city has 600 fewer children in its foster care system than previously believed.

"The children get lost in the system. The only thing DHS is looking for is a place for them to get them out of their hair," said another foster parent who requested anonymity.

The woman, who has been a foster parent for more than 10 years, raised questions about social worker caseloads.

"They [social workers] never come to visit; they only call you a few days before a child is scheduled to go to court. They might visit once a year," she said.

"I don't understand what the problem is; the newspaper said they had less children, so why couldn't they make the visits?"

DHS spokesman Larry Brown said a 50 percent vacancy rate among social workers over the years had made in-depth casework difficult.

In addition, such practices as assigning more than one social worker to a home and having social workers handle protective services as well as foster care and adoptions simply don't work, officials said.

The social worker assigned to Dontray Kevin Bradley's protective custody case also handles foster care caseloads, DHS officials said.

Not every foster parent evaluation of social workers was negative, however, suggesting that some do a good job despite their heavy caseloads.

"You will have some whose motivation is higher than others," Mr. Brown acknowledged, adding that the city has begun to give social workers additional training.

"Coupled with that training is a call for greater accountability and I think as we provide more of the resources social workers need with reduction of caseloads, we expect to see an immediate improvement," he said.

Marilynn Riley, acting chief of the DHS Children and Family Services Division, was still reeling from the Bradley case yesterday afternoon.

"In general our process does provide reasonable safeguards, but when something as tragic as this happens, we have to go back and examine it," she said.

* Catherine Toups contributed to this report.