CLEVELAND, Ohio – State regulators ripped the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services after the 2018 death of 4-year-old Aniya Day-Garrett, saying social workers didn’t follow protocols and that changes needed to be made.
In response, the county announced sweeping reforms to address safety concerns, as it had several other times over the last two decades. But those changes haven’t stopped deaths that continue to haunt the department.
With the April 24 death of 6-year-old Kaamir Bringht, Cuyahoga County’s child-welfare agency is again under scrutiny.
Kaamir’s mother, Daneicha Bringht, is charged with aggravated murder, accused of shooting her son at a Brooklyn hotel. Children and Family Services had an active case against Bringht at the time of Kaamir’s death, tied to how she doled out punishments and whether she provided basic needs for her son.
Daneicha Bringht’s father last week said that relatives had been unable to coax his daughter into treatment for mental illness. Bringht’s parents turned to Cuyahoga County for help, hoping to get custody of their grandson, he said.
Today, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer review our archives for details of nearly 20 other cases involving the deaths of children who had come to the attention of the county during every administration since 1997.
This review does not examine any underlying issues, including the size of caseloads for social workers and staff turnover at Children and Family Services. We leave that for a later story.
We look back as far as 1997 because that was when then-County Commissioner Tim McCormack made headlines by releasing confidential information about the case of two boys who had died. McCormack did so to raise awareness of the shortcomings of the Department of Children and Family Services.
We start with cases during the watch of current County Executive Armond Budish.
Aniya Day-Garrett, 4: March 2018
Aniya died weeks after suffering a stroke triggered by blows to her head. By the time she died, she had stopped eating and become so emaciated that she lost her motor skills and the strength to walk. Her mother and the mother’s boyfriend never called a doctor and were later sentenced to life in prison.
The county received several reports of abuse prior to the girl’s death, but never found cause to remove her from her mother’s care.
A state review later revealed repeated failings of the child-welfare system. Social workers allowed Aniya to return to her mother after a stay at a hospital where the girl told social workers her “mommy” had hurt her.
The agency failed to follow protocols, made few face-to-face contacts with the child, and ignored two years’ worth of injuries reported by Aniya’s daycare provider, the review found.
A social worker was fired. The county pledged a host of reforms and promised to hire more caseworkers. A citizen oversight panel was created to keep tabs on the agency.
Aniya’s father, Mickhal Garrett, a fierce critic of the county’s handling of the case, has pushed for enactment of “Aniya Law,” which would strengthen reporting and investigating requirements in the immediate aftermath of a report of abuse.
Ta’Naejah McCloud, 5: March 2017
Ta’Naejah was beaten to death by her mother and her mother’s girlfriend. Both were convicted and imprisoned. Children and Family Services had an open investigation at the time of Ta’Naejah’s death and had visited her eight times over five weeks.
Ta’Naejah had suffered second- and third-degree burns to her hands that required skin grafts in 2016. Children and Family services investigated the burns and several other incidents that year, but determined the burns were the result of an accident. The agency never recommended Ta’Naejah be removed from her home.
Jordan Rodriguez, 5: September 2017
Jordan’s mother and her boyfriend were convicted of killing Jordan and burying him in their backyard. Investigators found his body about three months later, after getting a tip from the boyfriend’s brother.
Jordan was developmentally disabled and unable to speak. His body showed signs of abuse, including previous fractures to his wrist and several ribs.
Children and Family Services had received 18 complaints and opened 13 investigations against the mother since 1999, when she had her first of 10 children. (Five of the complaints didn’t yield investigations because they were duplicative, or didn’t contain enough information, the county said.)
The agency took custody of two older children years before Jordan’s death.
Over the years of agency involvement, social workers had connected Jordan’s mother with parenting classes, health and welfare services, and agencies that help overwhelmed mothers. She at times complied with county case plans, and at other times, failed to comply with every recommendation, the county said.
Who’s in charge: County Executive Ed FitzGerald
Anthony Christian Jr., 3 months: June 2012
Anthony’s 16-year-old mother awoke to find him not breathing. She alerted her grandmother, the baby’s guardian, who called 911, but Anthony was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The county had monitored the teen and her grandmother in the past, a county spokeswoman said. No other details about the county’s involvement were reported at the time.
A judge later found the baby’s father guilty of child endangering, but found him not guilty of causing Anthony’s death. Prosecutors had argued the baby was physically abused over a number of months.
Who’s in charge: County Commissioners Jimmy Dimora, Tim Hagan and Peter Lawson Jones
Scovil boys, 2 and 3: March 2010
Phineas Scovil’s two sons were found starving in their home by an aunt, who said their bones were visible through their skin and they were so weak they were unable to walk. The toddlers survived and Scovil went to prison.
But the case sparked public outrage after it came to light that Scovil had lost custody of her children three years earlier, after scalding her 7-month-old son and breaking his arm by twisting it.
Prosecutors also had accused her of not feeding the child. The baby was taken into county custody, and two other children were placed with a relative, but Scovil regained custody in 2009 after a judge ordered her to complete a reunification plan established by social workers.
Alexandria “Lexi” Hamilton, 2: February 2010
Alexandria died two days after her mother pushed her into a bathtub of scalding water at a Warrensville Heights hotel while the family was under the watch of Children and Family Services. Her mother was later sentenced to life in prison.
The county had taken Lexi and her siblings from their mother in 2007 because she had neglected them while struggling with drug addiction. In 2009, over strong objections from foster parents, the children were reunited with their mother after she completed parenting classes, stayed sober and passed drug tests.
The toddler’s death, along with the Scovil case and the 2009 death of Arshon Baker, spurred the county agency to launch an internal review. It also pledged reforms to the system.
As part of the review, an oversight panel found the agency didn’t go far enough to protect children and there was a lack of urgency to address long-term risks, often stemming from a parent’s mental illness, addiction or domestic violence.
Arshon Baker, 5: October 2009
Arshon was beaten to death by his mother. Authorities found dozens of injuries – old and new-- on his body. His mother pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
The family had come to the county’s attention two years earlier, after the mother’s boyfriend slapped one of Arshon’s siblings. The mother agreed to monthly visits from social workers. And she attended parenting classes and counseling sessions through 2008, when the agency closed her case because she had successfully completed the program.
Ania Duncan, 6 months: January 2009
After a 14-hour search, Ania’s father admitted his daughter was not missing, and told police he’d dumped the baby’s body in a Cleveland garbage bin. Prosecutors said he smothered the baby. The death was ruled a homicide by violence, and the father was convicted of murder.
Children and Family Services had investigated the baby’s mother about four months earlier after getting a complaint that Ania was not receiving proper care.
But the agency determined Ania was not neglected or at risk, and only kept the case open so mother and child could receive services. The father was not part of, nor involved in the agency’s case, the director said at the time.
Roderick Robinson, 7 weeks: October 2006
Roderick died in 2006, but it was nearly a year before the Cuyahoga County coroner ruled his death was due to pneumonia, which developed after his ribs were fractured.
Roderick’s mother had three previous children, the first born when she was 12 years old.
Children and Family Services had initially placed those children with relatives and planned to take custody of Roderick as soon as he was born. But the children were instead put into foster care because, the county said, the agency believed the relatives helped Young evade the authorities.
Seven weeks after his Roderick’s birth, he was dead. At some point, more than six months later, Young told somebody that she had killed her son, prosecutors said.
A jury acquitted his mother of murder, and an appeals court later reversed the jury’s convictions for child endangering.
Who’s in charge: Commissioners McCormack, Dimora and Lawson Jones
Charmaria Drake, 20 months: March 2003
Charmaria spent the first 18 months of her life in foster care. Two months after her teenage mother took custody, she was dead as a result of blows to the head.
Children and Family Services put Charmaria into foster care at birth, based on an allegation that her mother had sexually abused a 6-year-old. After she was cleared of that accusation, the county returned her daughter to her.
Bedford police said the mother was playing with her baby in the basement at the foster care home where she lived and roughhousing by “patting” her head. “She apparently got too rough,” police said.
The mother was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
At trial, her lawyer said Charmaria’s death might have been avoided if Children and Family Services had acted on requests from the mother and from her family to remove the baby from the mother’s care.
Daezelle Elliott, 10 months: April 2002
Daezelle was found floating in a bathtub and could not be revived. His mother was convicted of child endangering and a babysitter was convicted of reckless homicide.
The mother had left Daezelle with the babysitter after a night of drinking together. As the babysitter slept, her daughter, who was born with severe mental disabilities, put the boy in the tub as she had done when playing with dolls.
Daezelle was his mother’s third child. At the time of his death, Children and Family Services already had custody of her other two children, who were living with relatives.
Who’s in charge: County Commissioners McCormack, Dimora and Jane Campbell
Diamond Miller, 8 weeks: May 2001
Diamond was beaten to death by her 13-year-old father after her 14-year-old mother took the baby with her to spend the night at the father’s home.
A juvenile judge found the father delinquent by reason of murder, and sentenced him to remain in the Ohio Department of Youth Services’ custody until he was 21.
Children and Family Services had signed a contract with the mother before she gave birth. She agreed to make a 29-year-old cousin Diamond’s guardian. The father was not a part of the agreement.
The agreement called for the cousin, the mother and Diamond to live with Diamond’s grandmother.
Social workers had visited the home on Warrensville Center Road five days before Diamond’s death and found “everything was fine,” the county said.
Children and Family Services officials said the agency was supposed to be notified when the 14-year-old mother left the house to visit the father, but that did not happen.
Devin Wilder, 2: April 2001
Devin died two weeks after Children and Family Services placed him in the care of a licensed foster mother. The county took the action after his 2-month-old sister suffered broken bones, but she was later found to have a medical condition that caused brittle bones.
Devin suffered brain injuries after being hit or shaken by the foster mother’s 16-year-old granddaughter. She and two younger grandchildren, and a great-grandchild, were staying with the foster mother over spring break.
After the boy was injured, the foster mother waited more than 11 hours to call 9-1-1, prosecutors said.
The foster mother was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.
The county said the presence of the grandchildren for overnight visits was a concern because they were not part of the foster home screening process.
Destiny Westley, 7 months: October 2000
Destiny’s mother admitted to drowning her daughter and was initially charged with aggravated murder. She later pleaded to a lesser charge.
Children and Family Services acknowledged the department had been in contact with the woman and was supervising a safety plan for the infant. The plan involved monitoring of Destiny’s mother, because the hospital where the girl was born told authorities it was concerned about the mother’s mental health.
The director of the department insisted though that the child-welfare agency had no indication the mother might harm the child.
Sydney Sawyer, 4: April 2000
Sydney died of internal injuries caused by a punch to her stomach that ruptured her small intestine. Her mother and the mother’s boyfriend both were convicted in her death.
Prior to Sydney’s death, a social worker investigating allegations of abuse had taken pictures documenting bruises on the child’s face and back and burns on both of her hands that her mother was unable to explain. But the supervisor decided to leave her in her mother’s custody.
The Department of Children and Family Services fired the supervisor over the handling of Sydney’s case, citing “gross neglect of duty and misfeasance.”
Who’s in charge: County Commissioners McCormack, Hagan and Campbell
Angela Jackson, 3: November 1997
Angela died from injuries suffered from being whipped on her head, body and legs. Her mother was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
County social workers first met Angela in 1994, when she was 4 months old and recuperating in Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital from a skull fracture.
Children and Family Services took custody of Angela and sent a report to police about the 1994 assault, saying Angela had been abused and would be removed from her mother’s home. She was returned to her mother in 1997.
Cleveland police said social workers never asked police to investigate the skull fracture. The county said caseworkers did not have the training or responsibility to determine when prosecution might be warranted.
A task force was assembled to review how Cleveland police and the county could ensure abused children didn’t slip through the cracks.
Olivia Ramsey, 10 months: May 1997
Following Olivia’s scalding death at the hands of her mother, the county fired a Children and Family Services supervisor. McCormack called it a sign of a “failing department.”
The mother was convicted and imprisoned.
The director of Children and Family Services acknowledged the department may have erred in the handling of Olivia’s case, and in several others in which decisions regarding the safety of the child were inadequate.
Olivia’s mother admitted scalding her daughter while bathing her in a sink. At trial, her lawyer said the mother was depressed and threatened to kill Olivia several times.
Children and Family Services had signed paperwork with the child’s father to prevent the mother from being alone with Olivia.
She was the 18th child to die after their families were investigated or served by the Department of Children and Family Services over a year’s time, authorities said.
Sean Logan, 13, and Kenneth Logan, 11: April 1997
Sean and Kenneth died in an arson fire on Cleveland’s West Side after bouncing from residence to residence while Children and Family Services fielded complaints about their care.
A Cleveland police officer had taken the children to the home where a friend of their mother lived after finding them abandoned at a bus shelter the previous morning.
A man initially accused of arson later was convicted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and imprisoned.
McCormack was criticized by fellow commissioners for releasing confidential details about the Logan boys’ involvement with Children and Family Services and the fact that the boys were found abandoned in a bus shelter at 3 a.m.
“Should all this be kept secret, or is it my responsibility to push to discuss the shortcomings and fix the shortcomings?” McCormack said then.