Los Angeles County agreed to pay $20 million Tuesday to the household of Noah Cuatro, a 4-year-old Palmdale boy who was tortured to dying by his dad and mom in 2019.
The case introduced intense scrutiny of the county’s little one welfare system after it was revealed that the Division of Kids and Household Providers had did not take away Noah from his dad and mom regardless of a court docket order.
DCFS had been given 10 days to get Noah away from his dad and mom and seen by a physician after a number of stories of neglect and abuse, The Occasions beforehand reported. The division ignored the order.
He died lower than two months later, proper earlier than his fifth birthday. His dad and mom later pleaded no contest to homicide and torture expenses.
“He all the time begged me to not ship him to his dad and mom,” mentioned Eva Hernandez, Noah’s great-grandmother. “I attempted to elucidate to him so many instances, however he didn’t perceive. He’d take his little arms and look into my eyes and say, ‘Don’t make me go there.’”
Eva Hernandez cries whereas remembering her great-grandson Noah Cuatro because the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors prepares to approve a $20-million settlement to his household.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
Hernandez sued DCFS in 2020, alleging the division had failed her grandson and may have intervened to maintain him protected. Cuatro had been underneath the supervision of the company from the time he was born as a result of his mom had been accused of fracturing his half sister’s cranium.
The kid welfare division mentioned since Noah’s dying they’ve employed 1000’s of social employees to lower caseloads and retrained social employees on interviewing strategies and use of forensic exams.
“It’s DCFS’ hope that this decision provides Noah’s household a way of peace,” the division mentioned in an announcement. “DCFS stays dedicated to studying from the previous, bettering its work, and working with transparency.”
On the time of his dying, Noah remained underneath supervision by DCFS regardless of greater than a dozen stories to the kid abuse hotline and police from callers who believed that he and his siblings had been being abused.
Lawyer Brian Claypool, who represented Cuatro’s household within the lawsuit, mentioned Noah’s dying was a direct results of the county failing to comply with the court docket order to take away him from his dad and mom. A Superior Courtroom decide had agreed to take away him after a social employee filed a 26-page request with the court docket, citing proof of abuse.
“The county actually blew it with the removing order. There’s no excuse for them to not have picked up Noah,” Claypool mentioned. “Essentially the most stunning, upsetting a part of this case is after I took the deposition of the social employee within the case and the 2 supervisors, not one of the people learn the petition of all of the abuse that was submitted to the court docket. That was inexcusable.”
Eva Hernandez holds a photograph of her great-grandson Noah Cuatro.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
Noah’s dad and mom initially known as 911 on July 5, 2019, saying their son had drowned in a swimming pool of their condominium complicated, however authorities grew suspicious after discovering the boy unconscious and dry within the condominium. Docs later discovered bruises throughout his physique and indicators of “mottling” round his neck.
County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district contains Palmdale, known as his dying a “heartbreaking tragedy.”
“Whereas nothing can undo the hurt he suffered, right this moment’s $20 million settlement awarded to his surviving siblings and grandmother offers some measure of help as they proceed to heal,” she mentioned in an announcement. “Noah’s life was not in useless. His case has bolstered the necessity for ongoing evaluate of kid welfare instances, stronger partnerships with our faculties, and a stabilized DCFS workforce to higher shield kids within the Antelope Valley. Noah leaves behind a legacy — he is not going to be forgotten.”
His great-grandmother, Hernandez, mentioned she nonetheless thinks of him each day.
“I do know that he’s not struggling anymore,” she mentioned.
