SAN JOSE — In an extraordinary show of force, Santa Clara County social workers spoke out against their own agency Tuesday during a county Board of Supervisors meeting, criticizing leaders for “family preservation” practices that left Phoenix Castro in the care of her father despite drug problems and other red flags that led to the three-month-old San Jose baby’s death.
More than two dozen social workers and their supervisors shared emotional accounts of being hamstrung in protecting children from drug-addicted parents by policies that emphasize keeping families together over removing abused or neglected children from their parents. Some broke down in tears.
“I want you to know that this tragic and preventable loss of life is just one example of a child left in harm’s way despite the workers assessment to the contrary and is a direct result of a shift in department practice,” social worker supervisor Susannah Moore told the board members. ”On my team alone there have been similar situations that could have resulted in the death of a child.”
The rally of child welfare workers comes amid a series of fentanyl overdose deaths in young children across the South Bay. The county’s social services leaders have acknowledged that the county “dropped the ball” — and initially blamed social workers — for sending baby Phoenix home after her birth before she died May 13 from a lethal dose of fentanyl and methamphetamines. The girl’s father, David Castro, is now facing felony child endangerment charges. Her mother, Emily De La Cerda, also died from a fentanyl overdose, four months after Phoenix’s death.
“We failed her by not acknowledging that there’s extreme safety concerns and leaving her with her family,” social worker Joanne Arranaga said before the meeting. “There’s a big focus on keeping families together even when there’s big concerns about the safety and well-being of children. And I think we need to make that the priority and the focus.”
On Tuesday, social workers collectively broke their silence since Phoenix’s death, dressed in their union’s signature purple and holding signs that said “listen to us” and “transparency = accountability.”
Some of the social workers reserved special criticism for Daniel Little, the head of Santa Clara County Social Services, who they say spearheaded a shift in policy toward keeping families together with safety plans even when children were in danger.
Many singled out their boss, Damion Wright, the director of the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services, who told the Bay Area News Group last month that the social worker and supervisor involved in the baby Phoenix case made the decision to send her home with her father. Wright said that the County Counsel’s office, whose lawyers have taken on an expanded role in reviewing social workers’ efforts to remove vulnerable children from their homes, played no role in the decision.
“It is demoralizing to shift the blame to my fellow social workers and supervisors,” Lorena Briones, a social worker and co-chief steward of SEIU, told the board. “We are asking you to do a thorough investigation.”
.In a response Tuesday evening to the Bay Area News Group, Wright said the department is “committed to continuously reviewing outcomes and refining our practices.”
“Everyone within DFCS, starting with our social workers, has devoted their careers to protecting children and serving our community,” he said.
The baby Phoenix case has set off a reckoning over the county’s approach to child protective services. In the last few weeks, the agency has shifted policies, making it easier for social workers to begin the process of taking young kids away from unsafe homes when abuse allegations are verified.
Reacting to the surprise appearance of the child welfare agency workers at Tuesday’s meeting, Supervisor Cindy Chavez vowed to dig into the county’s child welfare system at a special public hearing scheduled for Dec. 19.
“I just want to say you were heard today,” she said.
After the social workers finished addressing the supervisors, Supervisor Sylvia Arenas followed them out the door. She called the workers who spoke up “valiant” and promised to be a “disrupter” when it comes to reforming the child welfare agency in the weeks and months to come.
“More than anything,” she said, “we’re going to create a system that allows for our children and our social workers to be at the center of the decision making.”