Timeline reveals 61 days of inaction by DCFS before 8-year-old Amaria Osby was killed; investigator, supervisor taken off case
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two months – that is how long it took for the state's child welfare agency to make contact with a child who was flagged at risk for neglect.
Now, that little girl – Amaria Osby – is dead. Her mother has admitted to her murder.
As CBS 2's Chris Tye reported, Amaria's mom, 38-year-old Andreal Hagler, told police on camera that she suffocated her with a plastic bag in their Uptown neighborhood apartment last week.
It took seven days, but DCFS is finally sharing its timeline on when they had contact with the family. It reveals 61 days of inaction.
And on the day the agency took action, her mom admitted to police she killed Amaria.
"DCFS did nothing for two months," said Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert. "They went out the same day that Amaria ends up getting killed by her mom. It's just inexcusable."
DCFS has admitted an investigator failed to take proper action in this case, and the investigator and their supervisor is now being taken off child protection duties.
Hagler Timeline 060122 by Adam Harrington on Scribd
As the timeline document shows, Amaria was 8 years old when she died. She was 3 years old when DCFS entered her life.
The department on Wednesday released their timeline of encounters with her. The first hotline call came in on Sept. 8, 2017.
DCFS summarized the call: "Amaria, age 3, as the child victim…. Allegation stemmed from a DUI charge where the mother was arrested and charged with child endangerment."
On March 23 of this year, DCFS reports said, another "hotline report was made identifying Amaria as the child victim…. This allegation stemmed from Amaria allegedly witnessing a domestic violence incident between the mother and father in a public setting. There were no allegations of abuse involving Amaria."
The next day, the timeline shows, an investigator made a good-faith attempt to visit the child victim and family -- without success.
A total of 61 days would elapse until the next attempt.
On May 24, "An investigator visited the family and spoke with the mother and the child. There were no noted concerns for physical abuse or neglect. "
Hours later, after bedtime prayers, Amaria's mother told police she put a bag over the 8-year-old's head while claiming her daughter loved her father more. Amaria screamed, "Momma, stop!" before she died, prosecutors said.
"They dropped the ball and did not do anything for two months," Golbert said. "Their own regs say that they have to see the child within 24 hours."
DCFS administrative code says in cases like this, "Good faith attempts must be made every 24 hours or sooner, including weekends and holidays, until the child victim is seen, unless a waiver is granted by the Child Protection Supervisor."
A DCFS spokesman said the investigator working on the case did not make attempts to contact Amaria's family as the code requires – and thus, disciplinary action is expected against the investigator and supervisor in this case:
"Contrary to DCFS policies, the investigator in this case did not continue to make attempts to see the family. Both the supervisor and the investigator are not performing child protection duties at this time and the Department is determining the appropriate personnel action. The allegation in this case stemmed from an incident of domestic violence between caregivers, and the investigator noted no signs of abuse after speaking to the mother and daughter."
"All of this is interrelated and goes to DCFS' illegal investigator caseload ratios, and just the inept bureaucracy that it is," Golbert said.
Golbert has complained repeatedly about DCFS caseload issues. A total of 22 percent of DCFS investigator positions are unfilled – and this leaves cases like this one not to be managed properly. It also leads to overworked investigators on the job.
Amaria is the sixth child on DCFS radar who has died since December.
