Newborn Death: Procedural Problem Possibly Why CPS Released Drug-Positive Infant To Mother
LINDA (CBS13) - An 11-day-old infant died after being allowed to leave the hospital with her mother, despite testing positive for drugs when she was born. Now the question remains, who's at fault?
"We don't know if a mistake was made," said Yuba County Health and Human Services spokesman Russ Brown.
What we do know is that Yuba County investigators say Jennifer Sierra gave birth to a baby girl named Destany last month. They say the child had drugs in her system and Child Protective Services was called; but, surprisingly, within days county officials say a CPS social worker released the child back to Sierra, who has history of drug abuse. Investigators say they lived in at a Linda motel on North Beale Road.
"She just kept yelling, 'why me? Why me? Why is this happening to me,' " said Hailee Blakley.
Blakley was in another motel room when she heard screams for help. She found the baby on the edge of Sierra's bed.
"I ran down there to see if there is something I could do and I saw that baby had already turned blue and everything," she said.
Blakley performed CPR on the infant but to no avail. When paramedics arrived, they pronounced the baby dead at the scene.
Sierra was arrested for child endangerment after drugs and needles were allegedly found in the room.
So why was the infant not taken to a foster parent and instead given directly back to Sierra?
Brown said, "our evaluation is being done right now."
CBS13 learned that in an emergency situation, Yuba County CPS social workers make the final decision in the field on where a child is placed, and not a CPS supervisor. County officials confirmed it was a social worker who made the ultimate decision for Destany.
"It's a lot of work," said Brown.
There are only seven emergency social workers with an average of 60 cases each. On any given day they're juggling more than 400 critical cases of child neglect.
"I really couldn't comment whether or not the worker was overwhelmed because it's an overwhelming job," said Brown of the social worker.
