'We deserve answers': Advocate says Sacramento County CPS can release more details about investigation before baby's death
Advocates say Sacramento County Child Protective Services can and should be more transparent in the case of an 8-month-old baby who died in August.
Jannah Abughazaleh died after her parents said she was burned in the bathtub. Her parents, Hussein Abughazaleh and Kristina Siedlecki, were later arrested and charged with murder.
Following the baby's death, KCRA 3 Investigates asked CPS for records showing previous reports from the household and the results of any investigations. CPS sent us more than 100 pages of documents, but many portions were redacted.
"There are far too many parts of the records that are blacked out," said Ed Howard of the University of San Diego Children's Advocacy Institute. The organization helped write the law that makes certain details of CPS files public in the event a child passes away.
"It's intended to promote a countywide conversation about, 'oh my God, what happened to this baby, and can we learn from something, from what happened to this baby, to make sure it never happens to any other baby ever again,'" Howard said.
In this case, the baby's grandmother Naomi Magness says she alerted CPS when Jannah was born last December. She was worried about her safety because she said the parents already had another child before Jannah who wasn't living with them. CPS records showed the father had substantiated claims of physical and sexual abuse against him.
Referring to whether CPS can and should consider the previous placement of an older sibling in its investigations, Howard said, "The law specifically says that's something that Child Protective Services can consider, because it's obviously something that should be considered."
CPS' own assessment showed nearly a year ago, the risk of abuse and neglect in the household was 'high.' Its automated system recommended promoting this to the next step, but CPS went against that recommendation.
"For some reason, these three lethal words, 'do not promote' were able to override all of that," said Howard.
CPS referred the couple to an in-home parenting specialist and closed the case. They also gave the family a series of pamphlets including "20 Facts About Child Abuse" and "Never Shake a Baby."
KCRA 3 Investigates asked CPS why they did not decide to open a case and promote this to the next level, and they said they could not comment due to confidentiality laws.
"That's balderdash," said Howard. "That's just not true. There is a provision in the law that specifically authorizes counties to be able to talk about what happened within the scope of the release."
When KCRA 3 Investigates pointed this out to CPS, they sent us the statement below, but did not answer our question about why this happened in this case.
"When determining whether to open a case, Sacramento County Child Protective Services (CPS) conducts a comprehensive assessment and uses Structured Decision-Making (SDM). SDM is an evidence-based tool that helps guide decision-making. SDM is not definitive – the social worker must consider all information gathered during the investigation when arriving at a conclusion. There are times when the social worker or supervisor will appropriately override the outcome."
"It's important to underscore there may be perfectly legitimate reasons," Howard said. "You know, when I go to work every day and I get something wrong, nobody dies. The job that social workers have is among the most, if not the most, difficult job that we pay anybody to do. But it does mean that we deserve answers when something as tragic and horrifying as what happened here, happens on our watch, funded by our tax dollars."