Washington DV Press

Report: Nassau officials botched New Cassel mom’s case

BY MICHAEL AMON |michael.amon@newsday.com

February 10, 2009

Over the course of five years, Nassau Child Protective Services repeatedly missed red flags and performed incomplete investigations into allegations against Leatrice Brewer before the New Cassel mother drowned her three children last year, a state report on the deaths said yesterday.

Accusations that Brewer, 28, neglected her children on eight occasions from 2003 to 2007 were all assigned the agency’s lowest risk rating, the report said, despite “repeated issues … such as lack of supervision, inadequate guardianship, domestic violence and substance abuse.” Caseworkers failed to conduct thorough safety assessments on the children, which could have led to more urgent action, the report said.

Brewer case known since ’03

The New York State Office of Children and Family Services report also said Brewer’s mental health problems were known to CPS as far back as 2003, but she was not referred for psychiatric evaluations; two allegations of neglect against Brewer were deemed “unsubstantiated” without a full investigation; CPS failed to offer Brewer adequate help during two cases in 2007; and, two days before the children’s Feb. 24 death, caseworkers did too little to find Brewer after a report she was threatening to harm the children.

Brewer killed her children – stabbing Jewell Ward, 6, before drowning Michael Demesyeux, 5, and Innocent Demesyeux, 18 months – “to protect them from evil spirits,” the report quoted her as saying. Yesterday, she pleaded not responsible by reason of insanity.

The state probe – technically, a Child Fatality Report automatically triggered by deaths in the child welfare system – stopped short of saying the county could have prevented the children’s deaths. But it offered a more detailed look at the history of contacts between child welfare agencies and Brewer, and ordered the county to issue a “corrective action plan” within 30 days.

Nassau: Cases mishandled

Nassau officials, who have acknowledged Brewer’s cases were mishandled, said there were no surprises in the report. “I think it is a fair assessment,” said John Imhof, commissioner of the Nassau Department of Social Services, which includes CPS. One part-time case worker was fired after the deaths. The night supervisor was demoted to caseworker and another caseworker was demoted. Union officials said the workers acted within the law and are appealing the disciplinary action. The state report praised Nassau for making changes after the Brewer case, including a stepped-up focus on mental health, reviewing more than 200 cases for problems and retraining caseworkers.

“They took immediate steps to implement new initiatives right away,” said Edward Borges, a spokesman for the Office of Children and Family Services.

Brewer’s long and troubled contacts with CPS began in 1992, when she was reported to the agency as a “maltreated” youth, the report said.

Allegations ‘unsubstantiated’

In April 2003, Brewer again came to the attention of the agency, this time as the mother of 2-year-old Jewell and 2-month-old Michael, the report said. Among the allegations: “The mother suffered from a mental illness and consistently abused an illicit drug hindering her ability to adequately care for the two-month-old child.”

Two months later, a drug counselor told a CPS caseworker that Brewer was testing positive for marijuana and “demonstrated a need for a mental health evaluation,” but one was never performed, the report said. Still, the state said the allegations were deemed “unsubstantiated,” the state said, because she didn’t use drugs at home.

In October 2005, Nassau police were called because Brewer apparently left her daughter and son alone at home. CPS caseworkers investigated and closed the case as unsubstantiated, the report said, without talking to the police or two key witnesses. Brewer was again accused of leaving her children home alone in September 2006, but the report said the agency “inappropriately” deemed the accusations unsubstantiated based only on an interview with Brewer and the children, who denied it.

In 2007, CPS caseworkers twice found Brewer was neglecting the children – the report said she let them play in a park while she slept in her car, was withholding food from Jewell as a punishment and made the two older children sleep on a mattress on the floor. But each case was closed, the report said, the second on Dec. 15, 2007, “without exploring court action or offering any services.”

MISSED SIGNS

A state report says Nassau’s child welfare agency failed to thoroughly follow up on a number of signs that Leatrice Brewer was neglecting her children, including:

MISSING MEETINGS. On June 25, 2003, Leatrice Brewer was missing substance abuse program meetings and had “demonstrated a need for a mental health evaluation,” a state report says. No evaluation was ordered. Child Protective Services deemed “unsubstantiated” an allegation of neglecting her two children because no evidence showed she was using drugs around the children.

DRINKING TOO MUCH? On Oct. 20, 2005, Brewer was accused of leaving her children unsupervised and having a problem with “excessive alcohol consumption, the report says. Nassau police were called, and several of Brewer’s family members were involved. CPS said the allegations were unsubstantiated based only on Brewer’s denials and without speaking to police and two key witnesses, the report said.

HITTING HER

DAUGHTER. On Jan. 6, 2006, Brewer struck her 4-year-old daughter, Jewell, leaving a “less than one inch bruise on the left side of her neck,” the report says. Though both a school social worker and her grandmother believed Brewer needed counseling, CPS closed the case as unsubstantiated and failed to refer her for counseling, the report said.

SLEEPING WHILE KIDS PLAYED. On June 20, 2007, Brewer was found asleep in her car while all three of her children, including her 10-month-old son, played in a nearby park. CPS closed the case without offering help “to address the concerns surrounding the mother’s parenting skills,” the report says.