Maine’s watchdog agency found that the state made thorough efforts to work with a family from Milo whose month-old son was killed in 2021, but it could not completely resolve what went wrong because of conflicting accounts and a lack of phone records.
The review of Sylus Melvin’s death is the last of four ordered by Maine lawmakers following the deaths of more than two dozen children in 2021. Of those, four parents faced criminal charges for their children’s deaths, which all happened within one month. Their confidential child protective case files were reviewed by the state’s nonpartisan, independent watchdog, the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability.
The office’s director, Peter Schleck, presented the final report to the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Some lawmakers questioned the findings, saying that someone in the state must be at fault for the tragedy.
“If we are left only with the record (the office) was able to assemble, we see a family struggling in critical times to manage what may have been unmanageable, complex dynamics involving mental health, substance use and domestic violence,” Schleck said at the hearing.
Sylus died from multiple blunt-force injuries and his father, Reginald Melvin, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after entering an Alford plea to domestic violence manslaughter in August 2023, meaning he didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged that there was enough evidence to find him guilty of killing Sylus.
The family had worked with the Office of Child Protective Services since Sylus’ older sibling was born in June 2018. In that time, CPS conducted four investigations of the family, three of which involved the older sister, OPEGA’s report said. When Sylus was born in July 2021, the agency, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, opened another investigation because he was considered substance-exposed due to his mother’s prescribed substance abuse medication.
Sylus’ mother, Desiree Newbert, has said that she felt that DHHS didn’t give her resources to help with her unhealthy relationship with Melvin. She said that the department didn’t answer her calls for help or acknowledge that Melvin continued to be a threat to his children.
‘CHALLENGING’ CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
The office’s report addressed those allegations in its review and ultimately found that case workers and other mandated reporters did not know about Newbert’s fears of domestic violence and safety threats in the home until after Sylus’ death. After a review of various interviews, parents’ call records and Facebook messages, the report concluded that “Ms. Newbert and her mother were privately struggling with Mr. Melvin’s increasingly erratic behavior and were in fear for Ms. Newbert and the children.”
While the office found that Newbert’s allegations didn’t match up with when DHHS and the case worker received phone calls from her, the case can’t fully be resolved because the call logs from the Maine Office of Information Technology were not available, possibly “due to it being out-of-date, too far back in the past or just not available,” the report states.
Newbert says that her mother, who contacted the Milo Police Department about her daughter’s relationship with Melvin, accused Melvin of domestic violence. But the officer had a conflicting account, saying that Sylus’ grandmother didn’t describe any threats to Newbert or children in the household.
The report acknowledges the significant differences in the accounts and how that would directly impact law enforcement’s response.
“What is most challenging about the record (we) reviewed in this case, perhaps, is the apparent gap between what the family was experiencing in real time and what the available record indicated was being shared with those responsible for intervening before it was too late,” Schleck said at the hearing.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The report recommended three areas the state should improve for future cases:
DHHS should involve case workers and supervisors in public memorandums to avoid inaccuracies.
When a child fatality or active Child Protective Services investigation is called in, agencies should hold onto relevant call logs.
Law enforcement and Child Protective Services should share information to avoid inconsistencies, like that with Milo Police Department and Sylus’ grandmother.
A HISTORY OF PRACTICE ISSUES
The report also identified issues with previous caseworker practice and decisions involving Newbert’s daughter shortly after her birth in June 2018.
Child Protective Services responded to the hospital’s report of a substance-exposed infant, Sylus’ older sister, who had just been born. Newbert referenced having an older child that lived with a relative. As per policy, caseworkers must locate all children, in and out of the household, to ensure their safety. But that child was not located until a day after Sylus’ death in August 2021.
The issue has been addressed with DHHS’ implementation of a new child welfare system, according to the office’s report.
And after a dispute between Melvin and Newbert, the baby girl was taken to stay with Newbert’s father, whom the case worker did not appropriately background check. Schleck said the department acknowledged that this should have happened differently.
‘RISK IS IN ALL OF THESE CASES’
At Wednesday’s hearing, some lawmakers expressed frustration over the history with Child Protective Services and what they saw as a lack of concern for both parents’ histories with substance abuse.
Sen. Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, asked Office of Child and Family Services Director Bobbi Johnson what the department would have done differently knowing what it does now about the child’s death.
Johnson noted the complexity of domestic violence cases and said Sylus’ death, and all tragedies, weigh heavily on her staff. She said she wonders if there were different ways caseworkers could have engaged with the mother and grandmother to get them to share their concerns, “so that we could have made different decisions and help not only the children be safe, but also that mom be safe.”
“Risk is in all of these cases, it seems, at all times,” Schleck said.
Both Timberlake and Sen. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, raised concerns about children living with parents who may have a history of substance abuse. Johnson responded that her team works with substance use disorder counselors to determine the risk of the child staying with a parent.
“I respectfully disagree that every child who was born substance-exposed should also be taken into the custody of (DHHS),” Johnson said. “I wholeheartedly agree that families, such as Sylus Melvin’s, reflect opportunities for us collectively as a child protective system, to find ways to improve our ability to protect children in our communities.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-18 13:09:00
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