Under fire for a string of children's deaths, Sacramento County officials said Wednesday they have hired a Florida firm for $100,000 to review the policies and procedures of the county's Child Protective Services agency.
The county is hiring MGT of America Inc., a Tallahassee-based firm with an office in Sacramento, and said a draft report will be ready as soon as December.
The same firm is conducting a performance audit of the Sacramento library system under a $300,000 contract.
County officials said MGT will not conduct an audit of CPS.
Rather, it will review the agency's policies and procedures and look at some of the cases involving dead children.
Officials could not say which cases will be reviewed.
"There have been an unusual number of child deaths recently," county Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan said at a news conference that included MGT and other county officials but no one from CPS.
MacGlashan said the review is aimed at "finding out what we can do to improve the system."
She said supervisors concluded it was "important to take a fresh look at this," 12 years after the beating death of 3-year-old Adrian Conway.
After the boy's death, the supervisors forced changes upon the agency and gave it more money.
The county announced plans to conduct the review earlier this summer, after an investigative series in The Bee that exposed shortcomings in the agency.
Since last September, seven children have died whose families had prior contact with CPS.
The latest case involves 4-year-old Jahmaurae Allen, who allegedly was beaten to death July 21 by his mother's live-in boyfriend.
A doctor who saw Jahmaurae on June 17 informed CPS the boy showed signs of physical abuse.
But CPS documents show no action was taken to help the boy after an initial contact by a social worker.
Documents obtained by The Bee indicate that after Jahmaurae's death, CPS workers altered the case file so that the agency's finding about the allegation was variously listed as "unfounded," "inconclusive" and ultimately "substantiated."
The Bee's findings, followed by Jahmaurae's death a month later, have sparked a county grand jury investigation of CPS.
MGT was recommended for the review by the Sacramento County Children's Coalition CPS Oversight Committee.
The committee was formed in the aftermath of Adrian's torture and murder in 1996, and has criticized the agency over the years for inadequate training and supervision and poor assessment of children's risk.
Call The Bee's Marjie Lundstrom, (916) 321-1055.
