Nearly five weeks before the beating death of Jahmaurae Allen, his doctor's call to Child Protective Services about a suspicious, fist-sized swelling and bruise on the 4-year-old's chest led the agency to call for an "immediate response."
But it took the social worker six days to meet with the family, according to CPS documents released to The Bee on Wednesday under a new open records law. The worker initially went to the wrong apartment, then left her card twice before finding someone home on June 24, the apartment clean and the bruise not visible in what she described as a "cursory body check."
The social worker's next entry was July 21: Jahmaurae's death.
The case was one in a series of child deaths in which CPS has acknowledged that its own policies and procedures were not followed. For instance, CPS has extensive guidelines on the many steps social workers should take to locate families – including seeking assistance from law enforcement.
Those steps were not followed in at least one other child abuse death detailed in The Bee's investigation of CPS, published two days before the social worker located Jahmaurae.
K.C. Balbuena, 3, whose mother and male roommate were convicted this year of his 2005 beating death, was never located by a CPS worker who visited the apartment nine times and left her card twice in the days preceding the boy's death.
CPS officials told The Bee earlier this year that procedures for locating families were not followed in this case.
The agency made the same admission in Jahmaurae's death.
"In the majority of cases, records show our workers make the right decisions," said Lynn Frank, head of the county's Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CPS.
"In the case of Jahmaurae Allen, we did not adhere to our own high standards," she said in a statement issued after the boy's death became public last month.
Jahmaurae was declared brain-dead, and his mother's live-in boyfriend, Jonathan Lamar Perry, was arrested and charged with murder and child endangerment. Perry also was charged this week with physically abusing Jahmaurae's 3-year-old brother.
The case has set off a flurry of new scrutiny into CPS' practices. Since last September, seven children whose families or caregivers previously had been brought to CPS' attention have died.
On Tuesday, top county officials – including Frank – said they would retain an independent consultant to examine the agency. The Sacramento County grand jury has initiated its own investigation.
The social worker assigned to Jahmaurae's case has been placed on paid administrative leave, and Frank has publicly acknowledged that the employee "worked in isolation and did not follow established department procedures."
The new documents show that paramedics worked feverishly to revive Jahmaurae after the boy was found unconscious July 21, administering CPR for at least 20 minutes and giving him multiple doses of medicines.
But his internal injuries were so severe there was little hope of saving the boy.
"A workup revealed severe splenic and liver lacerations, multiple rib fractures, and severe traumatic brain injury," according to the documents.
The documents indicate that paramedics were called to the Foothill Farms apartment where Jahmaurae lived with his brother and an 18-month-old sister, his mother and Perry. CPS records show that the mother told the doctor that her boyfriend was baby-sitting her three children eight hours a day but she had "no concerns" about his care of them.
Perry told authorities that Jahmaurae had suffered a seizure and that he called 911 at about 4 a.m. that day while the mother and the 3-year-old were at a hospital seeking treatment for the other boy's illness,the documents reported.
But by the time paramedics got Jahmaurae to a hospital his body temperature was 73 degrees and officials found the boy "to have massive internal injuries and brain injuries" before he was declared brain dead at 11:10 that night.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 250- pound Perry is in the Sacramento County jail on the charges and has yet to enter a plea in the case.
Jahmaurae first came to the attention of CPS on June 18, when the doctor's office reported to the agency that "Jahmaurae has an injury to his chest, the explanation does not fit the injury," the CPS documents state.
The injury was a 4-inch by 5-inch swelling and bruise on his chest that was so tender "Jahmaurae cried when it was examined."
When the boy was asked by the doctor what happened to him, he said he had been hit by his brother – an explanation he later repeated to the social worker. But the documents indicate that the doctor had told CPS: "it is not likely a 3 year old could have caused that injury."
Call The Bee's Marjie Lundstrom, (916) 321-1055.
