CPS

Homicide detectives have taken over the lead role in the investigation of missing 22-month-old Dwight Stallings.

Homicide detectives have taken over the lead role in the investigation of missing 22-month-old Dwight Stallings.

Despite the fact that her infant son hadn't been seen by family members or authorities for at least two months, a drug- using mother was ordered released from jail in June by the Sacramento County Juvenile Court, The Bee has learned.

Tanisha Edwards, whose missing 22-month-old son Dwight Stallings is at the center of an aggressive search by local officials, admitted to investigators that she was trying to hide the baby from social workers because she had failed drug tests, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.

Calling it a "tragic case," Sacramento County sheriff's and Child Protective Services officials insisted late Tuesday that they are taking aggressive action to find a 22-month-old boy who has been missing for nearly a year.

Law enforcement authorities are worried that a baby boy last seen 11 months ago may be dead, and they say Sacramento County Child Protective Services failed for all that time to alert them the boy was missing.

Michelle Callejas said her previous jobs in human services at the county and a nonprofit agency have made her committed to the cause of children and families.

John and Kathyrn Clark thought their lives were in danger when they were contacted, out of the blue, by their adopted son's biological mother. In a lawsuit, the Clarks accuse CPS and others involved in the custody case of failing to protect their identities, a violation of state and federal laws.

In a 20-year-period, fewer children were killed by abuse and neglect in Sacramento County when programs aimed at troubled families were funded, according to a report presented to the Board of Supervisors.

The Bee gained access to Yeinira Melchor's child welfare file through a statute the Legislature passed in 2006 that made records public when children die as a result of abuse or neglect.

Giovanni Melchor was just a year old when he drowned in the stagnant water of his family's backyard swimming pool in late 2006. Not even three years later, Giovanni's sister, Yeinira, who had been removed from the home and then returned, was also dead, a victim of medical neglect by her parents.

Lilly Manning has been the recipient of other people's poor choices, bad judgment and terrible timing. Now, the 19-year-old woman who escaped torture in a south Sacramento home is seeking retribution.

Michelle Callejas, a longtime Sacramento County human services employee and manager, is the new head of the county's embattled Child Protective Services unit.

Sex offenders are living or working in foster-care facilities and homes, according to a report released by the California State Auditor on Thursday.

Sacramento County Child Protective Services has dramatically reduced the number of children it seeks to remove from their homes because of abuse and neglect.

The court hearing Friday was to sentence 23-year-old Thomas Jerome Martin to prison for beating 3-year-old Valeeya Brazile to death.

A judge today sentenced 23-year-old Thomas Jerome Martin to 29 years to life for the beating death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter inside a Fair Oaks apartment in 2008.

Laura Coulthard, head of Sacramento County's embattled Child Protective Services, is leaving the agency, a county spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Budget cuts are threatening reform efforts at Sacramento County's long-troubled Child Protective Services agency, according to two reports released Tuesday.

Laura Coulthard, director of Sacramento County's Child Protective Services, has taken an extended leave of absence from the agency, officials confirmed Tuesday.

During the trial, jurors watched the tape of Jonathan Lamar Perry telling detectives how he beat his girlfriend's little boy to death, but they still deliberated almost three days before convicting him Tuesday of second-degree murder.

First came the denial, followed by a voice mail Jonathan Lamar Perry left on a detective's answering machine saying he wanted to "confess" to "whupping" his girlfriend's 4-year-old son.

A searing internal review of Sacramento County's Child Protective Services has concluded that judgment errors and bias among agency workers were factors in the 2008 death of a 4 1/2-year-old foster child.

A disproportionately high number of foster children in Sacramento are shuffled in assembly-line fashion through numerous placements, too many social workers and a disjointed medical system that even insiders don't understand, the Sacramento County grand jury has found.

A disproportionately high number of foster children in Sacramento are shuffled in assembly line fashion through numerous placements, too many social workers and a disjointed medical system that even insiders don't understand, the Sacramento County grand jury has found.

Sacramento County's Child Protective Services needs to step up progress on completing its policy manual more than a year after the agency was warned that its guidelines were outdated, inconsistent and contradictory, according to a new citizens' report.

The Sacramento foster mother who was caring for 4½-year-old Amariana Crenshaw when she died in a mysterious 2008 fire has been banned for life from providing foster care in California.

Sacramento County's Child Protective Services needs to step up progress on completing its policy manual, more than a year after the troubled agency was warned that its guidelines were outdated, inconsistent and contradictory, according to a new citizens' report scheduled to go before county officials today.

Child abuse and neglect were rampant in a crowded North Natomas foster home, where children attacked one another, their phone usage was tightly controlled and their foster mother lied to social workers about the chaotic conditions, according to new accusations by the California Department of Social Services.