Under fire for a string of children's deaths, Sacramento County officials said today 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 said that it is hiring MGT of America Inc., a Tallahassee-based firm with an office in Sacramento, and that 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 the library board approved in June.
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.
CPS has been under fire for a string of deaths of children whose families were known to the agency and for questions about the possible altering of internal documents in the recent death of a 4-year-old boy.
The agency already is the focus of a county grand jury probe that began after a Bee investigation into the July 21 death of Jahmaurae Allen, a 4-year-old Foothill Farms boy allegedly beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend.
The suspect in that case is 26-year-old Jonathan Lamar Perry, who lived with Jahmaurae, his two siblings and their mother.
Since Jahmaurae's death, The Bee has found that internal CPS documents in the case were altered after the boy's death, with various and conflicting conclusions inserted into the agency's computer files. One finding in the files determined that an allegation of abuse of Jahmaurae a month before his death was "unfounded." Another called the allegation "inconclusive." A final finding after the boy was killed determined the allegation was "substantiated."
Since the Bee's report, CPS officials have met privately with members of the Board of Supervisors and told them such revisions were normal record-keeping practices.
"I've been told that there are some circumstances under which it's permitted, so that's why it's important to find out if this case fits those circumstances or exactly what happened," Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan told The Bee earlier this month.
She and other members of the board have said they are concerned about the allegations of documents being changed and that they want the independent auditor, as well as the grand jury probe, to determine if there are improprieties in the case and in CPS practices.
Call The Bee's Marjie Lundstrom, (916) 321-1055.
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