How the Murder of Gabriel Fernandez Changed the Department of Children and Family Services

The murder of Gabriel Fernandez and the failure of California’s Department of Children and Family Services to prevent this tragedy are central to many of the documentaries out there about the trial of the mother of Gabriel Fernandez. A dramatic trial that involved Gabriel Fernandez’s siblings testifying against their own mother in court as well as outlining the horrific treatment Gabriel received at the hands of the entire family plus their mother’s boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre.

Subjected to horrific abuse at the hands of all those mentioned, Gabriel Fernandez’s case was investigated, to no avail, multiple times by government agencies painted as criminally negligent in their inability to protect the 8-year-old boy from torture at the hands of two very evil adults. In fact, the courts largely agreed that the DCF agents involved were not only incompetent but criminally liable for the conditions and treatment endured by Gabriel Fernandez. From burns and beatings to being forced to eat his own feces, the inhuman treatment of an 8-year-old clearly dependent on the same state agencies commissioned with his protection is yet one of many examples of the ineptitude and inefficiency of California’s state bureaucracies.

While Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement, along with supervisors Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt went to trial for their handling of the Gabriel Fernandez case, all won their case on appeal. An internal investigation by the California Department of Children and Family Services resulted in their dismissal from their jobs though no one is particularly surprised by this. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection was formed to investigate the matter as well as propose a roadmap for the future.

The commission declared nothing less than a state of emergency for DCFS in California with the report stating: “We cannot stand idly by and wait for another child to meet the fate of Gabriel Fernandez. Sparked by his and other tragic child fatalities, community outrage, and a series of unsuccessful attempts at reforming the County’s child protection system, the Board of Supervisors agreed that action is necessary.”

Some of the immediate changes implemented including lessening workers’ caseloads to allow for a more thorough investigation of each case as well as a change in the way interviews are conducted. The new interviewing style is meant to glean more information from the children in DCFS cases and ascertain a situation in a home.

An independent oversight office called the Office of Child Protection was created in order to review cases and monitor protocols within agency offices. This kind of supervision and oversight was previously lacking in the department before and was introduced as part of a raft of reforms by Director of the Los Angeles County DCFS Bobby D. Cagle.

Lawyer Brian Claypool disagrees with Cagle and told Oxygen.com of the reforms: “”They have the same spineless social workers, and by that I mean their mentality, this is a system problem that’s been going on for over a decade in this agency. You can’t fix a systemic problem by having a Blue Ribbon Commission report come out.”