It is hard to imagine anything worse than young children burning to death in a fire.
It is therefore highly disturbing to read the details of a report from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) after investigators found that the Guilford County employees charged with protecting those children failed to follow the rules and practices of the profession meant to keep the children healthy and safe, both physically and emotionally.
On December 12, 2022, a fire at a home on Grimsley Street in Greensboro led to the deaths of a three-year-old and a set of one-year-old twins who were all being overseen by the Guilford County Division of Social Services.
On Thursday, March 16, 2023, NCDHHS, after an extensive investigation, sent a scathing letter to Guilford County officials citing a long list of violations of rules by social services workers – rules which, if county employees had followed, might have saved the children.
On the same day that letter went out, March 16, another house fire – this one on Glenside Drive in Greensboro – killed a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old. Those children were also being overseen and “protected” by county social services workers.
The deaths of the children in the Grimsley Street fire in December 2022 led NCDHHS to investigate the county department’s practices, and that initial investigation found a host of alarming instances of workers not following rules, policies and laws meant to keep the children safe.
That led to another more extensive investigation in which NCDHHS found that in some instances, social services child protection workers followed procedures less than 50 percent of the time.
For instance, of the cases investigated, children were seen and interviewed at initiation in only 48 percent of the cases, and many of those interviews that did take place were not done in the required timeframe.
The list of violations goes on and on.
The county is now required, by Friday, June 16, to notify the state of the corrective actions the county will take in light of the findings. But no corrective action the county takes now will bring back the lives of the five children – and perhaps of other children under the care of DSS who conceivably died in less publicly known circumstances at least in part because of social workers not doing their jobs.
Hey Scott, how about finding out what social workers and managers got terminated. I know this is Greensboro and Guilford County and they both sweep stuff under the rug but it is time for heads to roll. Unacceptable practices.
Please provide names and pictures of the people who did not do their job. This is criminal!!!!
Will anyone be held accountable?
Don’t count on it.
Lay this blood and blame where it belongs at skips feet. He’s the face of the county, the man in charge. He personally took county taxpayer dollars redirected them to his own pet projects and not where it could have done more for the citizens and poor children of Guilford County. Own this skip it’s yours
It’s time for these two families to call
Ben Crump. I see a big law suit against Skip and the county.
Wow! I don’t live in Guilford Co. however I am horrified by these findings. The children in our state deserve way better! Heads should roll! The county tax payers should demand the jobs of all involved including the person over that department!
It sounds like the problem is that they were still in the care of the family or else I am sure they would have stated that the children were in a foster home. It says that they did not follow through and investigate properly which says to me that they had not been removed from the home. As is the norm in our society -it is everyone’s fault but the parents. Don’t get me wrong if someone is not doing the job they were hired to do then they should be fired. But let’s ask why they are not doing their jobs? Are they lazy or it is because they are being expected to do the jobs of several people because the department is short-staffed. Low salaries combined a extremally stressful job does not make Social Work sound like a very appealing job to most people.
It’s not only children they fail in … it’s the elderly people that are mistreated in facilities and they are told this , and they turn their heads … My mother has bed sores that were established at a facility that has to be packed …now another one has come up and ulcers on her feet …Do you think they care??? This keeps going on and they fail to do anything about it ….Another death will come of this …. She also has a guardian that don’t care about people and it’s obvious ….The only reason she has a guardian is because of a sister who took advantage of her and they had to get involved …
There is so much sweeping under the rug going on concerning the health and well being involving children and the elderly… we need some serious help..people need to start giving accountable for the wrong..so sad…..
Sad as your story is. This isn’t the forum for it. Your mother was interned her own free will. Or yours. In NC, and especially Western NC, the children under cps. Aren’t given a choice. They’re forcibly taken from their homes. A lot should be taken if no one cares for them. But a whole lot are dragged kicking and screaming from the arms of parents and grandparents. Children that are fed and happy and loved. These children, for whatever reason, aren’t neglected. Some of the parents/guardians are recovering addicts. Some are in need of mental health help, financial support or with medical needs too enormous to handle. And in the smaller towns. If you get on the bad side ,(personally), of one of the workers. Not nearly all but some are vendictive, petty, dishonest….. I’ve seen children taken because of a lie or mistake. From good parents. And even jumping through every hoop and passing every test it took almost three years for them to recover their children. The horror stories I could tell would turn your stomach. They are given no oversight. The corruption begins at the top layer. And in McDowell County it’s severe. So if your mother is being mistreated. Take her home and care for her. WTF
DARRYL
This is a tragedy from start to end. The salary that is paid to these social workers is far below the amount that should be paid to social workers, and anyone that is paid to protect children. I have had personal experiences with DSS and they seem very uneducated, and at times pretentious, and definitely unmotivated.
There should be a higher standard of education set for this position. A much higher salary as well.
Extremely sad and outrageous.
Not a single individual will be fired.
This is the public sector.
How about you get the facts. The fact is the division director leading this child welfare needs to go.
My husband and I have learned that anything that has to do with Brunswick County Department of Child Protection and Services is a load of crap. It does not matter what the situation may be, they are not going to do their job. They are not even going to pretend to do their jobs along with the sheriff’s Department. So, if your grandchildren are being hurt, forget go I ng to BDCPS, they will do nothing. Not iven 50% of nothing.
Hire me! I am an Administration of Justice graduate, pursuing my BS in Criminal Justice Law and Sociology. I will gladly take on this responsibility and CLEAN HOUSE!! Who else is with me?? These children are our responsibility and our future!!
Tracy, maybe this is what is needed. These babies were human beings. I say it’s time to let Tracy clean the house or department.
The system is overloaded with false and trivial cases. The typical case is nothing like the horror stories in the media, and poverty is often confused with neglect. The caseworkers spend so much time on the false and trivial reports that they have less time to find the children in real danger. And the families get very little meaningful help. Then since the horror stories tend to be the only ones reported in the media, when children “known to the system” die it’s common for the public to think that errors only go in one direction. The reality is much different, because the horror stories aren’t representative of typical cases. There’s often an outcry that calls for mistaken solutions, and counties tend to get the same awful systems only bigger. And guess what happens? It often results in a “foster care panic” where more investigations are done and more children taken, and it actually increases the number of child deaths instead of reduces. Fixing the system is definitely necessary, but can best be done when more concrete services are provided…most families really need a helping hand instead of a wagging finger.
I’m currently in Guilford County but I have quite a story about Franklin County and am working on a lawsuit.
The one question that you don’t answer in your article was what could DSS have done to prevent the fire that led to the death of the children? Unless DSS started the fires.. I am not sure how the fact that DSS just happened to be involved with the family contributed to the death of the children. By the way, the state investigates all child fatalities..they have a whole team that meets to discuss in each county. Any agency, including the police.
That residence was already in the system, authorities knew of things going on that should never be allowed, and yet the mother still had custody and left her kids alone in the house. Look up the story and you’ll find more details. DSS could have swooped up those kids long ago and they might be alive today.
Maybe you should ask if the procedures were blatantly ignored or if those men and women have too much of a caseload they can’t perform their jobs adequately. My mom was a social worker and she was supposed to carry 150 case load and typically would have around 500. It’s not always the workers fault but supervisors and directors.
I absolutely cannot stand DSS but I can’t see how a house fire in a private foster home could change much. How about smoke detectors. That could lead to saving lives.