State Oversight Expanded for Child Welfare Agency After Toddler Death

State officials will extend their oversight of Santa Clara County’s beleaguered child welfare agency in the wake of a 2-year-old’s tragic death in foster care, as local leaders expressed outrage and called for further changes to protect kids.

The county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services is also beefing up guardrails around where children can be placed, even in emergencies, requiring high-level staff to approve such placements.

“Children should not be dying under the care and custody of a system that exists to protect them. It is unacceptable,” County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said Thursday during a news conference. “This level of system failure demands immediate action, course correction and accountability in a way that we haven’t done before.”

Following the April 9 death of Jaxon Juarez, the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services said in a report on Thursday that it’s working with the California Department of Social Services to “extend and update” an existing oversight agreement in place since late 2024.

In addition to the expanded state oversight, Arenas called for an “independent entity to take on episodic review” of the Department of Family and Children’s Services’ case files.

“This is something that has helped other counties before, and I believe could support and be the transformative change that is needed here,” Arenas said.

Arenas is the chair of the Board of Supervisors’ Children, Seniors, and Families Committee, and has been vocal in raising alarms about the outcomes in the county’s child welfare system.

The prior oversight effort, which included a “corrective action plan,” was prompted by the deaths of two other children in foster care in 2023, including the fentanyl poisoning of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro and the stabbing death of 6-year-old Jordan Walker.

Those deaths occurred, Arenas and critics said, while the agency pursued policies focused on keeping children with their families, even in the face of safety concerns.

The corrective action plan, which the agency was making progress on and was set to conclude in June, was aimed in part at rebalancing the priorities of family reunification and child safety.

“When it comes to the child welfare system in this county, the pendulum swung too far. We were prioritizing family preservation over child safety,” Arenas said.

“While being considerate of family connections and unity remains a valuable part of the child welfare system, those considerations should never overshadow our assessment of whether a home or an environment is safe for a child,” she said.

But Richard Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said in the wake of Castro’s death, the county sharply increased removals of children from homes into the foster care system and that had unintended consequences.

“That did enormous harm to hundreds of children needlessly taken. It also so overwhelmed workers that they had even less time to investigate any case, or any potential caretaker, carefully,” Wexler said. “That made it more likely that more children in real danger would be missed. So the horrible irony here is that the failed response to the death of Phoenix Castro may well have contributed to the death of Jaxon Juarez.”

Unionized workers employed at the agency have raised alarms about overwhelm, describing chronic understaffing, unsustainable caseloads and burnout, which they say jeopardize the safety of children in the county’s systems.

Jaxon, a special needs child, was placed by the county agency into the care of a relative of his father’s, Bridget Michelle Martinez, in late February. He died on April 9 after authorities said he was repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted by Martinez’s 17-year-old son. The son, who has since turned 18, is facing murder and assault charges in juvenile court.

Family members of Jaxon have lambasted the agency for ever placing him with Martinez, who court records show was previously convicted of felony child endangerment tied to a DUI in 2014.

County officials previously said that such a conviction would bar child welfare workers from placing a child in Martinez’s care, even in extenuating circumstances. It’s not clear how Jaxon ended up in the home, and the county has not explained.

Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, the head of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, said effective immediately, reviews of emergency placements of children with relatives will need to be approved by senior managers.

Any child welfare history or criminal record history will need to be signed off on by executives, she said during the meeting of the Children, Seniors, and Families Committee on Thursday.

She also said the agency is doing a “deeper dive” review of the caseloads of the staff who were connected to Jaxon’s case, “to make sure there are no safety concerns.”

As of Thursday, County Executive James Williams said in a memo that 10 staff members of the agency have been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with Jaxon’s case while local investigations and a separate state investigation of the case continue.

“Depending on the findings of our investigation, staff may face disciplinary action up to and including termination,” Williams said.

Williams also supported the creation of an independent auditing and oversight body for the agency.

“Throughout these reform efforts, the clear and unwavering focus of DFCS leadership and staff has been on child safety and taking all reasonable actions to ensure the safety of each child over whom DFCS has responsibility. Yet it is also clear that much more must be done, and as quickly as possible,” Williams said.

He also acknowledged the grief and concern of child welfare staff in the county, and thanked them for doing “incredibly difficult, heart-wrenching work, day in and day out, as

our system appropriately faces calls to do more and do better.”

Arenas, during the tense committee meeting, became emotional when talking about the deaths of children in the county’s care, and said everyone should be angry about it.

In response to assurances from Williams about the work the county is doing, she openly questioned the leaders of the county agencies sitting to her sides on the dais in the county board chambers.

“I’m doubting the leadership that is currently in place. I’m not making any bones about it,” she said, looking at Kinnear-Rausch, Department of Social Services Director Daniel Little and others.

“You all tell me how many children could die under your leadership and you still have a job. If they’re Brown, maybe five, like what is it? If they are white, none?” she said. “You all seem to think that you’re going to give your sorrow to the families and the relatives and the community. But where is your responsibility and your accountability?”