It's been two and a half months since 2 year old Adacelli Snyder was found in a filthy trailer, starved to death, allegedly by her own mother. Charlene Synder and her boyfriend, Jack Richardson, go on trial for second-degree murder in February.
But they may not be the only ones responsible. As we've reported, Clark County's Department of Family Services handled the Snyder case. Their potential role in the toddler's fate is now under investigation. News 3 is also investigating, and uncovered a report that shows systemic failure in family services.
This report is something DFS won't talk about. I'm told the district attorney advised them to keep quiet. It was completed just six days before Adacelli Snyder died and documents critical weaknesses in family services. After reports of child neglect within the snyder family, DFS monitored them and provided assistance for a year, then closed the case, without further follow-up.
The images of an unmarked grave and a baby buried without a soul to say goodbye stirred Clark County residents to take matters into their own hands. But when Adacelli Snyder and her family were in Clark County's hands, did social workers handle the case appropriately? This independent child welfare institute review obtained by News 3 raises many questions about whether Adacelli's funeral should have been necessary. Whether her death could have been prevented. The county closed the case a year before the little girl starved.
"One of the concerns is how was the decision made to close the case when the case was closed?
Family services has refused to release the case file, and wouldn't talk to us on camera about the Child Welfare Institute's findings. We spoke with Deputy Director Ann Ruben for a previous story.
"During the year that we had the case, the family was very cooperative with us. All the changes that we asked of them, they made."
We can't confirm that, and we don't know if they can prove it either. The Child Welfare Institute's review of other child deaths in the DFS system shows a "serious problem with recorded documentation of critical information. Among the things often not documented: investigative contacts, family background checks, evidence used to make findings, progress or the lack of it toward case goals, and the basis for safety decisions. There was little documentation of contact with service providers to determine progress or status. And in several instances, the parent's own statements were the only source of information critical to either judging the validity of a report or providing evidence of case improvement." in this case, Adacelli's mother and her boyfriend are chared with her death, by neglect. It all begs the burning question of how anyone can rely on the county's assurance that they made the right decisions in Adacelli Snyder's short life.
The county has developed a plan of action based on the Child Welfare Institute's recommendations for improvement. They expect to have all changes in place by the end of this month, including staff training, new policies and quality reviews.
