San Bernardino County Children and Family Services caseworkers and the Sheriff’s Department were warned that infant Henry Wheatley Brown might be in danger from his mother, who already had a conviction for child cruelty.
Then, 14 months after Henry’s birth in August 2022, the burned and bruised boy was dead, a victim of abuse, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Could he have been saved by the system?
When Henry was born, his mother had a warrant out for her arrest for failing to show up to jail and enroll in a 52-week child-abuse offender’s program after she pleaded guilty to child cruelty in 2013, Superior Court records show.
Children and Family Services looked in on Henry and his mother immediately after his birth and while noting some problems, a caseworker concluded that the boy was safe. The mother was not taken in on the warrant.
In June the next year, a sheriff’s deputy checked on Henry, a babysitter’s mother told the Southern California News Group, after she discovered a 4-inch-long scab on his head and a 2-inch-long bruise on his forehead that she said looked like a shoe print.
And Henry’s paternal grandmother said in an interview that she called Children and Family Services six times with concerns about Henry’s safety after he was born, only, she said, to be ignored.
Henry continued to live with his mother, Samantha Victoria Garver, now 34, and her boyfriend, Sergio Vincent Mena, 33, in their home in Sugarloaf, east of Big Bear Lake. On Oct. 1, 2023, Henry’s life ended, prosecutors say, because of intentional abuse by the couple.
Garver has pleaded not guilty to murder. Mena, who was not the child’s biological father, has denied charges of murder and child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury. They are due to return to court on Jan. 7.
Children and Family Services officials have said little about their work beyond releasing to the Southern California News Group, as required by state law after a child’s death from neglect or abuse, certain documents.
A spokesman would not answer specific questions about the case.
“While the county understands the interest in additional information, responses would be complex and require fact-driven explanations, which are confidential under (state law),” Children and Family Services spokesman Patrick Munar said in an email.
“The county has no higher priority than the well-being of the children in our community,” Munar said. “As public servants, our social workers spend every day tirelessly working to keep our children safe and to connect their families to resources in their communities.”
The documents do not identify Henry by his full name. In references to the boy, the remainder of the first name beyond the first letter, H, is redacted, and no last name is listed. However, the facts and circumstances noted in the documents match those of Henry, his mother and her boyfriend that have been reported in court documents and Sheriff’s Department news releases.
The Sheriff’s Department, citing the ongoing court case, has declined to say what that deputy saw and the agency did.
Concerns raised years ago
When someone calls in a concern about a child, that can turn into what is called a referral: Children and Family Services contacts the family and determines whether further inquiry is warranted. Options include monitoring the family, offering services and filing a petition with juvenile court to remove the child.
It is unclear whether Children and Family Services opened a full investigation of Garver; Children and Family Services documents show there were five referrals from 2009 to 2013. The identities of hotline callers are confidential and redacted from documents.
The first call alleged that Garver and her mother lived together and smoked marijuana and drank alcohol. Another, dated July 21, 2010, says the parents, Garver and her then-husband, not Henry’s dad, were using and selling illegal drugs at home; little else is revealed in this five-page document, with the caseworker’s summarized findings mostly redacted with black marker.
A third referral, on July 22, 2010, said a 1-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl lived in the house with parents who argued frequently. The father got so angry one day, the referral says, that he rammed his foot through a car windshield. He sold drugs for a living, the document alleges. The Sheriff’s Department was notified.
On Feb. 1, 2013, a hotline caller said Garver asked on a Facebook page: Would covering a child’s mouth with duct tape be considered abusive?
A second referral that day prompted a deputy to go to the home. He told Children and Family Services that the children slept in a bedroom covered with fecal matter: “Mother will not be arrested but she will be charged with felony child neglect,” a caseworker wrote.
That March, Garver was charged with willful child cruelty that could cause injury or death; it is unclear what allegation that was based on. Just over a year later, the felony charge was dropped in exchange for her pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of willful child cruelty. She was sentenced to 100 days in the sheriff’s work-release program and ordered to complete a one-year child abuse treatment program.
But Garver never reported to the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center or attended the classes, resulting in the arrest warrant, Superior Court records show. It is unclear how Garver managed to remain free for so long after the 2014 arrest warrant.
No document provided to the Southern California News Group shows another referral until when Henry was born in August 2022. That one, which the paternal grandmother said she made, prompted a caseworker to look into the family and determine that Henry weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce at birth; that Garver tested negative for illegal drugs, and that the father had been in and out of jail but stopped hanging out with “negative influences.” The home was clean and had adequate furniture and clothing for the children.
Although the risk to Henry for neglect and abuse was “high,” the document dated Aug. 17 says, the caseworker did not include a danger statement or safety plan because none was believed necessary.
“Safety threat was not identified; therefore, a safety plan was not needed at the time of the investigation,” a caseworker said. “Mother (redacted) and child H(redacted) reside with paternal grandparents who are also mother’s safety network. The Safety Assessment … resulted on child being safe in mother (redacted) care.”
Children and Family Services would not directly explain how a child could be judged to be both safe and at high risk simultaneously.
Philip Decter, the director of child welfare at Evident Change, a nonprofit organization that uses data and research to improve social systems, said safety and risk assessments look at two different things.
Safety assessment is focused on whether there is any danger to the child right now, and an unsafe environment could result in a petition for removal from the home. Risk assessment looks into the future, estimating the likelihood that a family may be involved with child-welfare services again in the next 12 to 18 months.
In cases similar to Henry’s, a caseworker would be prompted to consider what supports could be offered to the family to help prevent the family from requiring additional intervention in the future.
Investigations into Henry stop
No other referral was generated until Henry was dead, Children and Family Services wrote in a document.
That’s despite Henry’s paternal grandmother, Sierra Rivers, contacting the child welfare agency multiple times after Henry’s birth, she told Southern California News Group.
“I’m really not surprised that (Children and Family Services) is saying they do not have any reports documented,” Rivers said. “I started out hopeful that (CFS) would do something to make life better for all the children as each one was born but often I was extremely upset when calling, as normally it was immediately following me witnessing (Garver) abusing or neglecting the children. I always called flustered and upset.
“After Henry was born and (CFS) said there was significant evidence that Henry was in danger but they let her leave the hospital with him anyways, she began telling everyone who voiced concerns that because (CFS) had received so many false reports about her that they were no longer going to investigate any further reports,” Rivers said.
County policy requires all calls to the hotline to be documented and the appropriate action taken, Munar said, but they do not all result in referrals.
“Many calls to the hotline do not actually allege abuse or neglect or have already been investigated with no new information,” Munar said.
A USC social-work professor who was employed by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services for 30 years said if true, Rivers’ experience is surprising.
“I have never heard of a public child welfare agency not investigating a referral because there have been a lot of false reports,” Debra Waters-Roman said in an interview. “In L.A. County, as long as the referral includes allegations of possible child abuse or endangerment, they will go out to investigate whether it’s the first referral or the 50th.”
Authorities did see Henry alive one last time, however.
Stephanie Duncan said in an interview that her 14-year-old daughter frequently babysat Henry, who Duncan described as “sweet, snuggly, soft, and loved to be rocked to sleep.”
Henry would come with no toys and few clothes or diapers, she said. His bottles were “disgustingly filthy.”
On June 28, 2023, Henry arrived for an extended stay with bruises on his body, Duncan said. She called the Sheriff’s Department two days later. The deputy examined Henry, and Duncan said she showed him photos of the injuries that she shot on the 28th.
“He said babies who aren’t walking shouldn’t have those types of injuries,” Duncan said.
The deputy went to his patrol car, came back, and said he would visit Garver and Mena, Duncan said.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta would not say whether the department contacted Children and Family Services, only that the deputy filed a confidential report.
Hindsight easier than foresight
Kelley Fong, an assistant professor of sociology at UC Irvine, embedded with caseworkers in Connecticut for about six months in 2018 to research their work.
“It’s easy when we look back from horrific outcomes to see opportunities that were missed,” Fong said. “It’s much more challenging to look forward.”
In Henry’s case, Fong said, “Most people would say it’s horribly unfair to remove that baby after allegations decades ago.”
Caseworkers visiting homes typically know nothing about the family and spend only a few hours with it, Fong said. The best investigators will seek information from a variety of sources including doctors, mental-health treatment providers and teachers and then check criminal records.
Waters-Roman, the former L.A. County caseworker, said few people outside of family members typically see a young child such as Henry who does not attend school. The caseworker then must interview as many family members as possible. Some are difficult to reach, and some lie, Waters-Roman said.
“I think for myself, when looking at risk, the most important things to evaluate are, does the family have a past history with CPS (child protective services) and if so, what was that all about?” Waters-Roman said. “Why was the case open? What happened with that case?”
Waters-Roman said the job is emotionally and physically draining.
“I know there is a lot of child welfare that needs to do a better job but I think it’s hard for individuals in the general public to know how complex the work can be,” Waters-Roman said. “There is no tool or way we can go into a family’s house and do some sort of equation and know whether the child is going to be all right or not.”
Attorney Roger Booth of Booth Law has filed lawsuits against child-welfare agencies, including Riverside County’s.
Booth said it can be difficult to substantiate allegations: Sometimes, the children are afraid to speak to caseworkers or, such as in Henry’s case, are too young to do so.
“Certainly, it’s relevant if the parent has a criminal record,” Booth said. “One of the risk factors is if the parent has a history of abuse.”
Henry’s last days
By 2023, Henry’s father was no longer living with Garver and her three other children by another man.
On Sept. 30, 2023, Garver would tell a Children and Family Services investigator, she left Henry with Mena at the home they shared and went out for the night — even though she knew Mena had been using methamphetamine and had not slept for two days, a caseworker says in a document.
Mena told an investigator that he left Henry in a bathtub with the water running while he got high, the document says.
Garver returned home in the morning to find Henry with burns on his penis and lower legs, according to a Children and Family Services document, that could have been from being dipped in hot water.
Garver and Mena provided no care for Henry for 12 hours aside from treating him with an antihistamine until they called 911 around 8 p.m., the document says. They told first responders that Henry’s heart had stopped about 20 minutes before, the document adds, but investigators said they believe he had been dead longer.
Henry’s body had bruises in various stages of healing. At some point, he had suffered a dislocated arm and had several teeth knocked out, the document says.
The next day, his mom and her boyfriend were arrested and put in jail, where they remain.
Anyone concerned about the well-being of a child or adult in San Bernardino County can call the county’s hotline at 800-827-8724.
