Clark County disclosure in foster child killing reveals little
Clark County’s child fatality disclosure involving 16-month-old Michell Momox-Caselis, who was killed in an apparent murder-suicide involving her foster father Sunday, doesn’t provide much new information.
The disclosure, released Tuesday afternoon after being filed with a state agency, indicates that Child Protective Services had no prior referrals for the toddler’s foster parents. The Clark County Department of Family Services received a referral about Momox-Caselis on Aug. 2, 2013, alleging neglect, according to the disclosure.
“Court action was initiated and the child was found to be in need of protection, and was placed into foster care,” the disclosure to the Nevada Division and Child and Family Services states. “The allegation in the report was court substantiated.”
Joaquin Juarez-Paez, 37, of Las Vegas, was found dead in his car in front of the Oasis Vinings apartment complex at 6100 Carmen Blvd., near North Jones Boulevard and Vegas Drive, shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, according to Las Vegas police.
Police reported that when they arrived at the apartment and sent Juarez-Paez’s wife inside to get the car keys, she found the foster girl dead in her crib. A second foster child, a 6-month-old baby, was found unharmed and taken into protective custody, police said.
Several questions about Juarez-Paez, his wife and their history as foster parents remained unanswered Tuesday.
Nevada is one of 33 states and the District of Columbia, where some information disclosure is allowed in cases of abuse or neglect of a child that results in a fatality or near fatality, according to the Children’s Bureau, an office of the federal Administration for Children and Families.
County officials on Monday wouldn’t release basic information about the foster parents, citing confidentiality. That prompted child advocates to call for greater transparency. Barbara Buckley, executive director of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada and a member of the state’s newly formed blue ribbon panel exploring deficiencies in Clark County child welfare services, said disclosure is key “so tragedies like this don’t happen in the future.”
Linda Spears, vice president of policy and public affairs with the Washington, D.C.-based Child Welfare League of America, believes attorneys and officials involved in such cases may not always consider “what’s in the best interest of the general community,” but rather what’s best from a legal standpoint.
“In my experience, in incidents like this, attorneys will take the most conservative interpretation of the law until they know what their liability is,” Spears said.
“There is a requirement that states keep information confidential,” she added Tuesday. “How that plays out and how they find space to be able to release information varies from state to state and agency to agency.”
Some child welfare agencies will find a way to provide transparency while protecting those involved, Spears said.
“There are very good reasons for the law and there are really good reasons for openness and transparency,” she said. “We think it doesn’t serve them well when they hide.”
Florida has one of the best processes for deciding when something becomes public, she said.
“They have a lot of issues, but they do release information to the public,” she said.
The organization encourages child welfare agencies to be transparent, even by just explaining certain issues in general terms, Spears said.
The public disclosure made following Michell’s death indicates that the cause of death remains pending until receipt of official coroner documentation.
It usually takes six to eight weeks for that information to be released, but can take longer in a child’s death, according to the Clark County’s coroner’s office.
Family Services has opened an investigation into the case and is working with local law enforcement, according to the public disclosure.
Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter: @YeseniaAmaro. Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead.
