Social Worker Helped Reunite Parents, Baby

A county social worker testified Tuesday that she spent two years working to reunite little Joselin Amor with her parents Rogelio and Gabriela Hernandez, who are now on trial for allegedly beating the 2-year-old to death.

Catherine DeLaTorre-Martinez testified that a decision was made by another social worker to return Joselin to her parents soon after she was first removed from their custody in 1994 due to alleged abuse that left the child with broken bones and burns.

At the time, California law heavily favored family reunification, except in cases where the child had sustained permanent injury, Martinez testified. Joselin’s case was not deemed severe enough to warrant permanent removal, she said.

Besides Martinez, both a former roommate and a neighbor of the Hernandezes testified Tuesday that Rogelio Hernandez abused not only his child, but also his wife.

Neighbor Jorge Perez testified that he witnessed Rogelio Hernandez swinging the infant Joselin by the ankles in 1994 just before she was taken to the hospital with broken bones.

And former roommate Rafael Flores Gutierrez, who lived with the couple briefly, testified that he saw Rogelio abuse Gabriela by yelling at her and pushing her on several occasions.

About a month after Joselin was taken to the hospital with broken bones in 1994, Martinez testified, she developed a plan with Rogelio and Gabriela that included parenting classes, therapy sessions and regular visits from a social worker.

“The purpose was to check on their participation,” Martinez said. “To inform them of the expectations of the agency and assist them in any way that they needed assistance.”

The ultimate goal was to reunite Joselin with her parents, Martinez said.

While the Hernandezes were coached on being better parents, Martinez also checked up on Joselin who was in the care of her maternal grandparents, Miguel and Amor Nieto.

Every six months, social workers met with a family court judge to check the progress made by the couple and to determine if the reunification plan was being followed.

Martinez, a social worker with the county’s Public Social Services Agency, recounted that Joselin seemed to thrive while staying with her grandparents.

But under questioning from Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona, Martinez said that she saw marks and burns on Joselin’s body about the time that she was visited by her parents or after brief home stays with the couple.

Martinez testified that she questioned Rogelio and Gabriela about the injuries and was told that they were due to falls. The burns, she was told, were from hot water coming out of a faucet.

Although defense attorneys have said that they plan to put the Public Social Services Agency on trial as part of their case, prosecutor Corona said that she would focus on evidence and testimony that places the blame for Joselin’s death squarely on the shoulders of her parents--Rogelio for beating his daughter and Gabriela for not stopping the abuse.

Prosecutors allege that the couple beat, burned and battered the child, ultimately causing her death.

Joselin was first removed from her parents’ custody six weeks after her birth, when she was admitted to the hospital with nine broken ribs and two broken ankles.

After being cared for by her grandparents, Joselin was returned to her parents’ home in March 1996 for an extended 60-day home stay.

Prosecutors allege that after her grandmother died in a car accident in May of that year and while she was in the care of her parents, young Joselin’s condition gradually deteriorated. She died June 22 of severe blows to the abdomen, according to the county coroner.

Defense attorneys said that Rogelio, 20, and Gabriela, 19, were young and ignorant parents, not malicious and abusive.

During cross-examination of Martinez, Rogelio’s defense attorney, Doug Dailey, pointed out that according to Martinez’s reports at the time, the young couple were making progress and that apart from some missed therapy sessions, they were trying to comply with her plan for reunification.

Under Dailey’s cross-examination, Martinez, who has almost 20 years of experience as a child welfare worker, testified that she commended the couple in early 1996 for their progress, and recommended that Joselin be returned to her parents for an extended 60-day stay.

Since their arrest, the couple have split, and Gabriela has recently filed for divorce. In court, the two seldom look at each other.

Defense attorneys have argued that the two cannot get a fair trial if they are tried together. Gabriela has said that she is not guilty of abusing her child and that she did not take action to stop the abuse because she was intimidated by her husband.

The trial is set to resume Tuesday.

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APPOINTMENT

Interim director to head social services agency. B6