Home Can Be a Deadly Choice

When paramedics arrived at Rocio Santoyo’s El Sereno home just after noon on Aug. 20, they found an ominous sign on the door: “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.”

Inside the one-story stucco house, they discovered Santoyo unconscious in a bathtub full of water, a wrist slit and her neck punctured. In a nearby bedroom, they found Santoyo’s 10-year-old son blindfolded and bleeding to death from a deep gash in his neck. Scribbled on the wall above him were the words: “Walter, I told you. I hate you. Now U really only have 3 kids.”

Santoyo lived. Her son, Salomon, did not. Now Santoyo, who had regained custody of the boy just four days before his death, is accused of his murder. She has pleaded not guilty.

Salomon’s death is the latest in a succession of child murders -- six in the last four years -- in which children who had been removed by the county from abusive or neglectful situations died after being returned to their parents’ homes.

Salomon’s case, documented in confidential court records made available to The Times, starkly demonstrates how the child welfare system, designed to protect abused and neglected children, sometimes fails them miserably.

“Life is just not a crystal ball,” said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Nash, who presides over the juvenile court. “The system has never worked as well as it should. But it is moving in the right direction.”

Nash said he could not discuss Santoyo’s case, citing the criminal charges, but said that children’s safety is always the top priority in placement decisions.

Salomon was returned home after 16 months in foster care under the guidelines of family reunification, a philosophy now part of California law that endeavors to return children to once-abusive homes after the parents have successfully completed such requirements as counseling and parenting classes, and are considered no longer likely to harm their children. The law, enacted in 1984, states that the goal of social service agencies and courts should be to “preserve and strengthen” the family wherever possible and that reunification should be a “primary objective.”

It has resulted in tens of thousands of California families being safely and successfully reunited after receiving help from social workers and therapists. But it also has led to children’s deaths because the policy relies on people trying to predict behavior as they balance keeping families together with keeping children safe.

About 10,000 children in Los Angeles County are removed from their parents’ custody each year because of abuse or neglect. Roughly 5,000 children are returned home annually. Of those reunited with their families, about 3% -- or 170 children a year -- are removed again, according to the county Department of Children and Family Services.

“There is always a risk involved,” said Miriam A. Krinsky, executive director of the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles. “The real challenge for the courts, for social workers and for lawyers is to assess those risks and make those tough decisions. It’s very difficult to fully know everything there is to know. That’s why tragedies, unfortunately, do happen.”

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Salomon first came to the attention of county authorities in 1995, when social workers received a call alleging abuse and found a red mark on one of the boy’s legs. The incident was considered “unsubstantiated,” according to court records, and Salomon remained in his mother’s care.

Then, on April 23, 2003, the sweet-natured, dark-haired boy arrived at Farmdale Elementary School in tears. He told his teacher that his mother had hit him 13 times with a belt because he couldn’t find his sweaters. Salomon, who had several bruises, said he was scared she wouldn’t stop until he found them.

The school nurse called police, who arrested Santoyo. Salomon was placed in foster care. Social worker Ophelia Garnica concluded in an April 28 report that the boy would be “at continued risk of abuse” if returned to his mother.

Santoyo admitted to social workers that she had “lost it” with her son and said she needed help. But she insisted that the abuse was out of the ordinary. “I know what I did was wrong, but this is an isolated incident,” she said, according to court records. “I don’t mistreat my son.”

Salomon’s statements suggested otherwise. The boy told authorities that his mother had hit him “too many times to count,” according to court records. Asked by social worker Stacy Holland about his mother nearly two months after he entered foster care, Salomon said he still sometimes felt afraid of her.

“Do you miss your mother?” Holland asked.

“I’m missing her a little,” he responded. “But if she never hit me, I’d say I’m missing her a lot.”

After social workers placed Salomon in foster care, Santoyo seemed determined to get the boy back. Holland recommended that Santoyo take parenting classes, participate in individual therapy and attend joint counseling with her son, which she agreed to do.

At a juvenile court hearing soon after Santoyo lost custody, Commissioner Brian Petraborg granted her monitored visits with Salomon, ordering her not to hit the boy. On July 15, when Santoyo pleaded no contest to child abuse in criminal court, Judge Dennis Aichroth sentenced her to three years’ probation, 45 days of Caltrans work and one year of parenting classes.

Santoyo was at the same time attempting a reconciliation of a different sort. Salomon’s father, Walter Roa, had been estranged from Santoyo since his son’s birth. But on hearing of Salomon’s placement in foster care, Roa, a former gang member with a criminal conviction for selling drugs, began trying to rebuild a relationship with Santoyo and Salomon, and eventually left his wife and two children.

The court soon granted Roa permission to visit with his son but instructed him to participate in drug counseling and testing, along with parenting classes and therapy with his son.

From the time of Salomon’s placement in foster care, the goal of those charged with his oversight was reunification. California’s laws -- and those of many other states -- stem from research showing that, if they can be kept safe, children are better off with their parents because of strong biological and family ties.

The laws had the worthy goal of reducing the number of children languishing in foster care without any plans for returning them home or finding them permanent alternatives with relatives or adoptive parents. But they also have produced tragedies.

“If you can assist the family to come back together in a way that is safe, the children will ultimately benefit, as well as the parents,” said Nancy Wright, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. “In this case, it sounds like a tragic error was made.”

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By Aug. 16 of this year, Santoyo, 28, had completed her parenting classes and therapy. She had visited with her son regularly without any problems and had been allowed unsupervised, overnight visits with him at her home in northeast Los Angeles.

Social workers had repeatedly voiced concerns that Santoyo needed more therapy. But the county Department of Children and Family Services can recommend against reunification only if there is evidence that the child would be at risk if returned home, according to the county counsel’s office. Deeming there was no evidence of such risk, the department recommended in an Aug. 16 report that “Salomon return home to his mother,” with the help of its family preservation services.

Social workers tried to assess the situation as best they could, said department spokeswoman Louise Grasmehr, and Santoyo appeared to be doing well.

“But we’re dealing with human beings, and we can’t always predict what will happen,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking for everybody.”

Everyone involved in the case agreed that Salomon should go home, said Kenneth Sherman, a lawyer whose firm represented the boy. Salomon was no longer scared of his mother, he said, and the system had moved “deliberately and slowly” in an attempt to ensure his safety.

Santoyo’s therapist, Gloria Guevara, wrote a letter in July stating that Santoyo was working to improve her parenting skills, express her anger and resolve conflicts.

“Ms. Santoyo has expressed a strong desire to be reunified with her son,” Guevara wrote. “It is this therapist’s opinion that she has made enough improvement to be given an opportunity to be reunited with her son.”

Another therapist who saw Santoyo and her son together twice, Wendy Thomas, wrote on Aug. 9 that they had made progress and their interactions were “appropriate.” Thomas told the social worker that she did not have any concerns with reunification, according to court records.

Following the recommendations, Judge Jan Levine ruled that there was no longer a risk of harm to Salomon and that he could go home.

But social workers and lawyers now say they didn’t know all the facts when recommending that Salomon go home. They were unaware, for example, that seven months earlier, on Jan. 16, Santoyo had tried to kill herself with vodka and Vicodin. On that occasion, Santoyo was hospitalized after her roommate and longtime friend, Teresa Leyva, found her in the bathtub, according to a Los Angeles Police Department investigative report written after Salomon’s death.

Santoyo said she was upset because she was unable to pay her bills, the report stated. At first, Santoyo was being held at the hospital, the report stated. A few days later, she checked herself out, despite a doctor’s recommendation that she stay longer.

In addition, pressures were building for Santoyo in the weeks before Salomon went home. She was fired from her job at a collection agency for missing too much work, both for court appearances and because of persistent migraine headaches, Leyva said.

“Anything would set her off,” Leyva said. “She had an anger problem.”

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There also was tension between Santoyo and Roa.

On Aug. 20, according to a police report, Santoyo confronted Roa, accusing him of not telling her that he had a fourth child. Police believe that may have been what sent her over the edge. She angrily threw his clothes in a box and broke the birthday gifts he had given her just days earlier, including a mirror decorated with dragons.

After Santoyo calmed down, Roa told Salomon that everything would be OK and headed to work. Later that morning, Leyva called him and said Santoyo was going “mad,” the police report stated. Leyva promised him she would check on Salomon and Santoyo during her lunch hour.

Leyva said she knew something was wrong when she arrived home and saw blood on the bathroom door. She found Salomon covered in blood on his mother’s bed, and Santoyo unconscious in the bathroom.

“Rocio, Rocio, what did you do?” Leyva screamed.

Paramedics discovered Santoyo in the tub with two knives; an empty bottle of migraine medicine was nearby. She had slit her wrist and punctured her own neck, according to the police report. Salomon died of his wounds 20 minutes later at a hospital.

“This is probably the worst of the cases I’ve handled,” said LAPD Det. Tina Certeza. “None of us, not even the family, could understand it.... They didn’t see this coming.”

Santoyo is in county jail, with bail set at $1 million. If convicted, she could be sentenced to life in prison.

Defense attorney Leslie Stearns said she was looking into her client’s mental health. “She’s very sad for the loss of her child,” she said, declining to comment further.

One of Salomon’s foster parents, Gina Rodriguez, said she is angry that the system failed the boy.

“Something had to have fallen through the holes for him to be put back so soon with that kind of result,” said Rodriguez, a minister who has been a foster parent for 11 years. “Something was missed. Something didn’t get noticed. Something didn’t get reported.”

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Child deaths

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Each year, about 10,000 children in Los Angeles County are removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. Roughly 5,000 children are returned home annually. Family reunification has gone smoothly in thousands of cases, but there also have been tragedies. In the last four years, six children have been killed, allegedly at the hands of a parent, after being returned home. Details on the cases are limited because of confidentiality laws, but they include:

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Two sisters died in 2000 after their mother pushed them off the roof of the Los Angeles County Courthouse and then jumped herself. The father, who had attended mandated counseling, had regained custody about six months earlier. The mother was under a court order not to be alone with the girls.

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Also in 2000, a 5-month-old boy who had been removed from his mother’s custody at birth because of drug exposure was shaken to death, allegedly by his mother. Custody of the baby had been awarded to the father, and the mother was allowed monitored visits. The death occurred after the father left the child alone with the mother.

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In 2002, a 6-month-old boy who had been removed from his mother’s custody at birth because of concerns about potential risk in the home was beaten to death, allegedly by his father. He had been released to his mother’s custody under the condition that the father not be allowed in the home.

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A 22-month-old boy allegedly was killed by his father in 2003 after being returned to his mother’s custody. The mother had told social workers that the father was no longer living with her, but investigators later learned that she had allowed him to visit. The boy was found dead in his father’s van. Both parents are charged with murder.

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As detailed in the accompanying story, a 10-year-old boy allegedly was killed this year by his mother four days after a judge returned him to her home. The mother had completed therapy and parenting classes mandated by the court following her conviction on child abuse charges.

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Sources: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office

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Los Angeles Times