GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Guilford County Social Services has found themselves in hot water after a fire on Grimsley Street that killed three children in Dec. 2022.
According to a letter from the state, there were several violations related to an open Child Protective Services case involving one of the children killed in the fire.
The letter, dated May 16, 2023, was sent to the Director of Guilford County DSS, Sharon Barlow, Assistant County Manager Victor Isler, and Board of Commissioners Chair Skip Alston.
The letter lists multiple state policy violations directly related to the case involving one of the children killed in the Grimsley Street fire, including:
- The original Child Protective Services Report was screened improperly.
- All children were not seen and interviewed at the initiation.
- Safety was not assessed thoroughly at the initiation.
- Ongoing contact was not sufficiently maintained with the family to ensure safety.
- Lack of follow-up on reported safety concerns by the mother.
- Structured Decision Making (SDM) tools were not completed correctly.
According to investigators, Brandi Sturdivant left five children, at home alone, just before the fire started on December 12, 2022.
All of the children were under 5 years old and three died in the fire.
Sturdivant is currently facing three counts of felony child abuse.
Greensboro Fire Department has not released a cause of the fire.
Fire Chief Dwayne Church says the department is still waiting on toxicology reports from the state.
After the startling review of this case, the state also reviewed other cases within Guilford County DSS including 29 CPS Assessment cases and 10 Permanency Planning Cases.
The review of those additional cases took place from April 13-26, 2023.
According to the letter, the Permanency Planning Cases were included in the review after NCDHHS received several complaints through their Constituent Concerns office.
Those complaints included concerns about cases not achieving timely permanence and not being supported.
When the letter was sent to county leaders, leadership with Guilford County DSS had also reached out to NCDHHS for assistance in addressing "ongoing tension with Guilford County court partners."
The review of the 29 CPS assessment cases revealed the following violations:
- All children were seen and interviewed at initiation in 48% of the cases.
- 10 of those cases were initiated by the After-Hours unit and 7 of the 10 were not initiated timely.
- The Safety Assessment was adequate to ensure safety in 48% of the cases.
- Supervisory oversight was conducted according to policy in 55% of the cases.
- Ongoing contact with the children was made according to policy in 62% of the cases.
- Ongoing contact with the parents was made according to policy in 69% of the cases.
- Collateral contacts were completed according to policy in 70% of the cases.
- SDM tools were completed correctly in 55% of the cases.
- Case decisions were appropriate and supported by documentation in 52% of the cases.
- Documentation reflected discussions of ongoing safety and risk in 69% of the cases.
The review of the 10 Permanency Planning cases revealed the following violations:
- Ongoing contact with children occurred in 70% of the cases.
- Children were interviewed separately in 50% of the cases.
- Ongoing contact with the parents did not occur according to policy in any of the cases.
- Documentation reflected a discussion of risk and safety factors as well as observations and actions in 50% of the cases.
- SDM tools were not completed correctly in any of the cases.
- Family Service Agreements were completed timely with the parents in 20% of the cases.
- Family Service Agreements were reflective of SDM tools in 18% of the cases.
- Family Time occurred frequently and in a variety of places in 22% of the cases.
- Supervisory oversight was conducted according to policy in 30% of the cases.
Guilford County Board of Commissioners Chairman, Melvin "Skip" Alston, issued a statement regarding the violations:
"The Board of County Commissioners places the highest level of importance on the protection of our county's most vulnerable residents, especially children.
Upon receipt of the notification from the state, staff were directed to analyze the findings and prepare a Corrective Action Plan to address those findings and further strengthen child welfare practices in the county. Guilford County will provide the Corrective Action Plan to the NC Department of Social Services, at their request and for their approval. We are committed to sharing updates on our progress in enacting the plan.
The Board of County Commissioners and the County government team take this matter very seriously. The Board will be closely monitoring progress to address all of these findings to ensure children are safe and families are supported in Guilford County."
If the NCDHHS determines local agencies are not providing adequate care within their social offices, state statutes say "the Secretary can withhold funding for the particular service or services in question and shall ensure the provision of these services through contracts with public or private agencies or by direct operation the Department of Health and Human Services."
Guilford County DSS has until Friday, June 16, 2023, to develop a corrective action plan to address the violations.
NCDHHS will review the plan and provide feedback within 10 business days.
A Regional Child Welfare Consultant was also assigned to assist Guilford County DSS with their corrective action plan.
NCDHHS also says Guilford County DSS has already taken some steps to correct some of the violations listed in the May 16th letter, including:
- After-Hours staff will review all CWS history to ensure all children in the home have been identified.
- The assigned daytime CPS worker and supervisor will staff a case that was initiated after-hours within 24 hours to ensure that needed next steps are clearly identified.
- The date of the most recent face-to-face contact with all children has been added to the supervisory oversight form to ensure timely contacts are being made.
- A 24-hour turnaround of documentation is required for all cases initiated by after-hours staff.
- Hiring a recent retiree to work 20 hours a week to provide coaching and modeling to all supervisors.
DHHS will be reviewing the corrective action plan on an ongoing basis.