Baltimore County social workers visited the home of Roy Lechner Jr. more than 150 times in the two years before he died of suspected abuse - but didn't feel they had conclusive evidence that the Dundalk boy was in danger.
"This is not a case of a child falling through the cracks," said Baltimore County Department of Social Services Director Timothy W. Griffith, releasing a report outlining the agency's interaction with the family. "This is a case where there's been consistent involvement and a progressive escalation of our intrusive work with the family."
Denise Marie Lechner was charged in the death this month of 3-year-old Roy Jr., and police are reviewing the November death of the boy's infant brother, Donald Wayne Lechner. The manner of the younger boy's death was listed then as undetermined.
The report also refers to father Roy Lechner Sr.'s "continued failure to be more actively involved at home."
"That's a bunch of baloney," Roy Lechner Sr. said yesterday. "They're just trying to shift the blame off them to other people. ... You've got to work to make a living. When I was home, those kids were my life."
Eileen King, regional director of Justice for Children D.C., a Washington-based child advocacy group, said she wonders how well the social services department was reviewing the services it was giving to the Lechner family.
"They have added concerns as this goes along, not fewer concerns," King said.
According to the report, the county's social workers didn't feel they had proof that Roy Jr. was in danger before he died, despite the unexplained death of his younger brother, his mother's conviction in another state for child abuse and repeated emergency-room visits.
Medical records from Franklin Square Hospital Center for Roy Jr. obtained by The Sun show that the boy was treated nine times between December 2002 and September 2004 for ailments including diaper rash, blood in his diaper, cuts on his head, a burn on his leg and for possible ingestion of Depakote, a medication used to treat bipolar disorder, seizures and migraine headaches.
Despite "significant concerns" about the abilities of Denise Lechner and Roy Lechner Sr. as parents, the agency determined in the days after Donald's death that Roy Jr. should remain in the family home. The agency recommended that the boy be under his grandmother's care there, and that his mother have no unsupervised care-taking responsibilities.
The report says the agency agreed last month upon a plan to allow Roy Jr. to stay there, pointing out that lawyers for the mother and the child were opposed to any court-ordered role for DSS, and that a court hearing could have led to the agency having no involvement with the family.
"That's one of the complicating factors here - all throughout there have been no clear indications of abuse or neglect until the death of Roy on March 1," Griffith said. "Notwithstanding what looks to be a rather significant record of good, solid, professional work, Roy has died. ... The bottom line is were dealing with human beings, and they're very difficult to predict."
The department's handling of the case will be reviewed by the county's child fatality review team, a national accrediting agency and the state's Department of Human Resources. All will look at possible improvements that could be made in the social services provided by the agency, Griffith said.
Among the issues Griffith plans to investigate is whether the agency was communicating clearly with hospitals.
The report includes a timeline of the agency's interaction with the family, beginning in February 2002, when Ohio child welfare officials requested county social workers assess the home of special-needs child Roy Lechner Jr. The boy had been in foster care in Ohio and had moved to Essex with his father.
In July 2004, the agency received an anonymous complaint about Denise Lechner locking Roy Jr. in his room and the boy needing stitches in his head. The department "ruled out neglect" in the case a month later, the report shows.
According to the report, a county social worker reviewed Roy Jr.'s medical records from Franklin Square that summer. The hospital's child protection team coordinator told the social worker that the records "pointed to a vigilant mother who brought her child to the hospital for appropriate reasons, with appropriate explanations," according to the report.
The social workers observed that Roy Jr.'s hyperactivity could have contributed to his string of injuries.
The hospital would not comment on the specifics of the case. But Scott Krugman, medical director of Franklin Square's child protective team, said the key to detecting abuse lies in determining whether the story about how the injury occurred matches the physical evidence.
When a child has more than five emergency visits, he said, "You begin to wonder, but a lot of parents use the emergency room as their primary-care doctor."
In November, a parent aide saw the Lechner children locked in the family truck outside a convenience store, and Denise Lechner told the aide that police had charged her with a similar incident in August. An investigation into that matter led to a finding of "unsubstantiated neglect" - meaning insufficient evidence to either indicate or rule out neglect - of Roy Jr. by his mother and his father, the report states.
Later that month, Donald stopped breathing and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. When he was released from Bayview, he was placed briefly in foster care, and county social workers unsuccessfully sought a court order to keep him there. But Griffith said, "We did that in absence of any clear medical evidence."
A day after being returned home, Donald Lechner died.
Last month, social services agreed to a plan keeping Roy Jr. in the home, under conditions that included Denise Lechner receiving a psychiatric evaluation and any needed treatment.
Robert English, a public defender who represented Denise Lechner at court hearings regarding Donald and Roy Jr.'s safety, said that DSS failed to present evidence in either case to justify the department's continued involvement with the Lechner family.
Less than two weeks after the agreement was reached, a social worker noticed Roy Jr. had stitches on his chin. Bayview doctors said they had no reason to suspect abuse, the report says. Roy Jr. died five days later.
A search warrant used by police to enter the Lechner home the night of Roy Jr.'s death quotes a neighbor as saying that "it sounded as if Denise Lechner was throwing Roy Lechner Jr. down the steps repeatedly."
Four neighbors told police that, about noon, "they could hear thumping and banging coming down the stairs from the Lechner residence," according to the search warrant.
"We heard banging and screaming and crying," Linda Gilley, who was next door the day of Roy Jr.'s death, said later. "I'm really sorry we didn't get involved."
"This is not a case of a child falling through the cracks," said Baltimore County Department of Social Services Director Timothy W. Griffith, releasing a report outlining the agency's interaction with the family. "This is a case where there's been consistent involvement and a progressive escalation of our intrusive work with the family."
Denise Marie Lechner was charged in the death this month of 3-year-old Roy Jr., and police are reviewing the November death of the boy's infant brother, Donald Wayne Lechner. The manner of the younger boy's death was listed then as undetermined.
The report also refers to father Roy Lechner Sr.'s "continued failure to be more actively involved at home."
"That's a bunch of baloney," Roy Lechner Sr. said yesterday. "They're just trying to shift the blame off them to other people. ... You've got to work to make a living. When I was home, those kids were my life."
Eileen King, regional director of Justice for Children D.C., a Washington-based child advocacy group, said she wonders how well the social services department was reviewing the services it was giving to the Lechner family.
"They have added concerns as this goes along, not fewer concerns," King said.
According to the report, the county's social workers didn't feel they had proof that Roy Jr. was in danger before he died, despite the unexplained death of his younger brother, his mother's conviction in another state for child abuse and repeated emergency-room visits.
Medical records from Franklin Square Hospital Center for Roy Jr. obtained by The Sun show that the boy was treated nine times between December 2002 and September 2004 for ailments including diaper rash, blood in his diaper, cuts on his head, a burn on his leg and for possible ingestion of Depakote, a medication used to treat bipolar disorder, seizures and migraine headaches.
Despite "significant concerns" about the abilities of Denise Lechner and Roy Lechner Sr. as parents, the agency determined in the days after Donald's death that Roy Jr. should remain in the family home. The agency recommended that the boy be under his grandmother's care there, and that his mother have no unsupervised care-taking responsibilities.
The report says the agency agreed last month upon a plan to allow Roy Jr. to stay there, pointing out that lawyers for the mother and the child were opposed to any court-ordered role for DSS, and that a court hearing could have led to the agency having no involvement with the family.
"That's one of the complicating factors here - all throughout there have been no clear indications of abuse or neglect until the death of Roy on March 1," Griffith said. "Notwithstanding what looks to be a rather significant record of good, solid, professional work, Roy has died. ... The bottom line is were dealing with human beings, and they're very difficult to predict."
The department's handling of the case will be reviewed by the county's child fatality review team, a national accrediting agency and the state's Department of Human Resources. All will look at possible improvements that could be made in the social services provided by the agency, Griffith said.
Among the issues Griffith plans to investigate is whether the agency was communicating clearly with hospitals.
The report includes a timeline of the agency's interaction with the family, beginning in February 2002, when Ohio child welfare officials requested county social workers assess the home of special-needs child Roy Lechner Jr. The boy had been in foster care in Ohio and had moved to Essex with his father.
In July 2004, the agency received an anonymous complaint about Denise Lechner locking Roy Jr. in his room and the boy needing stitches in his head. The department "ruled out neglect" in the case a month later, the report shows.
According to the report, a county social worker reviewed Roy Jr.'s medical records from Franklin Square that summer. The hospital's child protection team coordinator told the social worker that the records "pointed to a vigilant mother who brought her child to the hospital for appropriate reasons, with appropriate explanations," according to the report.
The social workers observed that Roy Jr.'s hyperactivity could have contributed to his string of injuries.
The hospital would not comment on the specifics of the case. But Scott Krugman, medical director of Franklin Square's child protective team, said the key to detecting abuse lies in determining whether the story about how the injury occurred matches the physical evidence.
When a child has more than five emergency visits, he said, "You begin to wonder, but a lot of parents use the emergency room as their primary-care doctor."
In November, a parent aide saw the Lechner children locked in the family truck outside a convenience store, and Denise Lechner told the aide that police had charged her with a similar incident in August. An investigation into that matter led to a finding of "unsubstantiated neglect" - meaning insufficient evidence to either indicate or rule out neglect - of Roy Jr. by his mother and his father, the report states.
Later that month, Donald stopped breathing and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. When he was released from Bayview, he was placed briefly in foster care, and county social workers unsuccessfully sought a court order to keep him there. But Griffith said, "We did that in absence of any clear medical evidence."
A day after being returned home, Donald Lechner died.
Last month, social services agreed to a plan keeping Roy Jr. in the home, under conditions that included Denise Lechner receiving a psychiatric evaluation and any needed treatment.
Robert English, a public defender who represented Denise Lechner at court hearings regarding Donald and Roy Jr.'s safety, said that DSS failed to present evidence in either case to justify the department's continued involvement with the Lechner family.
Less than two weeks after the agreement was reached, a social worker noticed Roy Jr. had stitches on his chin. Bayview doctors said they had no reason to suspect abuse, the report says. Roy Jr. died five days later.
A search warrant used by police to enter the Lechner home the night of Roy Jr.'s death quotes a neighbor as saying that "it sounded as if Denise Lechner was throwing Roy Lechner Jr. down the steps repeatedly."
Four neighbors told police that, about noon, "they could hear thumping and banging coming down the stairs from the Lechner residence," according to the search warrant.
"We heard banging and screaming and crying," Linda Gilley, who was next door the day of Roy Jr.'s death, said later. "I'm really sorry we didn't get involved."
