Sophia Mason, the 8-year-old girl whose 55-pound body was found decomposing in a bathtub last year, might be alive today if Alameda County social workers had not dismissed the danger the child was in.
Records and reporting by this news organization over the past year show that social workers ignored at least eight separate warnings in the 15 months before Sophia’s death that she was being abused and in danger. But no one in the county has been publicly held accountable. No one.
Not the social workers who dismissed warning signs. Not Michelle Love, head of the Department of Children and Family Services; Andrea Ford, director of the county’s Social Services Agency; nor County Administrator Susan Muranishi.
And not the elected Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Supervisors Nate Miley and David Haubert last year promised an investigation of Sophia’s death, but nothing happened.
The stonewalling has gone on too long. The board must hire an independent outside investigator to figure out how the county missed so many warning signs. The systemic problems must be identified and rectified. And those who failed the girl, directly or indirectly, should be disciplined or fired.
There must be public accountability. And there must be consequences. Or there will be more cases like that of Sophia Mason.
Warnings ignored
Sophia had been raised most of her life by her grandmother. But in January 2021, her mother, who had a history of drug abuse and prostitution, stepped back into the girl’s life and soon took her to live in a motel.
It’s about that time that the county began receiving reports of abuse. Documents later revealed that Sophia twice told social workers that her mother had choked and hit her. She also complained of being grabbed by her neck and muffled when she tried to scream.
The social worker in charge of the girl’s case deemed allegations of neglect by the mother to be “unfounded.” And she ruled allegations of physical abuse as inconclusive.
Then, in September 2021, Kaiser Permanente hospital clinicians in San Leandro reported bruising of Sophia’s genitals and across her back, buttocks, hip and thigh, as well as apparent cigarette burns on her arms. About two weeks later, another doctor sent an apparently unprompted email to county workers giving the girl a clean bill of health. There are no records that county social workers investigated any of the reports. The agency closed the case a few days later as “unfounded.”
On March 8, 2022, Hayward Police received a missing-person report. They reviewed the county records and child school attendance. Unlike county social workers, Hayward police recognized the girl was in danger and urgently tried to find her.
But it was too late. Sophia was already dead, her corpse rotting in that tub in a Merced home where her mother’s boyfriend lived. In the backyard, a locked metal shed, which police were later told was used for punishment, contained soiled sheets, candy wrappers and other food packaging.
Sophia’s mother, Samantha Johnson, and Johnson’s boyfriend, Dhante Jackson, have been charged with murder and felony child abuse and remain in custody in Merced.
Stonewalling
While Merced is where Sophia was found dead, she lived most of her life in Alameda County. Perhaps if Sophia had lived elsewhere, she might be alive today.
Research data last year showed that Alameda County lagged nearly every county in California in responding to reports of abuse and neglect within the legally required time frame, placing hundreds of vulnerable children at further risk of danger. And an unusually large proportion of complaints, nearly twice the statewide rate, are deemed to need no response at all.
We called last year for an investigation of the county’s handling of the Sophia Mason case. This news organization’s subsequent legal fight produced county and Hayward Police records that further highlight why an independent probe is essential.
For too long now, county officials, all the way up to the Board of Supervisors, have stonewalled, citing the potential and now ongoing litigation against the county, filed by Sophia’s grandmother and the girl’s estate. We appreciate that county officials should exercise caution with their words, but the legal case should not be used as an excuse to avoid accountability or to hide from the public what went wrong.
For too long, county supervisors have relied on the word of county staff, who have a self-interest in providing their spin on the tragedy. Supervisors have a decision to make: Will they be pawns of their staff, or will they assert the leadership and oversight for which they were elected? For the latter, an outside independent investigation must be the starting point.
The good news is that this year the board has two new supervisors, Lena Tam of Alameda and Elisa Márquez of Hayward, who was on that city’s council when police there received the missing persons report about Sophia. A week after our call for a county investigation last year, Márquez successfully pressed the City Council to also call for a county investigation. Now she and Tam are positioned to help make that happen.
Without a thorough independent outside investigation, accountability and significant reforms, there will be another case like Sophia Mason. Another innocent child will die because of county indifference or incompetence. And Love, Ford, Muranishi and the five elected members of the Board of Supervisors will share the blame.
Source: www.mercurynews.com