Overview
- County leaders said Thursday they placed 10 Department of Family and Children’s Services employees on paid leave and that state oversight of the agency will be extended.
- DFCS moved to tighten safeguards by requiring senior manager approval for emergency placements with relatives and by reviewing the caseloads of staff tied to Jaxon Juarez’s file.
- Prosecutors have charged the teen foster brother with murder and multiple felony sexual assaults, and District Attorney Jeff Rosen is examining whether others should face criminal or civil liability.
- Jaxon was placed in February with a relative whose 2014 felony child-endangerment conviction would typically bar care, raising sharp questions about how the placement was cleared.
- The agency has been under a state corrective action plan since two foster-care deaths in 2023, and workers and advocates describe chronic understaffing and heavy caseloads that they say risk child safety.