The Administration for Children’s Services has suspended a long-time employee who may have contributed to the death of a child who was reunited with his mother following a brief period in foster care. In it’s preliminary review of the much-publicized cases of two children who died in their family’s care this year, the agency also outlined its failure to protect the children from abuse.

The child welfare agency drew criticism for its placement of the two children – Sierra Roberts, 7, and Dahquay Gillians, 1 – in their parents’ care despite signs of prior abuse. Sierra’s father, Russell Roberts, 43, was charged with beating his daughter to death in October. The girl was put in her father’s care in spite of earlier reports of physical abuse. Two weeks before Sierra’s death, Tracina Vaughn, 25, was arrested for allegedly drowning her son, Dahquay. Ms. Vaughn had been found neglectful last year when she failed to seek medical treatment for another son, Tramal, after he was scalded by her former boyfriend, but children’s services placed Dahquay in her custody anyway.

The suspended employee, whose name was not released, was a child protective manager in Dahquay’s case, officials said at yesterday’s press briefing to announce the findings. A second-tier manager, the worker was accused of falsifying a case record after the child died. The changes he made falsely claimed that he had “told a worker to look into the substance abuse question in the case” before the child’s death, the children’s services commissioner, John Mattingly, said. The agency knew Ms. Vaughn had tested positive for marijuana, Mr. Mattingly said, and was under a court order to monitor her drug use, but failed to assess her substance abuse issues prior to placing Dahquay in her custody.

Mr. Mattingly stopped short of saying the child would be alive if not for the alleged conduct of the employee, and noted that the issue was “whether the manager was providing appropriate supervision. “We think the shortfall was in the work that we did with his mother during the course of those months before the child died,” he added.

The agency’s executive deputy commissioner, Zeinab Chahine, listed specific ways the agency failed in Dahquay’s case. Children’s services, she said, could have focused more on the mother – by conducting a mental health assessment and evaluating her parental capacity, including her ability to care for them – and provided her with more support services, such as child care. The allegation against the manager, who was suspended with pay, is under investigation by the city’s Department of Investigation.

In Sierra’s case, Mr. Mattingly in part blamed the doctor who examined Sierra several years earlier and determined there were no indications of abuse. Children’s services, however, did not question conflicting accounts about Sierra’s injuries. Agency workers also did not inquire about her father’s substance abuse history. Mr. Mattingly said, “The worker did a wide-ranging assessment of the situation, but as you can see from what we’ve found, did not do all the work that needed to be done to determine if Sierra was safe.” He partially deflected responsibility, however, by saying that people close to the girl failed to report the abuse.

While the case reviews will not be finalized for several months, the agency outlined action it plans to take in response to the failings. As a result of the findings in Dahquay’s case, the agency committed, among other things, to improve assessment and understanding of substance abuse issues and reorganize oversight.

As a consequence of Sierra’s death, children’s services plans to ensure that parents with histories of substance abuse are clean before placing children in their custody.