Sen. Jane Nelson noted that Darrell "Tre" Singleton III is one of at least four Texas children who have died in recent months after Child Protective Services began monitoring their families.

"CPS has been under scrutiny for failing to take appropriate action," she said in a written statement, "and we need to determine if this is an isolated problem or more widespread."

Nelson, R-Flower Mound, is chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and has led past efforts to give the agency more resources.

The Tarrant County medical examiner's office ruled Monday that 17-month-old Darrell died of heat stroke and classified the case as a homicide.

His mother, Keashia Matthews, has been charged with injury to a child, accused of knowingly leaving him in her hot truck all day Sept. 3 while she worked. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

CPS has said it determined in June that Matthews had left Darrell and two sisters, ages 5 and 6, unsupervised. But it closed the neglect case after the single mother arranged for day care, officials said.

The agency said Monday, without elaborating, that it verified the day-care arrangement. It has not explained why day care was deemed a sufficient remedy, given Matthews' history.

As The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday, CPS knew she had lost custody of two other children who were born in the 1990s in Michigan. One baby was found "unsupervised, severely malnourished, unkempt, drugged by Ms. Matthews to make her sleep, and with severe physical and medical needs," according to a court filing.

It added that the mother had been violent toward adult relatives, expressed hatred for her second baby and "has on many occasions stated that she does not like children."

Darrell and his two sisters "were in danger, and we need to examine the events leading up to this tragic death," Nelson said.

CPS spokesman Chris Van Deusen said an internal review of the case had come to no conclusions yet.

On the day Darrell died, Matthews was working at Daystar Television Network, where she had been placed temporarily by a staffing agency a few days earlier, said Arnold Torres, business administrator at Daystar. The company is a nonprofit Christian broadcasting organization.

Matthews told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that she was working there so she could qualify for child-care assistance for Darrell. She said "she arranged for someone to pick up her son, but she said that person never showed up," according to the report.

Torres said Matthews parked that day in a neighboring Walmart lot. The store allows Daystar to use its lot for overflow parking, he said.

"No one had any knowledge of her leaving the child out there," Torres said. "Had it been in our lot, we would have known about it. Our security walks our lot and looks and checks cars."

Matthews checked on Darrell throughout the day and did not realize anything was wrong until she left work at 3 p.m., she told police. She picked up her two daughters from an Arlington elementary school before taking Darrell to the hospital, she told police.

The high temperature in Bedford that day was 95 degrees, according to the Weather Channel. Darrell's body temperature was 107.5 when he was pronounced dead at an Arlington hospital about 4:25 p.m.

The other three recent deaths have occurred in the Houston area. Here's a summary, based on Houston Chronicle reports:

•Amber Maccurdy, 2 months old, died of an untreated staph infection in April. She also suffered broken ribs and a broken arm. CPS had visited the girl's home a month earlier, and her mother refused to let the caseworker see her closely.

•Emma Thompson, 4, was beaten to death in June. A few weeks earlier, CPS learned she had tested positive for genital herpes but did not seek to remove her from her home. No other signs of possible sexual abuse were found.

•David Tijerina, 3, was beaten to death in August, less than a week after CPS visited his home to check allegations that some of his young relatives were being mistreated.

Relatives of the victims face criminal charges in all the cases.

Last month, a state review team began checking a random sample of cases being handled by CPS in the greater Houston area. An agency spokeswoman recently told the Chronicle that caseworkers sometimes don't have time to read a family's case file before knocking on their door.

The spokeswoman added that a "special investigator" – typically someone who has law-enforcement experience – will begin working on new cases involving families with a prior CPS history.

begerton@dallasnews.com; sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/topstories/stories/
DN-nuchilddeath_06met.ART.State.Edition2.41edb0c.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor