DENVER—The Denver Department of Human Services is defending two social workers who are being sued over the death of a 7-year-old boy who starved to death, rejecting accusations they could have prevented the boy’s death.
Margaret Booker and Mary Peagle were supervising the case of Chandler Grafner when he starved to death in the care of his mother’s ex-boyfriend. The child weighed 34 pounds when he died May 6, 2007.
Court records say Chandler died after being locked in a closet for days without food or water in the home of Christina Grafner’s ex-boyfriend, Jon Phillips, and his girlfriend, Sarah Berry.
In 2009, a jury convicted Phillips of first-degree murder, fatal child abuse and evidence tampering in the boy’s death, while Berry pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
In 2010, then-Gov. Bill Ritter ordered a review of the system following the deaths of 13 children who had been involved in the child welfare system in 2007. Eleven more died in both 2008 and 2009.
One of the most prominent cases was Chandler’s.
On Wednesday, a federal judge denied a motion to dismiss a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against them by Chandler’s estate and his biological parents. The judge said the neglect of Chandler by social services was “conscience-shocking.”
The judge said a complaint of child abuse made by a teacher’s aide a month before the boy’s death wasn’t thoroughly explored by the agency.
Agency spokeswoman Revekka Balancier told the Denver Post ( ) the agency has confidence that its workers perform their duties with attention to the safety needs of children, including Booker and Peagle, who were the supervisors with the child welfare division.
“The death of a child at the hands of an abuser is a terrible and tragic loss for our community and is deeply felt by every member of our staff,” Balancier wrote in an email to the Denver Post.
In their motion to dismiss, officials claimed that the Jefferson County Department of Human Services was legally responsible for Chandler’s care because that agency initially placed him with Phillips, who abused him.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
