Show Lack of communication cited in deaths of 3 i z New York Children j Michael Amon Alfonso A. A Castillo During the last six months of 2007 Nassau County Child Protective Services cited Leatrice Brewer twice for neglecting her three young children yet did not inform a domestic court court judge overseeing a visitation dispute involving Brewer and the father of her two sons And last month the same judge ordered Brewer to take a drug test yet CPS was not aware of that action when it received a complaint last Friday that Brewer was using drugs in front of the children and threatening to put them outside in the cold State and county officials said the courts and CPS followed the law to the letter Neither was required to talk to the other about the matters before them involving Brewer Now after the deaths o of f Brewers Brewer's children child advocates and attorneys in Family Court say the courts and CPS should have communicated better bette r about a troubled woman struggling with the demands of her young family What this points out is theres there's still some information that's no not t getting shared and there should be a mechanism put pu t in place so it is shared sai said d Theo Liebmann director of o othe f the Child Advocacy Clinic of Hofstra University Law v School Brewer 27 faces first first- and second-degree second murder charges for the deaths o of f Jewell Ward 6 Michael Demesyeux 5 and Innocent t Demesyeux 18 months Police said she drowned them and also stabbed Jewell CPS had opened 10 neglect cases related to her children in the last five years three of them founded In other developments Thursday Brewers Brewer's medical issues resulted in the postponement of a court hearing until March 7 The Long Island chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives said at a news conference that CPS should have called the police on Friday when two caseworkers knocked on her door separately and no noone noone noone one answered Maybe we could uld have saved these kids if we had taken the door down chapter president Corey Pegues said Karen Garber the Department of Social Services Services' program coordinator said the 3 caseworkers asked neighbors checked whether the apartment lights were on and considered Brew Brewers Brewer's rs r's 7 1 history of answering the door for CPS when determining 1 that she and the children i 1 were not at home j Nassau officials reported j that the number of child abuse and neglect calls j spiked Thursday though they did not provide numbers They attributed the increase to the deaths and said caseworkers were being paid for overtime shifts to handle the increased caseload New attention was also focused Thursday on CPS investigations of Brewer in 2007 and her legal battles with former boyfriend Innocent Demesyeux in Nassau's Integrated Domestic Violence court a specialized forum designed to consolidate cases in various courts before one judge The case seemed run of the mill said David Bookstaver spokesman an for the Office of Court Administration There was no information provided to the court that would remotely foreshadow the tragedy that occurred he said In fact Judge Denise Sher of the court ordered a CPS investigation of the childrens' childrens welfare in March 2007 with an emphasis on Demesyeux's interaction with them because he was seeking greater visitation rights back with no credible evidence of neglect In the months after that though CPS cited Brewer twice for neglect once on June 20 when Brewer was found napping in her car as the children played outside and then on Oct 20 for leaving the children home alone Meanwhile according to a transcript of court proceedings on Jan 31 Sher appeared to be growing frustrated with Brewer I Iwho who had missed scheduled visitations with their father Sher ordered Brewer to submit to drug testing of her hair follicles and told herto her herto herto to keep a date with a nonprofit nonprofit nonprofit non non- profit service provider or we will bring you in very quickly and the court will have to make some tough 0 decisions Sher did not know of CPS's neglect findings Bookstaver said Without information judges are unable t to t intervene he said This case may have fallen through the cracks but it certainly didn't fall through our cracks |