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Shaniya Davis case prompts review of Cumberland DSS
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Published: November 24, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE
The state of North Carolina is reviewing what kind of contact the Cumberland County Department of Social Services had with Antoinette Davis and her children, The Fayetteville Observer reported.
The announcement, made by the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force on Monday, comes a little more than a week after police arrested Davis and charged her with human trafficking and child abuse by prostitution.
Two days after her arrest, on Nov. 16, the body of her daughter, 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, was found off a rural road south of Sanford. She died of asphyxiation, according to preliminary reports.
Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape and kidnapping in Shaniya's death.
Police, Davis' family members and DSS have declined to say what kind of involvement the agency had with Antoinette Davis and her family.
One of Shaniya's uncles, Michael Davis, has told reporters that DSS investigated Antoinette Davis in the past. He said DSS investigated Davis regarding her 7-year-old son. The uncle told reporters that DSS completed its investigation, and Antoinette Davis was allowed to keep her children.
On Friday, the director of the Cumberland County Department of Social Services released a statement saying the release of any information about the agency's involvement with the Davis family would jeopardize the state's ability to prosecute Davis and would hurt any current or future investigation.
"We are saddened about this tragedy, and we know the community has an interest regarding Social Services' connection to this family," Director Brenda Jackson said in an earlier statement. "However, any information regarding the agency's child protective services intervention with children and families in our community is confidential."
Tom Vitaglione, co-chairman of the state's Child Fatality Task Force, said state DSS officials have been in touch with local officials about a possible review of how the case was handled.
"This is a family that was already known to social service workers down there," Vitaglione said. "They are all very distraught about the whole thing."
Vitaglione said his task force will send a team to Fayetteville to look at when DSS first made contact with the family, what the status of the case was and if everything was done properly in terms of procedures.
The task force will work with the district attorney's office to determine the speed of their investigation so as not to interfere with the criminal case, Vitaglione said.
The Child Fatality Task Force is a division of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which has oversight authority over all county DSS agencies.
Last week, Jackson said her agency was assisting law enforcement in the Shaniya Davis investigation but declined to comment as to what extent.
Police also would not say what role DSS was playing in the investigation.
"Everything is being looked at," police Capt. Charles Kimble said at a news conference last Thursday when asked about Social Services' involvement with the family.
Vitaglione said his task force also will take into consideration the effects this year's state and local budget cuts have had on social service agencies.
"Child protective service divisions have been hit particularly hard," Vitaglione said. "We have really not supported this with our dollars."
Jackson told the county DSS board at a regular meeting last week that her case workers had been working long hours this year and some weekends to help deal with the heavy workload.
About 70 positions at DSS remain unfilled, Jackson told the board, and roughly 30 of those are considered critical positions by the agency.
"Most of those vacancies are in child services and food and nutrition services," Jackson said.
The agency is awaiting the green light from the county manager to resume recruitment for those jobs.
Vitaglione said the task force was created by the N.C. General Assembly in 1991 to study the cause of death in childhood, particularly child abuse, which is why he often finds his team looking into different social services agencies.
Shaniya was reported missing from her home off Murchison Road on Nov. 10.
She had been raised by her father, Bradley Lockhart, over the past three or four years. Lockhart has said he let Shaniya stay with Antoinette Davis last month after it appeared Davis had a job and a place to stay.
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