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State To Investigate Child Death CALL7 Investigators Exposed

Human Services Allowed Child To Go Home Despite Hospital Concerns

POSTED: 11:13 am MDT October 1, 2009
UPDATED: 6:44 pm MDT October 1, 2009

The Colorado Department of Human Services will review the case of an infant who was sent home from the hospital and died while under the scrutiny of the city human services department.

The review comes after the CALL7 Investigators highlighted the case, questioning why the Denver Department of Human Services did not protect Destiny Lewis.

Destiny, who was born premature, was allowed to go home with her mother who had cognitive and emotional problems. Hospital officials repeatedly called DDHS, saying they feared Destiny's mother could not care for her, but DDHS workers determined the child was safe. Destiny died hours after going home when the oxygen tubes fell out of her nose.

"We will be contacting the county to have a discussion about how they made decisions," said Karen Beye, executive director of the state DHS. "We may contact the staff at the hospital to talk about why didn't they follow up more in terms of refusing to allow the child to go home if they felt so strongly about it."

In a second case highlighted by CALL7 Investigators, Beye said policies were not strong enough.

"There is no way to establish policies and procedures that say exercise common sense," Beye said.

Angel DeHerrera and his sister were left in a Colorado Springs foster home where health and safety complaints resulted in the removal of a teen mother and her baby who were also under DDHS care. Angel died 36 hours after the teen and the baby were removed. He was strangled while playing on a trampoline unsupervised.

"One might expect that you pick up the phone and call, 'I just took two children out of this home and you have children there you may want to check into it,'" Beye said. "I think we need to talk to counties about the whole issue of being accountable."

After the CALL7 story on DeHerrera, the Colorado Spring District Attorney will reopen the death investigation into the case.
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