MONTICELLO – Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty says he wants to return the legal responsibility for child protective services cases back to the Department of Family Services (DFS). Several years ago, the County Attorney’s office was assigned to handle these cases and Conaty believes Child Protective Services will be better represented by attorneys assigned to their division.
The DA’s decision came from a 107-page report drafted by a grand jury following the death of 16-month-old Akasha Luvert in May 2023.
Conaty said there many aspects of DFS’s responsibility and that it would be best to have legal responsibility over child protective services reverted to its original jurisdiction under the auspices of Commissioner John Liddle and the Department of Health and Human Services.
“The grand jury recommended the following legislative executive or administrative action to be taken in the public interest. The County Attorney’s office should be divested of all responsibility of CPS’s, legal representation, and DFS’s legal department should be reinstituted as a previously existed,” he said.
County Legislature Chairwoman Nadia Rajsz said that she’d be willing to work with the DA’s office to try to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. “The legislature will do whatever it can to support the DA and the Commissioner of Social Services to ensure that these recommendations are addressed and corrected.”
The grand jury report recommended sweeping changes, including the creation of an annual reporting process to evaluate CPS legal representation and the county and the rethinking of the use of motels for temporary housing. The report also called for CPS to obtain the ability to drug test clients in-house.
The grand jury report noted: “The tragic death of A.L. could have been prevented. The experienced professionals in CPS brought their legitimate concerns to the Office of the County Attorney on this and every investigation of child abuse and neglect explored by this grand jury. The evidence established the sad reality that children are at risk all around this county, but the testimony before the grand jury also demonstrated that DSS should be proud of the work it carries out on a daily basis for the community.”
The grand jury report points the finger directly at the Office of the County Attorney. “Sadly, the quality of legal representation provided to DSS has stood in between DSS, CPS, and their obligation to protect the children of this county,” the report read. “This has endangered many lives and the lack of cooperation with DSS and CPS, their workers, and their administrators clearly showed that their legal representation was not representing their interests.”
When the DA was asked if he was optimistic about changes in the future he said, “This tragedy cannot be allowed to happen again. I am sure that Sullivan County is put on notice that changes need to be made and calls for new bold ideas and leadership, and I’m optimistic that we can go forward from here.”
