ANTWUAN WILLIAMS Jr - 8 months (2008) - Waterloo IA

The state released for the first time Friday records under a 2004 law
that attempts to shed more light on how child-welfare workers handle
death and near-death abuse cases.
The release came two years
after a Des Moines Register investigation found three children in a
Waterloo family suffered serious injuries in the months leading up to
8-month-old twin Antwuan Williams Jr.'s death on Feb. 12, 2008. The case
was considered one of the worst this decade involving abuse.
Roger Munns, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services,
said in a statement Friday that the records related to the Williams case
show child-protective workers had doubts about the parents' ability to
care for their children. They also showed the caseworkers and case
managers involved "performed exemplary due diligence and 'trust but
verify' techniques throughout," he said.
Munns said DHS workers,
contracted social service agencies serving the family, foster parents,
court officials, health professionals and others have met in the past
two years regarding the case."As they review these records they
have asked the same question that many want to know: Could this have
been prevented?" Munns said.
A judge involved in the case blamed
the children's parents, both of whom are behind bars now, for
deliberately deceiving the child welfare system. "We don't have a better
explanation," Munns said.
The Register's 2008 probe found the
Iowa Department of Human Services initially recommended that the
children's parents lose their legal right to parent because of injuries
suffered by their 1½-year-old daughter before 8-month-old Antwuan Jr's
death.Yet social workers later recommended, and a judge agreed,
to release Williams' oldest daughter from protective custody and send
her back home - in spite of evidence from doctors confirming she
sustained multiple fractures in the care of her parents.
Williams
Jr. died not long after child-welfare officials changed their minds.
Gov.
Chet Culver ordered an independent review of the child welfare protocol
shortly after the Register probe, which was based on the same child
abuse reports released this week.The newspaper obtained the
records from a confidential source who was concerned about the case's
handling.
Since then, the DHS's child welfare system has
undergone another overhaul and workers have received more training on
such high-risk cases.
The DHS reports show Antwuan Williams Sr.
and Tiara Williams were initially deemed responsible for abuse of
Antwuan's sister, Ziarah, who suffered four to six fractures in the fall
of 2006, when she was just 3 months old. But the parents later passed a
lie detector test administered by law enforcement regarding her
injuries.Services and counseling were ordered for the family,
with the intention to reunite Ziarah, if possible.
A judge
involved in the case said the couple were "skillful enough to divert
attention from themselves, cast potential blame on others and re-injure
their children."
Since the 2004 law requiring the release of
abuse records went into effect, several county attorneys have exercised
their right to decline to release information about deaths and injuries
while criminal cases are still pending.Records in the Williams
case were released Friday, after both parents entered Alford pleas
conceding that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict and they were
sentenced to prison.
Tiara Williams was ordered to serve three
10-year sentences.
Antwuan Williams Sr. is in prison on a 50-year
sentence for second-degree murder in the boy's death.