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The horrific torture and killing of 8-year-old Genesis Mata is the latest tragedy to ignite a firestorm of protests and demands to reform Kern County’s Child Protective Services. Just when will demands, audits and promised improvements yield real reforms and better protect Kern’s helpless children?
The Kern County Board of Supervisors this week agreed to solicit bids to hire an independent consultant to investigate CPS’s practices and procedures. What might have been done to prevent Genesis’ Aug. 2 death? In the 1990s, the state Legislature intervened and ordered an audit of the Kern department after several children died from abuse. Auditors proposed improvements and laws were changed.
Kern County Department of Human Services Director Lito Morillo recently noted that in 2006, the Child Welfare Services League of America reviewed Kern’s Child Welfare Services and developed a strategic improvement plan.
The long-lasting effects of these studies, audits, recommendations and “strategic plans” have not materialized.
This spring, the Kern County grand jury reported CPS lacks the funding and staff to adequately protect Kern’s children, as abuse cases continue to increase.
Will this latest investigation lead only to more hand-wringing and empty promises? Once Genesis’ Aug. 2 death slips out of the headlines, will child protection once again become a low priority?
“Too many cases have emerged from Kern County, California, where reported situations of abuse were allowed to persist unchecked, ultimately leading to deaths of children who were failed by the very institutions meant to protect them,” Josefina Villarreal wrote on a Change.org petition that demanded an investigation.
Genesis’ body was found abandoned in a Bakersfield motel bathtub on Aug. 2. Police report scalding hot water was poured over Genesis’ body, her fingers were broken by being slammed in a door, and she had been whipped with a cord or cable. Bakersfield Police Chief Greg Terry called Genesis’ death the worst case of child abuse seen in his department’s history.
Her father, Ray Mata Jr., 31, and his wife, Graciela Bustamonte, 24, Genesis’ stepmother, have been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated mayhem and inflicting injury upon a child. Also among the charges are two counts of torture and two counts of child cruelty. Mata Jr. and Bustamonte have pleaded not guilty and an October hearing is scheduled.
A district attorney spokesperson said the counts reflect two cases. The identity of the second victim was not disclosed, but at the time of Mata Jr.’s arrest, police and court records indicate he was being investigated by CPS after a school reported that a frequently absent child had visible bodily injuries. Seven children now have been removed from Mata Jr.’s and Bustamonte’s home, and placed in protective custody.
Mata Jr. has a lengthy criminal history, which includes arrests and convictions on drugs, weapons and vehicle charges. Genesis’ biological mother, Destiny Delacruz, 26, also has a criminal record that includes drug, theft and child abuse charges. She admits to having a lengthy use of methamphetamine.
Delacruz told a reporter she was 14 years old and had a son when she met then 18-year-old Mata Jr. Two years later, when she was 16, she gave birth to Genesis. In 2018, she turned over the children to Mata Jr.’s mother in the belief she would provide better care. Delacruz said that was the last time she saw the children. It is uncertain how the children ended up in Mata Jr.’s care.
Delacruz’s extended family members told reporters Kern CPS repeatedly ignored their many reports of allegations that Mata Jr. was abusing the children. Similar complaints about the department’s handling of child abuse cases were aired during this week’s Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting.
“I have seen firsthand how broken Kern County’s child protection services is,” Brooke Malley-Ault, a Mira Monte High School guidance counselor and Bakersfield City School District board member, told supervisors. As a mandated reporter, she and other school staff regularly report evidence of abuse, only to see little action taken. “We feel hopeless because we know what we’ve seen, yet we’re told to stand back.”
As the public outrage grows over Genesis Mata’s death, CPS officials are encouraging people to report cases to the child abuse hotline 661-631-6011 or 800-540-4000.
But the nagging question remains: If people call, will CPS come?
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