State takes over Nash County DSS after WRAL Investigation into deaths of two children under agency's care
Less than two months after a WRAL investigation into the death of a second child in the care of Nash County’s Department of Social Services, the state is taking over the agency's troubled child welfare section.
The North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services conducted investigations into both cases, which is standard protocol following the death of a child under the watch of a county agency. However, it wasn’t until WRAL Investigates highlighted the similarities in the cases that the state took such drastic and rare action.
In a letter to Nash DSS and county leaders obtained by WRAL Investigates, NCDHHS wrote:
“In August 2023, NCDHHS followed up with an enhanced plan due to a near fatality and several serious abuse cases where Nash County DSS’ lack of thorough safety planning and strong decision-making continued to leave children unprotected.
Since that time NCDHHS has engaged with the Nash County DSS to put protocols in place with Nash County DSS staff to assist with decision making to assure safety. Recent developments during our involvement with Nash County DSS have revealed that while the county has added additional contracted resources, it does not have the governance structure to manage day-to-day work and address significant deficiencies in the provision of protective services to children. Nash County has been slow to respond to critical situation, even when provided direct guidance and resources which include intensive intervention by NCDHHS staff over the last three weeks. Concerns about safety planning have continued, creating a substantial risk to children, and have led to children being harmed.
In light of this additional information, I have determined that the Nash County Department of Social Services is not providing child welfare services in accordance with the law, rule and policy, and further, the failure to provide these services poses a substantial threat to the safety and welfare of children of Nash County. Accordingly, pursuant to my authority under N.C. Gen. Stat. 108A-74(h), NCDHHS will begin assuming direct operation of the child welfare services in Nash County effective September 12, 2023.
When NCDHHS assumes operations, the Nash County DSS Director shall be divested of her service delivery powers … that pertain to child welfare services.”
This is just the third time ever NCDHHS has taken over a local agency. The department was given those powers back in 2017 by state lawmakers. The first state takeover occurred in Cherokee County in 2018. Last year, the state stepped in in Bertie County.
WRAL Investigates finds connections to two child deaths
In February, Nash County deputies said Christal Lane was beaten to death. Investigators say her grandmother, who was caring for Lane and four siblings, is responsible.
WRAL Investigates has learned Lane was killed weeks after Nash County Sheriff’s Detective Macie Hasty and other deputies investigated reports of abuse against the girl. Following that investigation, the sheriff’s office made it very clear: the children needed to be removed from the home. However, Nash County Department of Social Services (DSS) leadership did not remove the children from the home.
WRAL Investigates also learned from Hasty that during the course of that investigation, they found Lane’s sister also had bruises on her body. Hasty told WRAL Investigates she constantly thinks about the Lane case. She says the recommendation and Lane’s death still haunts her.
“For a while, I kind of felt like, ‘Why am I doing my job? If this is just going to happen, what is my job worth?’” Hasty said.
WRAL Investigates spoke to several former Nash County DSS workers who were involved in the Lane case. One, who spoke with us on-camera as long we concealed her identity, says she wasn’t surprised by Lane’s death. She also became emotional during the interview, saying, "I don’t think it had to happen," when referring to Lane’s case.
Then, the interview between WRAL anchor/reporter Lena Tillett and the social worker took an unexpected turn.
Tillett: "Did you experience a situation where a child was hurt because they weren’t removed from a home?"
Social Worker: "Yes."
Tillett: "What happened?"
Social Worker: "Well, the child eventually died."
Tillett: "Another child died?"
Social Worker: "Yes."
WRAL Investigates identified that child as Chase Hilliard. The nearly 2-year-old boy died in 2020 after his mother, Vonquetta Hilliard, said he fell from a bed. Despite her claim, the mother was charged with second-degree murder nearly a year after her son’s death.
In records obtained by WRAL Investigates, the charges came following the medical examiner’s decision that Chase died from complications of "Non-Accidental Traumatic Head Injuries."
WRAL News and other media outlets reported the little boy’s death, as well as the arrest of Vonquetta Hilliard. What WRAL News didn’t know at the time, due to privacy laws, is that Nash DSS was involved with the mother and son.
The social worker we interviewed on camera says Nash County social workers, as well as their supervisors, recommended the little boy be removed from his mother’s care. That recommendation, much like the Christal Lane case, was not approved by upper management.
Mother's fitness questioned even before child was born
Court documents obtained by WRAL Investigates provide a glimpse as to why social workers had concerns about the new mother’s ability to care for her child.
In an affidavit filed in Nash County courts, Vonquetta Hilliard’s sister says social workers were providing services to the mother-to-be before Chase was even born. The sister says Hilliard had "mental challenges and was under the special care and attention of our mother." She added Vonquetta Hilliard "now reads at about the third-grade level."
The sister claims DSS was contacted about Hilliard when she was pregnant with Chase "due to improper prenatal care," stating social services would take Hilliard to medical appointments.
Chase Hilliard was born prematurely and remained in the hospital following his birth for medical care. During that time, his grandmother, Vonquetta Hilliard’s mother, passed away. That left the new mother without her primary caretaker.
In the affidavit, the sister said, "After our mother’s death, due to the insistence of DSS, realizing Vonquetta needed help with the newborn, Vonquetta came to live with me for about one year."
The sister said that after Vonquetta Hilliard moved out of her home "a DSS social worker would periodically check on her and the baby."
The social worker WRAL Investigates interviewed said that Vonquetta Hilliard was unable to care for the child properly. "No, the mother wasn’t able to take care of the child," she said.
Social workers need higher-up approve to remove a child from the home
In the Christal Lane case, law enforcement lobbied for her removal from the home. In Chase Hilliard’s case, that recommendation came from multiple people inside the social services department.
However, a social worker told WRAL Investigates that those who work on the ground level do not have the power to remove children on their own. She told us that decision comes from above.
"That has to be approved by some type of upper management beyond the supervisor … A social worker and a supervisor makes the decision that the child can no longer be in that home to ensure safety. And they then make that recommendation to the program administrator … The program administrator pretty much is always going to be involved in that decision.”
As of Sept. 11, 2023, public records showed Kimberly Nicholson as the current Nash DSS program administrator. She held that position during both the Lane and Hilliard cases. The social workers WRAL Investigates talked to said multiple employees brought their concerns about Hilliard’s home directly to Nicholson. They say she did not approve his removal. WRAL Investigates asked Nicholson what went into her decision, but she did not answer.
The social worker says the goal is always to keep children in a home setting if possible. However, she admits, that’s not always possible.
"That’s what you want to do is keep the children in home, if at all possible. But there are times that there are worse things, you know, than removing children," she said.
She says she now wonders if Chase Hilliard would still be alive if social workers were heard. She tearfully told WRAL Investigates that the case has weighed heavily on her.
Social workers tell WRAL Investigates that the Lane and Hilliard cases represent a pattern of Nash DSS leadership failing to follow their recommendations to remove children from potentially dangerous homes.
Nash County Commissioner Gwen Wilkins called for the ousting of the leadership at Nash DSS.
"The corrective action plan has been put in place. The state has approved the corrective action plan, but if you ask me, my opinion is the problem is still there. The three at the top need to go," Wilkins said. "Show me you did everything you were supposed to do and I will defend you to my last breath, but I cannot say that in this instance."
WRAL Investigates asked Nash DSS director Amy Pridgen-Hamlett for a response. We also asked her specifically about claims that Nicholson decided against recommendations to remove Lane and Hilliard from their homes and did not allow those recommendations to go further up the chain of command. Neither Pridgen-Hamlett nor other Nash DSS employees would answer those specific questions. Instead, the county released this statement on behalf of the department:
"The Nash County Department of Social Services cannot release any information regarding the case mentioned without violating general statute 7B-2902 D3. While we cannot speak directly about this or any other case, Nash County Social Services is subject to NCDHHS guidelines for its operational policies and procedures. Like other agencies across North Carolina, the department is also regularly monitored by the State, which includes the inspection and review of random cases from the agency to ensure that Nash County DSS is adhering to state and federal guidelines and utilizing appropriate practices when handling cases involving child protective services. The department also falls within the purview of the Nash County Health and Human Services Board and regularly meets with this body in order to identify and respond to the health and human service needs that exist in our community."
