imstilla.grandma
Believer of Miracles
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idk . It’s not to me and I don’t subscribe…huh? I’m sorry. I now see it says Subscriber Exclusive but I can still read it…paywall
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idk . It’s not to me and I don’t subscribe…huh? I’m sorry. I now see it says Subscriber Exclusive but I can still read it…paywall
MONSTERS!!! Where is the puke emoji?!
Newly-obtained documents in the killing of Sophia Mason show that Hayward police – after getting a missing person’s report about the 8-year-old in March 2022 – swiftly determined what Alameda County social workers had failed to see for more than a year: The girl was in danger and needed immediate help.
But by the time officers found Sophia just three days later, it was too late. She was already dead, decomposing in the bathtub of a house where her mother and the mother’s boyfriend had lived in Merced.
The documents, compiled by police and obtained after this news organization successfully sought a court order, confirm the findings of ongoing reporting by the Bay Area News Group detailing how Alameda County’s Department of Children and Family Services failed to protect Sophia in the year before she died. County social workers repeatedly ignored evidence of the danger Sophia was in under her mother’s care— and did not meet their legal obligations to elevate allegations of abuse to law enforcement.
The revelations also underscore emerging concerns about systemic issues within Alameda County’s child welfare agency, which compares poorly to its peers across California in meeting state requirements for timely action to protect the vulnerable children under its charge.
The repeated failures by DCFS to take routine investigative measures is deeply disturbing, said Nicol Stolar-Peterson, a licensed clinical social worker who routinely testifies as an expert witness in child abuse cases.
“It’s extremely troubling, because it’s really the basics,” Stolar-Peterson said. “We’re talking about basic minimum steps — again, which is standard of care. And that’s concerning because we’re talking about children’s lives and children’s safety.”
Hayward police began their investigation in response to a missing persons report filed by Sophia’s aunt on March 8, 2022. They quickly reviewed Sophia’s records from Alameda County DCFS, as well as her spotty school attendance reports, and learned that Sophia’s mother, Samantha Johnson, had a history of prostitution, including an active OnlyFans account.
Samantha Johnson at a court appearance in the Merced County Courthouse on Monday, March 27 in Merced. Johnson is accused of child abuse and murder in the death of her 8 year old daughter Sophia Mason. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
“I am concerned for Sophia’s welfare,” Officer Jennifer Kell wrote in one report. She cited a mounting pile of facts, including a report of “genital bruises made by Kaiser employee (sic) to CPS and the school information that Sophia has not been enrolled or attended school in California since October 2021.”
‘This tragedy was avoidable’: New records show how Hayward police found 8-year-old Sophia Mason — but it was already too late
More than a year after Sophia Mason’s death, new records released by Hayward police show that officers picked up on the dangers she faced — dangers that Alameda County social workers ha…www.mercurynews.com