this is the original article - the event was investigated in 2008 and closed 2 weeks later.
* By Jim Schoettler
* Story updated at 6:10 AM on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
ORANGE PARK — A social worker at Somer Thompson’s school warned about the danger of the 7-year-old girl’s walks from school a year before a killer snatched her on her way home, state records show.
The unidentified worker told the Department of Children and Families that Somer and her three siblings got lost at least once walking from Grove Park Elementary School and were found in woods with a stranger. The worker indicated that Somer’s mother needed to pay more attention to the children’s safety and get them into day care at the school.
But a two-week probe by Children and Families concluded the allegation about the children getting lost and being found with a stranger had no basis. It also found Diena Thompson properly arranged for her children to be taken to and from school, about a mile away, and that it was acceptable for them to walk home when necessary. Day care was suggested to her as an option, but not a requirement.
The case was closed without any findings of wrongdoing, according to the records provided to the Times-Union last week.
Thompson continues to grieve over Somer’s Oct. 19 disappearance and slaying, which remains unsolved. She said that she has always cared for her children’s well-being and allowed them to walk home on rare occasions when she worked and couldn’t get them a ride. Somer disappeared on one of those days. Her siblings have received rides every day since, Thompson told the Times-Union Wednesday.
“I’m always second-guessing myself as far as them walking home, but I did what I could as a single mother with absolutely no help from anyone else,” said Thompson, 35. “Children should be able to walk home without being afraid of being attacked by a monster.”
Children and Families spokesman John Harrell said he couldn’t disclose by law who made the report and whether the agency had fielded other reports from Somer’s school. The school’s principal, Lynda Braxton, declined to comment.
Harrell said the case was handled properly.
“Our investigator did the right thing and went above and beyond ... by checking to make sure if these services were being followed up on,” Harrell said.
The social worker called the agency’s abuse hot line on Oct. 9, 2008.
“There is overall concern for the safety and well-being of the children,” the investigator wrote, based on the social worker’s statement.
Thompson told the investigator she was unaware of her children ever getting lost in the woods or being found by a stranger. Somer and her older brother told the investigator they never got lost. Somer’s twin, Samuel, said he got lost once, but gave no details. Somer’s sister was never asked. Thompson said a family friend had been transporting the children and that would continue.
Thompson also told the investigator the school suggested the children attend an off-campus YWCA day-care program. But she said it ended before she could pick them up from work and she couldn’t afford the cost of picking them up late.
Thompson was later told the day-care program was at the school and that school officials were trying to arrange for Somer to attend for free or at a reduced rate. She said she would consider the option, though the children weren’t sent.
A Children and Families supervisory review of the case on Oct. 12 - three days after the initial report - states that the “risk is low” and that “the children are old enough to walk to school.” It also states that if Thompson can’t afford day care, she shouldn’t be placed in a “financial bind.”
Two weeks into the case, Thompson reiterated to the investigator that her friend was helping with transportation, “but on occasion the children still do walk,” the records show. The family friend told the investigators she had been transporting the children.
The investigator concludes that the “risk remains low” and that Thompson had been very cooperative.
“No services necessary at this time,” the report said.
Thompson said she is hopeful the public will not to use the report to criticize her parenting ability, a problem she had to endure from some people after Somer’s death.
“Walk a day in my shoes,” she said.
BBM
My question: Why was this given to a hot line and not LE? Children in the woods with a stranger doesn't belong with a social worker, it belongs and should be investigated by LE MY OPINION ONLY