Two social workers tried to intervene, but to no avail

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, August, 2008 | by John Shiffman and Mark Fazlollah Inquirer Staff Writers

The scathing grand-jury report into the starvation of a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy was filled with allegations of villainy - social workers trashing reports, ignoring warning signs, lying, covering up. But two Department of Human Services social workers tried to sound the alarm that Danieal Kelly was in danger.

Their reports, though, vanished into a dysfunctional DHS bureaucracy. The family remained in the care of other caseworkers, who didn't do their jobs, and supervisors who didn't hold them accountable. In June 2005, social worker Catherine Mondi went to the Kelly home in response to an anonymous call to a city hotline. "I can still see her sitting there in her stroller with those beautiful, soulful brown eyes, smiling and responsive, so trusting, so vulnerable,"...