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November 9, 2021
Los Angeles, CA– Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced her intention to ask the LA County Office of Child Protection to conduct an investigation into the alleged abuse of a 4-year-old boy in Norwalk by his foster mother.
“This story is appalling,” said Supervisor Hahn. “We were supposed to be protecting this boy when we took him away from his family, but if these allegations are true, we put him in the care of an abusive foster mother who hurt him so severely that he had to be hospitalized. I am praying for this little boy’s recover and I am asking for a full investigation by the Office of Child Protection. We not only need to know how it is possible that we could have placed a child in such a home, but we also need to question why he was removed in the first place and whether language barriers could have had a role in that decision.”
A motion calling for the investigation will be placed on the agenda for the upcoming November 16th meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
Foster mother, Gabriela Casarez, was identified and arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for child abuse on October 29, 2021 in the City of Norwalk. On November 2, 2021, the case was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office at the Norwalk Superior Court. The District Attorney filed one felony count of Assault on a Child Becoming Comatose/Paralysis, and two felony counts of Child Abuse Under Circumstances or Conditions Likely to Cause Great Bodily Injury or Death.
