SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — In July, Gavin Peterson, 12, was found unresponsive in his home and taken to the hospital where he later died. A few days later, his parents and brother were arrested for child abuse.
In the weeks following Gavin’s death, his relatives appeared virtually in court and community members gathered at vigils and protests to honor Gavin — and to call for accountability from the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
“The senseless death of a child is an outrage,” DCFS Director Tonya Myrup said. “For those of us who work within the child welfare system, this really is the worst-case scenario.”
Myrup spoke with ABC4.com and said her team understands the “need and desire for answers” from the division.
“For everyone who’s demonstrating, we hear you,” Myrup said. “We’re doing everything we can within our authority to serve children and families and disclose information to the public to the extent allowable under the law.”
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services — the department over the DCFS — has a fatality review committee that Myrup said will be investigating Gavin’s death. She said fatality reviews typically happen within 12 months of the DCFS getting involved in a case.
Once the committee reviews Gavin’s case, Myrup said it will report its findings to leaders of the DHHS, as well as the Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel, with a meeting scheduled for September.
Myrup said the committee is made up of a multidisciplinary team that includes a fatality review coordinator, and may include representation from the Attorney General’s office, healthcare professionals, law enforcement, or other experts.
The CWLOP will be able to ask questions about the involvement of the DCFS and help identify “gaps or areas of improvement” related to policies and child welfare laws, Myrup said.
Myrup told ABC4.com that the DCFS regularly works with other partners within the child welfare system to “refine” how the organizations work to protect at-risk children.
According to the Weber County School District, several employees filed reports regarding the suspected abuse and neglect of Gavin before a guardian removed him from the school district.
“The prevention of child abuse and neglect really is a community effort,” Myrup said.
Myrup encouraged anyone who suspects child abuse or neglect to report the incidents to the DCFS’s intake hotline. Suspected abuse or neglect can be reported via the online form or via phone at 1-855-323-DCFS (3237).
“If you report something and you have concerns, you can always ask to speak to a supervisor,” Myrup said.
While Myrup was able to explain some of the processes and systems in place during a case such as Gavin’s, she was not able to comment on the specific details of the ongoing case. DCFS provided the following statement to explain why it could not share details:
Though there is tremendous public interest and a desire to publicly get to the bottom of a case, we cannot share details of a case. In cases involving a child fatality or near fatality, DCFS may provide some details surrounding the death once investigations conclude. DCFS respects that each child and family has a right to privacy and remains firm in our commitment to that privacy for the children and families in Utah.
Statement from the Utah Division of Child and Family Services
“We really are always looking for, ‘What can we do better, what can we improve?'” Myrup said. “The child welfare system is always evolving.”
Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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