Their father Timothy Jones killed the children on August 28, 2014.
Sreekanth A Nair
Amber Jones, 31, the mother of five children who were killed by their father in 2014 in South Carolina has filed a suit against the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS), alleging that the agency failed to prevent the death of her children, reported The Daily Beast.
The agency “failed to provide the statutorily mandated protection that would have saved [her children] from abuse and neglect and prevented their deaths,” she alleged in her suit.
Timothy Jones, 34, the father of the five children killed them after securing their legal custody. He strangled four of them and beat the fifth child to death.
The bodies of Merah, 8, Elias, 7, Nahtahn, 6, Gabriel, 2, and Abigail, 1, were found in plastic bags, 700 miles away in Alabama.
The suit filed by Jones alleges that the officials neglected the complaints of child abuse from her, teachers, and neighbors and didn’t conduct a detailed investigation into the matter which ultimately led to the murder.
She has also sought damages from the South Carolina Department of Social Services. The complaint was filed in Richland County on Friday.
The prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the crime committed by Timothy Jones.
Amber Jones alleges that Timothy has a history of crimes and he was jailed for drug possession, forgery, burglary, and car theft.
The DSS started receiving complaints about Timothy from 2011 onwards. He had attacked his wife and children many times and threatened the neighbors.
Amber Jones had filed a complaint against him when his violent activities became unbearable. The country DSS had visited the home many times from 2011 to 2012 but failed to follow up on safety plans.
In 2013, Timothy got divorced from Amber alleging that she is incapable of caring the children because of her lifestyle and she had an affair with a younger neighbor.
He managed to make the court believe that he was well-settled and could take care of the children. He said that he was earning $6000 and could move to Mississippi with the children as he had a family there.
His personal therapist, Dr. April Hames, had also filed a petition saying that he is “a highly intelligent, responsible father.”
After getting the primary custody of the children, he continued his connection with the county DSS as he was a single father.
Several instances of Timothy abusing the children were reported by teachers, neighbors, and babysitters since he won the custody of the children. But the DSS failed to conduct a detailed investigate and give protection to the children leading to the brutal killing on August 28, 2014.
Two months after the incident, a legislative committee released a report on the Department of Social Services. The report pointed out the inadequacy of the South Carolina’s DSS framework in protecting children.
The report said that the employees are unqualified; their caseloads are excessive and inequitable from county to county, and their record keepings are unreliable.