Texas Child Protective Services Commissioner Hank Whiteman says he will get to the bottom of the case.
Putting the Texas officials equally responsible for the death of Indian American girl Sherin Mathews, a top US child protection official said that the authorities failed in protecting the girl despite a doctor alerting them about her abusive adopted parents. The child was diagnosed with several bone fractures after the parents had sought medical care for her.
Hank Whiteman, the Texas Child Protective Services Commissioner, said that he was not happy with the way his agency carried out the investigation of Sherin Mathews.
“I’m gonna tell you right now, it is my mission, it is my passion that we get better at this,” he told WFAA.
He also said that he will get to the bottom of the case. Wesley Mathews and his wife Sini are accused of leaving their 3-year-old adoptive daughter, Sherin, home alone in October.
Sherin, who was adopted by Sini Mathews and Wesley Mathews from an orphanage in Bihar, India, was found missing on October 7. After several days of search, police found her body under a culvert, about a mile from her home.
Initially, Wesley Mathews gave a false statement to the police that he punished the girl for not drinking milk by forcing her to stand outside of the house around midnight, and found her missing when he returned. Later, he confessed that the girl chocked to death when he tried force feeding her.
The reason for the 3-year-old’s death is yet to be determined by medical examiners.
Whiteman said that the statements provided by the parents are not believable and he has no idea what was going through the mind of Wesley Mathews.
When asked whether the CPS could have done a better job in handling the case, Whiteman said, “I think they could have done a better job, a much better job. It’s sad when I saw that, and I read the case report. I was silent for 10 seconds, and looking at my staff, it’s not acceptable. It’s not acceptable. We are well-trained people. How this slipped through? We’re going to find out.”
Whiteman also said that his agency operates with limited budget and it could have been one of the reasons that might have forced his co-workers to overlook the case, which ultimately caused the death of the three-year-old. He added that he will seek more funds during the next legislative session so that such incidents do not happen again.
During a CPS custodial hearing, Sini Mathews was asked how her adopted daughter broke femur, elbow, and tibia between January and March of this year.
The state asked her many other questions as well regarding the disappearance of the girl but she decided not to answer any of those. She told the state that she plans to see her biological daughter in a supervised CPS visitation if and when she posts bond.
Dr. Susan Dakil, a paediatrician, told the authorities that Sherin Mathews was hospitalized in February of 2017 and also had an elbow fracture in September of 2016. She also testified that the parents had told that the elbow fracture caused in September was the result of their biological daughter pushing Sherin off a couch.