Anthony Avalos

This summer, a 4-year-old boy named Noah Cuatro was allegedly tortured and killed by his parents in Palmdale, a high desert exurb of Los Angeles County. The tragedy is still sending shockwaves through the county’s $2.9 billion child welfare agency and local government.

The first recorded sign of trouble in the brief life of Noah Cuatro came before he was even born. In August 2014, when his mother was nine months pregnant with Noah, she allegedly threw her baby sister, fracturing the 10-month-old’s skull in two places.

On Sept. 11, I visited the wood-paneled offices of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger for a wide-ranging discussion about the state of child welfare in the county and her district.

On August 30, the Los Angeles County Office of Child Protection (OCP) submitted a potentially explosive report on the mysterious July death of 4-year-old Noah Cuatro to county attorneys. Despite being requested by the county’s powerful Board of Supervisors, the report has yet to be made public, leaving yawning questions unresolved as L.A.’s

In 2013, Vicky Bibby was working as a social worker for a home visitation program in Los Angeles County’s Antelope Valley, checking in on pregnant women and young mothers to make sure they were learning healthy habits and how to bond with their children.

The family of Noah Cuatro, the 4-year-old Palmdale boy who died under suspicious circumstances in July, has taken the first step in suing Los Angeles County for more than $10 million.

On July 9, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva stepped to the lectern during a press conference focused on the suspicious death of 4-year-old Noah Cuatro. Four days earlier, on July 5, Noah’s parents called 911 claiming that their son had drowned in their high desert apartment complex pool.

In mid-July, Bobby Cagle, the director of Los Angeles County’s $2.8-billion child welfare system, visited the high desert communities of Palmdale and Lancaster, both reeling from the latest child death to strike the county.

On Wednesday evening, Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) released heavily redacted agency documents related to the July death of 4-year-old Noah Cuatro.  Key among the documents are four “risk assessments” and five “safety assessments” conducted by county child welfare caseworkers between 2014 and as recently as June of this year, only weeks before Noah died.