Criminal inquiry into DHS placement of 5-year-old girl with dad; less than one month later, girl beaten to death (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

Do I think the mother of this child is a candidate for mother of the year? No. But on the other hand, she hasn't murdered any children either.

Dad SEAN DEVON BROOKS was obviously a violent and frightening man, with a history of child abuse and domestic violence. But he got custody anyway--thanks to DHS. Less than one month later, the 5-year-old daughter was dead from a fatal beating.

http://newsok.com/osbi-opens-criminal-probe-in-to-dhs-action/article/3600828
OSBI opens criminal probe in to DHS action

BY NOLAN CLAY
Published: September 4, 2011
The Oklahoman


The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has agreed to conduct a criminal inquiry into a state agency's handling of the placement of a young girl who subsequently died from a beating.

Pottawatomie County District Attorney Richard Smothermon requested the investigation. He has been sharply critical of the state Department of Human Services and alleges information was withheld from his office.

“The focus of the investigation will be on the actions and inactions of all parties involved in the custody and placement of Serenity Deal prior to her death,” he wrote the OSBI last week.

He specifically asked the OSBI to look at events that happened and decisions that were made while the girl was in DHS custody, “and what, if any, criminal violations may have occurred.”

An OSBI spokesman confirmed Friday the agency will investigate.

Serenity Deal died June 4, less than a month after she began living with her father full time at the recommendation of DHS workers. She had turned 5 in May.

The girl was placed with her father, Sean Devon Brooks, even though she was injured twice in January during overnight visits with him. DHS was involved because Serenity's mother had been accused of molesting a boy.

Mother not contacted

Brooks, 31, of Oklahoma City, is charged with first-degree murder. In police interviews, he denied beating her.

The Oklahoman has learned that state child-welfare workers failed to fully check into Brooks' violent past.

Specifically, DHS workers never questioned his other children's mother until after Serenity's death, records show.

The ex-girlfriend, Amanda Mallory, told Oklahoma City police she considered him too violent to be around their two daughters and son.

Mallory told police a DHS worker came to her house after Brooks' arrest.

“Amanda said after the worker left she thought it was strange that they had only contacted her after the fact of all that had happened and they didn't ask her in the beginning what type of relationship he had had with his kids. Amanda said she would have told them because of the violence in their past she didn't really let him around her kids,” police reported.

The state child-welfare agency has acknowledged there were errors in Serenity's case.

“We know workers made mistakes, that they did not follow policy and procedures. And they are being held accountable,” DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell said last week.

The spokeswoman declined to comment specifically on the OSBI inquiry.

Serenity's mother lived at times in Shawnee. Serenity stayed with grandparents in Chandler before she was put in foster care then placed with her father. DHS offices in both Lincoln County and Pottawatomie County were involved in her case and were at odds.

Four child-welfare workers were put on administrative leave after the death.

One, who had urged caution, committed suicide. Another resigned. The other two are in the process of being fired.

Brooks did not know he was the father of Serenity until she was around 3, records show. He told DHS workers in interviews that he had three other children and saw them quite often. He actually rarely saw them.

The agency was aware of the identity of his other children's mother. Mallory is mentioned by name in DHS records about Serenity.

Mallory, 29, of Norman, told police she and Brooks had a rocky off-and-on relationship that had spanned six years. She described to a police inspector how one time in Chandler — when she was seven months pregnant — she fled to a pickup to get away from him.

“Amanda said … he got in the back and he was freaking out, beating on the windows. Amanda said Sean was screaming and cussing,” the police inspector reported.

She filed for and got a protective order in 2003 after the confrontation in Chandler. Brooks pleaded guilty in October 2003 to a misdemeanor for making harassing phone calls to Mallory in violation of the order.

Mallory and Brooks later began talking again. She told police, though, that he would freak out when their new baby began crying and tell her to stop the baby from crying.

She and Brooks had another conflict in Shawnee that led to police intervention, records show.

In an interview last week, Mallory told The Oklahoman: “My children haven't seen him, really, in nearly five years. … I kept them away to protect them. I would have told that to DHS had they contacted me. I assume that would be a logical step if you were going to place a child and you know that a parent has other children. … He was a very angry person.”