Aunt, former caseworker push for probe into Sullivan County CPS after foster child’s hot car death

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The aunt and former caseworker of a Monticello foster child who died after he was left in a hot car are speaking exclusively tonight with News 12 about the case and why they say the county’s child protective services should be held responsible. Two-year-old Antonio Ware was taken into Sullivan County Child Protective Services around May after officials found concerns with his mother’s living arrangements and her health, according to the child’s aunt, Chante Ware. “How do you do this to someone? You told a mother that she was not good enough to keep her kids,” says Ware, “and now you have my nephew laying in somebody’s funeral home.” The boy was found deceased in an SUV outside of an apartment complex on Terri Lane Tuesday after state police say the toddler was left alone in the hot vehicle for more than an hour. Ware says her sister and other family members were trying to regain custody of the boy and his 3-year-old brother, and that they’re horrified by the tragedy. “We got some feedback from the coroner,” Ware says. “It’s safe to say that he did suffer.” Antonio’s assistant former case worker spoke to News 12 under the condition of anonymity. She says she was fired last month for filing too many complaints about Antonio’s foster mother, including suspected abuse. “Antonio had a bruise. She said it was because he fell. It was a bruise from his face coming down to his chest and the right side of his rib. You don’t get that from falling down,” the former Sullivan County employee says. The woman says another time she reported that Antonio’s foster mother told her she was “tired” of caring for the boy and his brother when she returned early from a visitation with their parents and wanted time to “get away.” “She started yelling at me because she said that’s the only time she got away from those kids and that she was tired of them,” says the former child protective services employee. “So, I told her if you can’t deal with them, let me take them to another foster home and then she said, ‘Ain’t nobody said none of that. I can handle it.’” The former worker says on another occasion, she reported that she heard slapping sounds from inside the foster household and the foster mother’s biological grandchildren screaming. In each instance, the woman says she was either ignored or told to stop filing complaints. “I originally joined because I wanted to make a difference,” says the former DSS worker, “but that place will never change.” Sullivan County said in a statement Friday night, "Sullivan County’s Department of Social Services is fully aware of and participating in the investigation into the tragic and heartbreaking death of a child in foster care in Monticello this past week,” stated Sullivan County Health & Human Services Commissioner John Liddle. “I can confirm that there was one other foster child in this particular home. That child was removed and placed with another foster family within hours of initial notification." The boy’s aunt says an emergency family court hearing was held this week following Antonio’s death and that Sullivan County is working to help her sister find housing to regain custody of her surviving child, who she says remains in the Sullivan County foster care. “Everybody who failed my nephew and my sister needs to be held accountable,” says Ware. “I hope they drag them from the tippy top to the bottom.” "