Denita DeVega, Nash County’s Department of Social Services director, says more supervisory oversight and additional staff in the child welfare division have been two keys in righting the ship at the agency.
DeVega’s first day on the job was Feb. 12, and she took over at a time when the agency was being overseen by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, action that was spurred after word spread about two preventable deaths in the county.
“In response to the tragic deaths of two children, we have implemented several significant changes to improve our services and ensure such incidents do not occur in the future,” DeVega said in a recent interview. “A key initiative has been the creation of a new deputy director position dedicated solely to Child Welfare and Adult Services. Previously, this position encompassed economic services and various other areas, diluting the focus on critical child welfare issues.”
Within a six-month span last year, Nash County residents learned of two fatal domestic incidents that prompted state health officials to step in temporarily: the beating death of 8-year-old Christal Lane of Nashville; and the death of 23-month-old Chase Hilliard of Rocky Mount, whose cause of death was non-accidental head trauma.
Lane died on Feb. 7, 2023, and it was revealed that on Dec. 19, 2022, DSS and law enforcement officials were called to Coopers Elementary School to investigate injuries to Lane that were the result of a brutal beating. Despite the recommendation by a Nash County Sheriff’s Office deputy that the child be removed from the home, DSS allowed Lane to return to the home she shared with her siblings and her grandmother, Patricia Ricks. Ricks was later charged with Lane’s murder.
Hilliard was a client of DSS at the time of his death. His mother, Vonquetta Hilliard, was charged by Rocky Mount police with second-degree murder.
Because of the immediacy to rescue children from violent situations, DeVega said, three positions were created in the department’s after-hours team, increasing its membership to five.
“The new positions included a supervisor and two social workers. This expansion is aimed at enhancing our service delivery and ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of our clients effectively and efficiently during after-hours,” DeVega said. “With this new structure, we can now provide more focused and specialized attention to child welfare.”
DeVega also said this change has allowed for enhanced oversight and a more concentrated effort in addressing the needs and safety of vulnerable children in the agency’s care.
DeVega said the department has also overhauled its communications system where the most critical cases come to the attention of a program manager, deputy director and the director.
“This multi-tiered approach ensures comprehensive oversight and more informed decision-making processes, thereby enhancing our ability to respond effectively and promptly to any issues that arise,” DeVega said. “We believe these measures are crucial steps towards improving the safety and well-being of the children and adults we serve. Our commitment to these improvements reflects our dedication to preventing future tragedies and providing the highest standard of care.”
DeVega said the Nash County agency was committed to following state guidelines and policies regarding the necessity to remove children from dangerous environments.
“Safety and risk to children are paramount when making these decisions,” DeVega said. “In investigating child abuse, our training and management oversight of cases have improved tremendously. While we are not free of mistakes, we are adopting a more aggressive approach to monitoring safety and focusing on our accountability to the citizens of Nash County.”
The Nash County Board of Commissioners has granted seven new positions to Child Welfare, DeVega said, and that division currently has 12 vacancies out of 54 positions left to fill.
“We are continuously recruiting to fill these roles,” she said.
In a March 28 press release, the state health department said it was returning control of child welfare services to Nash County DSS. Since September, state health officials had been working with the county collaboratively to stabilize and improve child welfare services and ensure appropriate standards.
With the hiring of DeVega as well as a qualified and experienced child welfare program administrator, the state health department said it had determined that leadership at the county DSS was ready to assume permanent and direct administration of child welfare services.
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