A new $23 million lawsuit says the Oregon Department of Human Services failed to respond to reports that a Portland man was abusing his 4-year-old son, just weeks before the boy died.
Jhorden Clay died May 3, 2023, after emergency medical personnel responded to his father’s home on reports that the boy was seizing and not breathing.
The child died in a hospital operating room from blunt force trauma to his abdomen. He had bruising and injuries “from head to toe,” including a liver laceration and signs of strangulation. He was severely malnourished and had numerous scars.
His father, Marquavious Ware, has been charged with murder.
Jhorden Clay had been staying with his father for nearly a month at the time of his death. Ware had taken his son on April 7 for what was supposed to be a two-day visit, but refused to return his son to the mother.
He only allowed the mother, Jonicia Clay, to see her son over Facetime.
On April 19, the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline received a report that the child had been injured while in his father’s care.
Jonicia Clay had noticed a bruise on her son’s forehead over Facetime and had told someone that she was concerned. Someone then contacted DHS.
Law enforcement was contacted and attempted to conduct a welfare check at Ware’s home, but Ware and Jhorden Clay were not home at the time, according to a DHS report conducted after Jhorden Clay’s death.
Law enforcement told the mother’s family that DHS would follow up with them about the report, but instead, the DHS after-death report said, the report was closed at screening.
Jonicia Clay had filed for a restraining order to protect her and her son from the father less than two weeks prior to his death. The order was denied, according to the DHS report.
The lawsuit, first reported by the Oregonian , seeks millions from the state of Oregon for claims of wrongful death and abuse of a vulnerable person. The legal complaint alleges that the Oregon Department of Human Services’ negligence caused the death of Jhorden Clay and the pain and suffering he experienced prior to his death.
A report from a Critical Incident Review Team, which is convened after the death of a child who had prior contact with DHS, describes more than a dozen reports made to DHS prior to Jhorden Clay’s death. The CIRT report does not name the individuals involved but Amity Girt, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, confirmed which report referred to Jhorden Clay.
Allegations had been made against both Clay’s family and Ware’s family, in a multi-generational web of abuse and neglect claims.
DHS reports show that Jonicia Clay was her son’s primary caregiver at some points over the years, but her mother filled that role at other times.
At the time of Jhorden Clay’s birth, his mother was 16 and his father was 15.
The father, Ware, did not have consistent involvement with his son until April 2023.
A doctor involved in the DHS review said it would be impossible for anyone in the home with Jhorden Clay prior to his death to not have known physical abuse was occurring, the DHS report stated.
One of Ware’s brothers was also 4 years old. According to DHS, he said his mother often left him in the care of Ware and the other brother, who was 15, and that the two hit him. He said that on the day Jhorden Clay died, he saw Ware hit and knock out Jhorden Clay.
A week after Jhorden Clay’s death, the other 4-year-old became angry after someone told him to stop doing something.
The child “grabbed the individual’s throat and threatened to choke them. He then stated that his father taught him how and further stated that when his dad chokes people, it works,” the DHS report stated.
The Critical Incident Review Team found significant flaws in how DHS handled the complaints leading up to Jhorden Clay’s death, including the department closing the April 19 report of an unexplained bruise or bump on the child’s forehead without Child Protective Services conducting a full assessment.
There were also “gaps and barriers” that impacted DHS’s ability to quickly and effectively ensure the safety of surviving children in the household, the CIRT report stated.
Taken as isolated incidents, some of the allegations did not warrant a CPS assessment under state criteria. But caseworkers are required to consult with a supervisor when those allegations are made while there’s already an open CPS assessment for the family. DHS records don’t show that that happened, the CIRT report found.
In a separate CPS assessment, the boy was found to have a bruise on his face, but DHS did not follow Karly’s Law, which requires that children found to have injuries during a child abuse investigation be seen by a doctor within 48 hours.
Leading up to the boy’s death, “the mother approached multiple systems for assistance in ensuring the child’s safety but was unsuccessful in obtaining the assistance she needed,” the CIRT report found.
A DHS spokesperson declined to comment on the pending lawsuit but said “Anytime a child dies, it is a tragedy for their family and community.”
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