State fires two child welfare workers over Gwinnett rolling pin beating case

By Johnny Edwards, Fox 5 Atlanta

BETHLEHEM, Ga. - Two months before 8-year-old Sayra Barros’ stepmother allegedly beat her to death with a wooden rolling pin, Georgia’s child welfare agency received a complaint that her father called her "a demon," records obtained by the FOX 5 I-Team reveal.

But the state Division of Family and Children Services closed that case, which included allegations of the stepmother bruising the child. Now DFCS says that complaint was mishandled, firing both the social worker who reported no evidence of abuse and her supervisor who signed off.

A review of their caseloads found a pattern of sloppy work, with at least three other cases re-opened, DFCS personnel records show.

"It is my recommendation that both employees be separated from employment for reckless assessment decisions/conduct," Gwinnett County DFCS Director Travis Moses said in an internal email on Feb. 13.

Sayra’s stepmother, Natiela Barros, 34, remains in the Gwinnett County jail without bond, charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and cruelty to a child in the first degree. According to police, on Jan. 30 she struck her stepdaughter 10 to 20 times with a rolling pin, including on the "top back of her neck."

Sayra’s father, Cledir Barros, 37, is also jailed, with a bond hearing scheduled Wednesday. Arrest warrants accuse him of knowing his daughter was being abused, but leaving her in the care of his wife anyway, then not seeking medical help before the child died. He is charged with murder in the second degree and cruelty to a child in the second degree.

"The real question is, was this child’s death preventable?" said State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, a longtime child protection advocate and a member of the House Juvenile Justice Committee. "In hindsight, it looks like this death was preventable."

DFCS records shed more light on what happened Jan. 30, saying the beating "started this morning because (Sayra) wasn’t eating correctly which was the start of spanking."

The records say Sayra didn’t die immediately, with the stepmother laying her across a bed when Sayra said she didn’t feel well. When the girl started to turn white, the stepmom called her husband, who "instructed her to pray, and everything would be ok," a case narrative says.

"Natiela then called two priests from Nigeria before calling for emergency help," a DFCS record says.

Two and a half months earlier, the agency had been told terrible things might be happening to Sayra.

The records provided to the I-Team are heavily redacted, with dozens of pages entirely blacked out. But the documents show that in mid-November, someone warned DFCS about Sayra’s stepmother allegedly harming her. It’s not clear who made the complaint or how he or she knew the family.

The tipster said the father "states the child had two personalities and was causing a problem with his current marriage due to her being born out of wedlock."

According to the allegation, Sayra’s father "referred to the child as a demon" and "admitted that the (stepmother) loses her cool and disciplines the child inappropriately causing bruising."

Attorney Tom Rawlings, a former juvenile court judge and director of DFCS from 2018 to 2021, reviewed the records for the I-Team. He said the "demon" comment should have triggered major scrutiny on the family.

"There have been children who have been beaten to death both in the United States and U.K., and certainly in Africa, because the family thought they were possessed," said Rawlings, who writes about child welfare issues at TomRawlings.Substack.com.

"We have to ask, do our case managers really understand the significant import, significant danger, when a parent or a stepparent says, ‘That child is a demon’?" Rawlings said.

Rep. Oliver, who also reviewed the records, said she saw something else concerning: Sayra had three half-siblings, but she was the only child in the family being homeschooled.

"The red flag of the child being homeschooled after a DFCS investigation was initiated, outcries of possible dangers by other folks who were in touch with the child, and a case that was closed relatively soon after it was opened," she said. "I think the investigation and the review seems to be leading towards a conclusion that the case should not have been closed that soon."

DFCS leaders declined an interview request from the I-Team, but answered questions in writing, saying that following the November complaint, the case manager interviewed family members and "spoke to a reference about the family."

According to the DFCS file, "the child did not disclose her concerns when investigated," but one of her siblings said the mother "caused bruising … by her style of discipline."

"The case manager documented that she found no evidence of abuse or neglect in her assessment of the family," DFCS said in written answers provided by a spokeswoman. "Her supervisor validated that decision by approving case closure in our system of record."

A few days after Sayra’s death, internal emails show DFCS leaders were zeroing in on the case manager who handled the earlier complaint. A look at another case she was handling prompted a DFCS deputy commissioner to write in a Feb. 1 email, "We need to reassign this case immediately and take HR action on the employee."

An internal review found "safety concerns surrounding not speaking to parents to assess them, copying, and pasting in the investigation summaries, and not fully assessing the caregivers," personnel records say.

The agency fired case manager Shetial Wingard and supervisor Alexandria Armah on Feb. 15. Wingard had been on the job just six months, and Armah had been a supervisor for three months.

"That reflects possible turnover rates that are worrisome," Rep. Oliver said. "This is a very, very difficult job. They’re trying to prevent the deaths of children who are in the custody of mentally ill people, drug-addicted people, or people who are criminals. And that’s a hard job."

The I-Team reached out to the fired employees, as well as attorneys for the father and stepmother, but found no one willing to speak about the case.