Orgal Opata leaves Josiah and Gabriel Hawthorne alone to burn to death.

How many more times can DSS let down our children and cost them their lives? Critter

DSS worked with mom of toddlers dead in fire
Agency intervened in 2008, 2009 with Orgal Opata for leaving children unattended.
By Lisa Hammersly
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Posted: Saturday, Mar. 06, 2010
DSSOPATA_VIGIL

Tears filled the eyes of friends and neighbors Friday during the vigil on Rowan Street for Josiah and Gabriel Hawthorne, two toddlers killed Sunday when a kerosene heater caught fire at their west Charlotte home. Their mother, Orgal Opata, has been charged with murder in their deaths. LAURA-CHASE MCGEHEE - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

* Grand jury asked for records of DSS charity


Mecklenburg's Department of Social Services detailed for the first time Friday the agency's involvement over two years with a Charlotte woman now charged with murder in the house fire deaths of her two unsupervised toddlers.

DSS had concluded recently that Orgal Opata, after being reported in 2008 and 2009 for leaving her children unattended, was cooperating and her four children were receiving "appropriate supervision."

But a DSS statement, released five days after Sunday's fatal fire, says social workers now have taken custody of the two surviving children, ages 4 and 7.

Police have said Opata, 26, left her children home alone early Sunday. A kerosene heater caught fire at the west Charlotte house, killing Josiah and Gabriel Hawthorne, ages 2 and 1, respectively. Investigators haven't said where they believe Opata was during the fire on Rowan Street in the Thomasboro neighborhood.

On Friday night, nearly 100 people huddled in front of the burned-out house, holding electric candles and praying for the dead children and their family.

Jerry Hawthorne, the boys' father, arrived just before the memorial began. But he started crying as he lit a candle near the pictures of his boys and walked away, sobbing.

Sylvia Simpson was also brought to tears. Simpson's daughter is about the same age as Josiah and the two were playmates.

"It just hurts," she said as she held her daughter. Opata "had the same problems everyone else had, the same struggles ... but everything seemed fine."

In the statement Friday, DSS says Opata was first reported to social workers in June 2008 on allegations she had left her young children unattended. In that case, DSS "provided sleeping materials for the children and recommended services for the mother." DSS closed that case in August 2008.

The next DSS involvement came last October, after three of Opata's children were found at home alone. A passerby reported discovering Josiah in the street wearing a T-shirt and diaper about 5 p.m. Oct. 27. Firefighters went to the house and found two other children unattended, including Gabriel, then 9 months old, lying on a bed facedown wearing a wet diaper.

Opata soon arrived at the house and told firefighters she was gone for a short time to pick up her daughter at nearby Thomasboro Elementary. Police charged her with child neglect in the incident.

After an assessment, DSS decided the family needed services and was referred for "family intervention protective services."

"A social worker was assigned to the case and had regular contact with Ms. Opata and other family members," according to the statement. "DSS referred Ms. Opata to community-based services and she cooperated with those service providers. During this time all information obtained by DSS indicated that the children were receiving appropriate supervision."

DSS officials said they didn't have enough information Friday to provide more detail on the complaints against Opata or to say whether case workers met state standards in handling the case.

Funeral services for Josiah and Gabriel Hawthorne are set for noon today with visitation beginning at 11 a.m. at Chappell Memorial Baptist Church on Bradford Drive in west Charlotte.

Libby Safrit worries about what will happen to Opata's surviving son and daughter.

"What are we as a community going to do for them?" asks Safrit, who heads Mecklenburg's Child Fatality Prevention and Protection Team, which will review the case to recommend improvements in how the system responds to abuse and neglect.

"How are we going to help them get through this? I just want to make sure these kids are OK. I want to make sure these children are not forgotten. As a community we need to put our arms around them." Staff writers Gary L. Wright and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. contributed.

That sure don't give a person much faith when social services are involved yet something like this happens.