Commissioner: CPS response to warnings in Medina County baby death case 'not acceptable'

CPS investigator warned for months about possible neglect before infant's death

SAN ANTONIO – The commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on Friday said employees of his agency did not respond properly to warnings last year that an infant was possibly being neglected.

That infant, 7-month-old Lily Adair (Wade), was later found dead inside a home in Medina County on Christmas morning.

Sources familiar with the investigation into Lily's death said it is likely she suffocated after getting her head stuck between the mattress and footboard of an adult bed.

The comments from DFPS Commissioner Hank Whitman Jr. came two days after a KSAT 12 Defenders investigation revealed that a Child Protective Services investigator assigned to investigate Lily's mother did not respond to one of Lily's caregivers' repeated text messages and calls, which detailed possible neglect and erratic behavior by Lily's mother. 

"If that many calls are coming in, and we're not responding, then that's a personnel issue, that's not a systems failure," said Whitman, who had agreed to sit down for an interview with KSAT's Jessie Degollado before the investigation aired.

Officials with the agency also admitted that they failed to contact the caregiver, Dana Henderson, after she reported concerns to its abuse/neglect hotline in November.

Whitman watched the Defenders' coverage of Lily's death, then answered questions from Degollado in real time.

He said he was familiar with Lily's case, but could not discuss specific aspects of it because of privacy laws and because Lily's death is still the focus of a Medina County Sheriff's Office criminal investigation.

"It's not acceptable for that to happen," said Whitman.

"A supervisor should have been reviewing this case. Open it up and going, 'Hey, caseworker, we got a problem here.'"

A CPS spokeswoman confirmed earlier this month that Montoya still works for the agency.

Paperwork released by DFPS after the interview with Whitman indicates that Montoya received a written warning for failing to meet work deadlines and for not following policies and procedures.

Although the paperwork is heavily redacted, it appears Montoya failed to complete some of the paperwork related to Lily's case in a timely manner.

While the spokeswoman said there is no evidence that Lily's death was in any way the fault of CPS, Whitman said Friday he is not ready to close the book on the case.

"It's not the end of it from a learning perspective and making sure things like this don't happen again," said Whitman.

Records obtained by the Defenders show that Lily's mother, Elise Adair, was placed under CPS investigation last August after one of her family members filed a complaint saying Adair drank alcohol around the infant and allowed Lily to be around her father, Earl Wade, who at the time faced a felony indecency with a child charge.

Records show that days after Adair was placed in a CPS family safety plan, Henderson provided Montoya with a picture that appeared to show that Adair had cut herself on the arm several times.

Henderson also repeatedly messaged Montoya with concerns about Adair's behavior, sent pictures showing abrasions on Lily's head from wearing a corrective helmet for too long and communicated information about Adair no longer taking the infant to therapy sessions.

Henderson said that Montoya eventually stopped responding to the messages and stopped answering phone calls from her, and that Montoya's supervisor also did not return calls.

A source said the case will likely be presented to a grand jury later this year for possible charges of child endangerment by neglect.

Adair, 24, is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for felony burglary in an unrelated case.


About the Author:

Emmy-award winning reporter Dillon Collier joined KSAT Investigates in September 2016. Dillon's investigative stories air weeknights on the Nightbeat and on the Six O'Clock News. Dillon is a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Reporter of the Year.