Two DHS managers get brief suspensions
The city has dealt out minor punishments - brief suspensions without pay - to Pamela Mayo and Wesley Brown, senior Department of Human Services managers who supervised workers implicated in the starvation death in 2006 of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly.
The city has dealt out minor punishments - brief suspensions without pay - to Pamela Mayo and Wesley Brown, senior Department of Human Services managers who supervised workers implicated in the starvation death in 2006 of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly.
A third worker, Janice Walker, retired before the investigation was completed, though administration officials said yesterday they would have fired her had she not stepped down.
Kelly, who had cerebral palsy, died in August 2006, covered in bedsores and suffering from severe malnutrition. She was supposed to be under the protective care of DHS and a private contractor hired by the city agency.
Though Mayo and Brown were not indicted, both were named in last month's scathing grand-jury report into Kelly's death, which found that the neglect of DHS workers had contributed to her death. Though Mayo and Brown had no direct responsibility for Kelly's case, the grand-jury report sharply criticized both managers for failing to responsibly supervise their subordinates.
Mayo, director of operations for the Children and Youth Division, "made excuses for the employees' outrageous lapses and for her own failure to administer any consequences for failing to do their jobs," according to the grand-jury report.
The city yesterday said her punishment would be a two-day suspension without pay.
Brown, a director in the Children and Youth Division, was given a 10-day suspension without pay.
"We're taking everybody's role and looking very carefully at the evidence that can be collected as a result of their role and making very thoughtful decisions about what discipline, if any, is appropriate," new DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose said at a news conference yesterday when asked whether the punishments were too light considering the horrors of Kelly's case.
Asked whether she was convinced that Brown and Mayo could be trusted not to repeat earlier mistakes, Ambrose said yes.
"Both of them have been very instrumental in some of the reform efforts over the last few years, and I think have shown tremendous leadership and continue to be valuable assets to the Department of Human Services despite the lack of oversight in the Danieal Kelly case."
Ambrose noted that four suspended DHS workers remained under investigation, and she reminded reporters that she had already fired two caseworkers indicted by the grand jury, while former city acting Health Commissioner Carmen Paris resigned after the report was published.
Philadelphia Inspector General Amy Kurland led the city's investigation, which she said included interviews and document review. Her office advised Ambrose to discipline Mayo and Brown, but it did not recommend specific punishments. Kurland said she did recommend that Walker be terminated, but Walker retired before the investigation formally concluded.
