Woman who served as voice of Moore toddler is moving on

CARTHAGE — The voice behind a toddler who drowned in April said her appearance Wednesday before the Moore County Department of Social Services board was expected to be her last.

Pam Reed has been a passionate and persistent critic of DSS, appearing at almost every board meeting after 23-month-old Rylan Ott drowned in a pond near his home April 14.

Since then, DSS agreed to conduct an independent investigation into Rylan's death, accepted the resignation of its director, hired an interim director, and, Tuesday night, got the county Board of Commissioners to fund three more social worker positions.

Reed, who had been Rylan’s Guardian ad Litem, deflected any credit, other than to say her decision to break confidentiality rules helped bring the case into the light.

Reed thanked the DSS board for conducting the investigation into Rylan's death and for its involvement in getting the three new social worker positions. But she continued to speak out about what she perceives as significant problems with management and its legal support.

Wednesday was the board’s first meeting since it accepted the resignation of former DSS director John L. Benton on March 2 and hired Laura Cockman as the interim director. Cockman served many years with DSS in Moore County and with the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Benton resigned abruptly while the board was reviewing an independent panel’s investigation into Rylan’s death. The boy would have celebrated his second birthday May 2, 2016.

At the end of that meeting, County Attorney Misty Leland released a heavily redacted 12-page report of the three-member panel’s investigative findings. Cockman was one of the investigators.

The panel cited “significant failures and omissions” by DSS that could have contributed to Rylan’s death. High caseloads resulting from “chronic understaffing” were at least partly to blame for the problems, the report said.

The panel recommended hiring two additional social workers who are trained in child protective services investigations as well as foster care. The Board of Commissioners went one step further, agreeing to Cockman's request for three additional social workers.

State records show that Moore County DSS had the highest turnover rate of child protective services workers of any agency in the state in 2015.

On Oct. 25 of that year, DSS took custody of Rylan and his teenage sister following a drunken fight between their mother, Samantha Nacole Bryant, and her boyfriend. The children went to live with a family on Fort Bragg until the court system could determine the safest course of action.

As a volunteer Guardian ad Litem for Rylan, Reed was sworn to protect him and his sister while they were in state custody.

Reed held that job until mid-December, when she resigned shortly after a Moore County judge decided to return the boy to his mother’s care. Reed felt Bryant remained unfit to be a mother.

Bryant remains in the Moore County jail, facing charges that include involuntary manslaughter and felony child abuse. She is scheduled for a court hearing April 14, the anniversary of the day Rylan died.

At the beginning of Wednesday’s board meeting, Reed read a letter from an unnamed foster parent who is upset with DSS but expressed hope that recent changes are a step in the right direction.

“I’ve been a foster parent for a few years now and have gone from being an optimistic eager new foster parent who believed in the system to one who has lost hope in DSS and the legal system and is clinging on to my faith and love for these children,” Reed read from the letter. “We have had caseworker after caseworker, they are continuing to make mistakes and are still not giving the judges all of the information. We have lost too many good caseworkers to the environment at DSS and the DSS legal team.”

The foster parent’s complaints echo those Reed has been making for months.

Reed urged DSS to asses its managers and supervisors in child protective services and its legal advisers.

Board Chairwoman Katherine Dunlap said she could not talk about individual workers but assured Reed that she has similar concerns.

Reed said she is not speaking out about the social workers on the front lines.

But she said Rylan died because his mother and DSS failed him.

“How many other significant failures and omissions would be uncovered” if investigators combed through other cases, Reed asked. “Those children matter… just as much as Rylan and his sibling. I pray you will use this opportunity to continue making improvements and changes on behalf of them all.”

Cockman acknowledged that DSS still has a large number of vacancies, which causes the remaining child social workers to handle caseloads greater than the state guideline of 10 per worker.

But Cockman said DSS is striving to fill the positions, and she said the three additional social work positions should help it meet the state guidelines.

Now, she said, the social workers are “overburdened equally.”

In the two weeks Cockman has been director, she said, DSS also has reorganized its social work department.

“I heard nothing but joy for those rearrangements from staff,” she said.

Cockman said the social workers have also begun peer reviewing their colleague’s cases, which she said should help determine who needs additional training.

As for Reed, she intends to continue her efforts at the state level, where she is trying to get lawmakers to approve what she calls “Rylan’s Law.”

The law would require social workers to meet with parents for an hour at least twice before the courts decide whether a child should be reunited with his family or remain in state custody.

Staff writer Greg Barnes can be reached at barnesg@fayobserver.com or 486-3525.