Statement by Warren Ludwig, Child Welfare Administrator with Wake County Human Services

Re: Child Protective Services Involvement with Teghan Skiba

In compliance with North Carolina General Statute 7B-2902, Wake County is releasing a written summary of findings and information concerning Child Welfare actions with Tehgan Skiba.

Although General Statute 108A-80 generally prohibits Wake County from releasing information about services to specific individuals, General Statute 7B-2902 states that a public agency shall, upon request, disclose a written summary of specified information and findings related to a child fatality when a person has been criminally charged with having caused the fatality. Teghan Skiba, age 4, died July 19, 2010, and Jonathan Richardson has been charged with first degree murder in connection with her death.

G.S. 7B-2902 also directs Wake County not to release information that is likely to undermine an ongoing or future criminal investigation. Because of the nature of the active criminal investigation in this case, Wake County is disclosing a detailed summary of Child Welfare actions but only very limited details of what has been learned.

Wake County Child Protective Services (CPS) did not receive any reports of suspected abuse or neglect of Teghan Skiba prior to her being hospitalized with the injuries from which she died.

On Friday, July 16, 2010, at 3:20 p.m., Wake County CPS was informed by Johnston County CPS that it had received and accepted a report earlier that day of severe physical abuse and was forwarding the report to Wake County to conduct the CPS investigative assessment. In North Carolina, the county where a child lives is responsible for conducting CPS assessments, and Johnston County had judged that the mother and child’s residence was in Wake County with Teghan’s maternal grandmother. Johnston County forwarded the information that the child’s mother, Helen Reyes, was in New Mexico for a couple weeks of army reserve training and that she had left her daughter, Teghan, in the care of her boyfriend, Jonathan Richardson. Mr. Richardson had taken Teghan earlier that day to Johnston Memorial Hospital in Smithfield with injuries so severe that she was transported to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. The report stated Teghan had multiple injuries on her face, head and body.

The report was prioritized for immediate response. A Wake County CPS social worker and her supervisor drove to UNC Hospital where they were met by a physician who briefed them on Teghan’s specific injuries including signs of physical and sexual abuse, judgments of the hospital and sheriff’s department on how the injuries were caused, and the emergency care the child was receiving. Teghan was not conscious, and the physician was not sure she would live through the night.

The social worker and supervisor observed Teghan and her multiple injuries.

The social worker spoke by telephone with the mother, who was en route from New Mexico and was expecting to arrive at the hospital at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. The social worker arranged to meet Ms. Reyes at the hospital when she arrived.

The CPS staff met with hospital social workers.

The CPS workers joined Johnston County sheriff’s deputies interviewing Teghan’s maternal aunt and maternal grandmother at the hospital.

The CPS workers then drove to the Wake County Detention Center on Hammond Road to meet with Teghan’s father, Jerry Skiba, who had been incarcerated for 7 months. The workers provided information to Mr. Skiba and received information from him.

Also on Friday night, the social worker telephoned the paternal grandmother and interviewed her.

On Saturday morning, July 17, the social worker and supervisor returned to UNC Hospital and received updates. Teghan was still alive, unconscious and in critical condition. The social worker and supervisor conducted a detailed interview with the mother, Helen Reyes, who reported that she and Teghan had lived with Mr. Richardson in the building on his grandparents’ property for four weeks prior to her leaving for training in New Mexico. After that interview, the social worker and supervisor consulted with a program manager. They decided that Wake County would petition for legal custody of Teghan because of the seriousness of intentionally caused injuries, the father’s incarceration, and the mother’s failure to protect her child and to entrust her child to an appropriate caretaker. It was agreed that the mother and relatives could have brief visits with Teghan that day under supervision of hospital personnel. Later Saturday, a petition was prepared and read to a family court judge who granted Wake County temporary legal custody of Teghan and ordered all family visits be supervised.

On Monday morning, July 19, Wake County CPS had telephone contacts with the Johnston County Sheriff’s Department, the hospital, and with others. A hospital physician reported that an exam that morning found Teghan to be brain dead and that she would be pronounced dead later in the day if a second exam had the same findings. Wake County CPS asked if physicians would be willing to meet with family members that afternoon and if the family’s religious requests could be accommodated, and the physician agreed.

Monday afternoon, the social worker, supervisor and program manager went to the hospital. They supervised visits with the mother, maternal relatives, and paternal relatives. They arranged for the father, Mr. Skiba, to be allowed to participate by telephone in a meeting between physicians, Child Welfare, the mother, and her sister to discuss Teghan’s condition. CPS witnessed and supervised family members’ participation in a religious ceremony with Teghan and a hospital chaplain, and was present about 6:30 p.m. when Teghan was pronounced dead at the hospital.

On Wednesday, July 21, Child Welfare took several steps to complete its assessment, provide family members with information about voluntary services, and facilitate the family’s being able to make funeral arrangements. CPS staff visited the building in Johnston County where Teghan had lived with her mother and Mr. Richardson and spoke with Mr. Richardson’s maternal grandparents. CPS staff also visited the residence in Raleigh where Teghan and her mother had previously with her maternal grandmother and talked with a maternal aunt. CPS contacted Mr. Richardson’s attorney but was unable to speak with Mr. Richardson.

Later in the week, Child Welfare had additional contacts with the family, law enforcement, the hospital, and the medical examiner’s office.

On Tuesday, July 27, CPS made a case decision to substantiate that Mr. Richardson physically and sexually abused Teghan and to substantiate that Ms. Reyes abused Teghan. The finding concerning Ms. Reyes does not mean that she personally inflicted injuries on Teghan. The definition of abuse in G.S. 7B-101 includes creating or allowing to be created a substantial risk of serious physical injury by other than accidental means.