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Credit: Tada Images via Adobe Stock<\/p>\nSupervisors approved the payout in the wake of Noah Cuatro\u2019s death, a tragedy that exposed systemic child welfare lapses and galvanized efforts for change<\/p>\n
Credit: Tada Images via Adobe Stock<\/p>\n
The LA County Board of Supervisors just approved a settlement of $20 million this week with the family of Noah Cuatro, a 4-year-old boy from Palmdale, who was tortured and then murdered by his parents.<\/p>\n
In July 2019, Noah\u2019s parents called to report a drowning. He was taken to Palmdale Regional Medical Center, where his injuries quickly raised suspicion amongst investigators as to his true cause of death. Noah was then moved to Children\u2019s Hospital Los Angeles, where he passed.<\/p>\n
Prior to Noah\u2019s death, multiple reports of abuse had already been made to the Department of Child and Family Services, including the 26-page petition filed by a caseworker to argue for Noah\u2019s removal from his home. A judge approved the petition, but Noah was never removed from his parents\u2019 custody.<\/p>\n
In July 2020, Evangelina Hernandez, Noah\u2019s great-grandmother, filed a wrongful death suit against DCFS on behalf of Noah\u2019s 6-year-old sister and brothers, ages 5 and 11, claiming that DCFS failed to carry out an order to remove Cuatro from his parents only weeks before he was killed. Attorneys assert that Noah\u2019s murder was preventable.\u00a0In this suit, Hernandez alleged that social workers from DCFS threatened that if she made any statements either publicly or to a lawyer regarding Noah\u2019s case, she would not be able to see her surviving great-grandchildren again.<\/p>\n
In April 2024, Judge Robert Chu of Lancaster Superior Court sentenced Ursula Elaine Juarez to 22 years to life in prison and Jose Maria Cuatro Jr. to 32 years to life for Noah\u2019s death. Juarez pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree murder and one count of torture. Cuatro pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree murder and one count of torture.<\/p>\n
These sentences follow the new information obtained in 2023, demonstrating that Noah\u2019s siblings also experienced neglect and abuse by Cuatro. In March 2023, Noah\u2019s oldest sibling told his great-grandmother that he was forced to \u201cbeat up Noah.\u201d He reported that he and his other siblings also experienced abuse at their father\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
Lizbeth Hernandez Aviles, a county social worker, testified in the 2023 deposition regarding the alleged abuse of Noah\u2019s siblings and provided additional information. The property manager of the Cuatro apartment informed Aviles of concerns of domestic violence in the house. Aviles reported on the living conditions of the Cuatros, revealing that there were no mattresses or beds for the children to sleep on, only a single mattress in the living room. She noted that there was a foul odor emitting from the house as a result of it being \u201ccluttered and filthy\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Tuesday, after the suit was settled, Supervisor Kathryn Barger of L.A. County said in a statement that \u201cThe death of Noah Cuatro was a heartbreaking tragedy,\u201d and that \u201cWhile nothing can undo the harm he suffered, today\u2019s $20 Million settlement provides some measure of support to his surviving family\u201d. She then asserted that Noah\u2019s life was \u201cnot in vain\u201d and that, along with reinforcing a need for continuous review of child welfare cases, \u201che leaves behind a legacy \u2013 he will not be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than the money, Hernandez and the rest of Noah\u2019s family are working to propose a state law to honor his legacy. They are working with advocates and lawmakers to try to create a three-person panel to review and decide when a child should be removed from a dangerous home. Hernandez claims that it was never about the money and that she wants to make sure that Noah\u2019s story \u201cchanges the system.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Supervisors approved the payout in the wake of Noah Cuatro\u2019s death, a tragedy that exposed systemic child welfare…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":272806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[36094,1582,276,20020,78351,37793,2961,224,5337,10495],"class_list":{"0":"post-272805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-board-of-supervisors","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-child-abuse","12":"tag-kathryn-barger","13":"tag-l-a-county-board-of-supervisors","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-settlement"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}