LITTLE ROCK — As the trial of the man accused of raping and killing a 10-year-old Springdale girl approaches, the state's child-welfare agency is operating under a new interpreter policy prompted by the girl's death.
Emiti Freddy, a native of the Marshall Islands, moved to the United States as a young girl with her aunt, Mami Freddy, in search of a better life. On Oct. 21, 2006, Mami Freddy found her 10-year-old niece dead in the girl's bedroom.
Springdale police arrestedAbon Tili, Mami Freddy's former live-in boyfriend. He waslater charged with the rape and capital murder of Emiti.
Tili, who has pleaded innocent, is awaiting trial, which is scheduled to begin Nov. 5. Washington CountyProsecutor John Threet has said he plans to seek the death penalty.
After Emiti's death, the Children and Family Services Division's Child Death Review Committee examined Emiti's case in November and recommended that workers not proceed with interviews when a subject cannot clearly communicate in English and an interpreter is not available.
Division officials, however, do not have any records to indicate that any action on drafting such a directive was taken until April - about six months after the girl's death - after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette requested notes from the division's internal death reviews and anypolicies resulting from them.
The division has also revamped the process by which it reviews deaths of children with whom it has had previous contact in an effort to gain more information about the cases and to ensure that recommendations are completed.
EXAMINING PAST
On Nov. 7, 2006, the division's Child Death Review Committee, which studies the deaths of any children who had past contact with the agency, examined Emiti Freddy's case. The group of mostly child-welfare administrators reviews the cause of death and determines if errors were made by staff members.
It also considers policy, training and systemic issues in addition to what actions the agency may need to take - if anything - in the future to prevent other children's deaths, said division Director Pat Page.
According to a summary of the discussion of Emiti's case, "The agency had previously investigated and found true two physical abuse complaints and had attempted to open a case. However, the family was evicted and the worker lost contact."
An e-mail describing the committee's findings stated that the division worker who was investigating Emiti's case was cautioned by "the school" that an interpreter was needed. It also stated that the primary language of the adult caretakers and "alleged offenders" was not English.
"Apparently there was some mix-up in securing the services of an interpreter and the worker went ahead with the interview with the female caretaker and did not document an interview with the male caretaker," the email stated.
Page said the worker, who has since voluntarily left the agency, told administrators that he called for an interpreter, but no one showed up. Administrators have been unable to confirm the worker's statement. Arkansas Spanish Interpreters & Translators Inc., a contractor that provides such services for the agency, has no records that indicate an interpreter was ever requested, she said.
Following division policy, Page declined to provide further details regarding the agency's past contact with Emiti before her death beyond the discussion of her case in the Death Review Committee notes and e-mails obtained through the state's Freedom of Information Act.
She would not conf irm whether the "female caretaker" and "male caretaker" wereMami Freddy and Abon Tili, nor the date that a caseworker interviewed Emiti's "female caretaker," nor the nature of other physical abuse of Emiti.
Page said she is reviewing the division's policy of not releasing the history of investigations that do not relate directly to the death of a child that had previous contact with the agency, but she has not made any changes. It is up to the division director to set such policy.
During its Nov. 7 meeting, the committee recommended that "interviews with persons who cannot clearly communicate in English be delayed until the services of an interpreter can be obtained. If a delay in securing an interpreter would create a situation of imminent risk to the victim children, protective custody should be taken until the interviews can appropriately proceed," according to a summary of the meeting.
Page said staff members have not been able to determine whether any action was taken on the recommendation before April. There have been a lot of staff changes, including her own promotion from interim director to director in March, and current staff do not have access to some records, she said.
However, administrators explain to division managers and supervisors the agency's contract for interpreter services and how to use it each year. Staff members are trained that they must be able to communicate with those they interview and that if they cannot ensure a child's safety, then the child should be taken into temporary custody, said Sandi Doherty, special assistant to the director.
The division also sent a reminder to staff in April on how to access interpreters.
"I think people do try to follow up," Page said of the committee's recommendations, but she added that previously, there was no system to document that recommendations were completed.
On May 23, Page issued an executive directive, which reflected the committee's recommendation on interpreters. A directive provides field staff guidance on an issue while administrators draft, review and promulgate a new policy. Page said she is not aware of any instances in which the division needed to take protective custody of a child as a result of the directive.
Carmen Chong Gum, the Marshallese Outreach Coordinator for the Jones Center for Families in Springdale, said that given its new policy, the division should have ready access to Marshallese interpreters. It should also establish a certification process to ensure that theinterpreters are qualified, she said.
Page said that in Springdale, the division contracts with Arkansas Spanish Interpreters & Translators to provide Marshallese interpretation services. The company had employed one Marshallese interpreter in Springdale, but that person recently left the agency and a search for a new Marshallese interpreter is underway, Page said.
Last year, the division used interpreters in 94 of its 20,625 investigations.
The division spent $41,000 during the past fiscal year on interpretation services, Page said. According to the 2000 Census, 5 percent of the state's 2.5 million residents who are age 5 and over spoke a language other than English at home.
FOLLOWING THROUGH
Since April, division administrators have tweaked the death review process and instituted a new system for tracking recommendations from the committee.
In April, administrators met first with staff members who had worked on the case before the committee met. The initial meeting with field staff allowed administrators to gather firsthand information from those who worked on the case, identify any systemic issues, look at any needs that staff or the child's family may have in dealing with the child's loss and decide whether to recommend any staff changes or staff disciplinary action to the committee, said Doherty and Page.
While such meetings have taken place in the past, Page plans to hold them more routinely, especially in cases that need to be evaluated quickly.She is planning to hold another field-staff meeting soon, she said.
Administrators have also developed a spread sheet that includes the date of the Death Review Committee meeting, a description of the child such as"infant," the county where the child lived, the committee's recommendations, the person responsible for completing the recommendations and the date the recommendation is completed.
While administrators are still using other means to track the status of recommendations, they plan to use the spreadsheet for that purpose in the future, Page said.
The agency's executive staff also reviewed the status of committee recommendations duringmany of its meetings in April, May, June and July. Although the group has not reviewed the recommendations since July, administrators have followed up on recommendations in other ways, Page said.
"Hopefully that will help to not only document [the recommendations] but move them up in priority to make sure everybody is dealing with them timely," Page said of the agency's efforts to track the recommendations.
Arkansas, Pages 19, 24 on 10/28/2007