Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...The father and grandmother of Jaxon Juarez filed a legal claim Tuesday against Santa Clara County and the California Department of Social Services, alleging both agencies failed to protect the toddler from severe abuse in a county-approved foster home despite safeguards that should have kept him out of the placement.
The 5-page claim cites findings first reported by the Bay Area News Group and contends that both the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services and the state**, **which was overseeing county child welfare reforms at the time, were “negligent and reckless” in failing to protect the toddler.
His foster mother had been convicted of felony child endangerment that, according to county policies, should have disqualified her as a foster parent. Her teenage son is now facing murder and multiple counts of sexual assault in juvenile court over Jaxon’s April 9 death.
The claim, a required step before suing public agencies, alleges the state and county’s actions “shock the conscience” and says the agencies “knew, or should have known, of the risk of abuse to Jaxon in placing him in the … home and should never have placed him there.”
The county said in a statement Tuesday it hasn’t yet reviewed the claim, but “does not generally comment on pending claims or lawsuits.” The state did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The county and state have 45 days to respond before attorney Paul Kiesel, whose Beverly Hills firm filed the claim, can proceed with a lawsuit.
The claim comes a week after the county completed an internal investigation and began the process of firing four social workers involved in placing Jaxon with his paternal cousins. Three other workers resigned or retired.
The state also completed its own investigation of Jaxon’s death, but cited confidentiality laws in declining to release its report to anyone but key leaders of the county’s child welfare agency.
At the time of Jaxon’s death, the state had been overseeing reforms to the county’s child welfare agency brought on by the 2023 fentanyl overdose death of baby Phoenix Castro, who had been sent home from the hospital with her father, who had a history of drug use, over objections from social workers. The claim contends that the California Department of Social Services failed in its oversight of a “corrective action plan” it imposed on the county 18 months earlier.
“By failing to monitor, detect, or address these severe non-compliance issues, CDSS effectively dismantled the systemic safeguards that were required to protect vulnerable youth, resulting in a failure to prevent the tragic loss of Jaxon,” the claim alleges.
In public meetings, officials with the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services have explained that their recent reforms had focused on the problems brought to light by baby Phoenix’s death, including safeguards to vulnerable children still living with their parents after allegations of abuse and neglect — not issues involving foster care.
The claim from Jaxon’s father and grandmother comes after weeks of reporting by this news organization about his foster mother’s criminal record, the history of sexual abuse within the extended foster family, and concerns by daycare workers and medical clinic doctors about a rash and red line on Jaxon’s neck two days before he was found unconscious in the home. Social workers responded to those concerns that afternoon by interviewing the foster mother and her son and inspecting Jaxon’s injuries, but marked him as “safe,” public records showed.
The county is facing at least one other legal action over the death of a child in its care. A 2024 lawsuit brought by the grandfather of 7-year-old Jordan Walker is still pending. Jordan was allegedly stabbed to death by an uncle after being placed in the San Jose home of his grandmother who was also killed. The grandfather, Morian Walker, had warned social workers of the dangers of the grandmother’s home and offered to care for Jordan himself. Jordan’s parents, Glenn Clark and Danielle Walker, have since joined the lawsuit. Unless a settlement is reached, pretrial motions are expected to proceed in October.
“It’s a travesty all around,” Morian Walker said Tuesday. “I support Baby Jaxon’s family and what they’re going through and trying to hold Santa Clara County and all of the people involved accountable.”
In the wake of Jaxon’s death, the county has outlined a list of new reforms to address failures in his case, including inviting the state to become an “established presence” onsite to conduct ongoing reviews of the agency’s work, and establishing an independent auditing function to review the agency’s decisions.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, which filed the murder and sexual assault charges against the teenager — including “assault with a hair tie” that left a mark on his neck — said that Jaxon had been abused during the duration of his time in the foster home, from late February until he was found not breathing in the home April 5. He was taken off life support four days later. The coroner has yet to release Jaxon’s cause of death, although doctors treating him in his final days found bleeding in his brain, documents obtained by this news organization show.
Social workers first became involved in Jaxon’s case when he was born nearly 8 weeks premature with signs of fetal alcohol syndrome. Jaxon’s mother died of liver and kidney failure when he was 18 months old.
Jaxon’s father had serious health issues that required surgery and rehabilitation and numerous pain medications that made him unstable on his feet, Albert Juarez acknowledged to the Bay Area News Group. As part of a safety plan imposed by social workers, Jaxon’s grandmother agreed she would not leave the toddler alone with his father, but she violated that agreement when she was caught running an errand without him. Jaxon was removed from the home after an explosive episode with social workers and relatives last summer over Jaxon’s future. Albert Juarez acknowledged he lost his temper and that a social worker said she felt threatened.
Jaxon was placed with his maternal grandfather in the Sacramento area for six months until the grandfather could no longer care for the nonverbal and autistic child, the grandfather told this news organization.
Jaxon was then moved to the home of his San Jose cousins, where social workers were supposed to follow “Emergency Relative Placement” procedures that include checking criminal records and past involvement with social workers. Jaxon died less than six weeks later.
Albert and Elva Juarez, who filed the claim, had recommended Albert’s first cousin as a foster mother after she helped Jaxon’s new parents learn to bathe the newborn. The Bay Area News Group is not naming the foster mother to protect the identity of her son, who was 17 at the time of Jaxon’s death and whose identity is protected by the juvenile court. In an earlier interview with the Mercury News, Elva said she was vaguely aware of her relative’s 2019 DUI in Stockton, and Albert said he had “no idea” about the felony child endangerment charge from Santa Clara County in 2014, when the cousin pleaded no contest for driving drunk with her 1-year-old daughter in the back seat.
The lawyer who filed the claim instructed Albert and Elva Juarez not to comment on it. But Morian Walker, who is pursuing his own lawsuit over his grandson’s stabbing death, said more must be done to keep children safe.
“I want justice for Jordan**,** I want reform, and I want accountability,” Walker said. “Every time I hear a new story about another child going through what Jordan goes through, it brings grief to my heart, to my family’s heart. We have to relive this every time there’s a new case and it’s hard on us.”