Two DHS workers in child death case are fired

Two child-welfare workers criminally charged in the starvation death of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly were fired yesterday after an internal review of their conduct in the case.

In firing caseworkers Dana Poindexter, 51, and Laura Sommerer, 33, Department of Human Services Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose said that she intended to hold every DHS worker and provider accountable for upholding the agency's mission to protect children.

Ambrose said the firings were unanimously recommended by an internal committee of supervisors and a peer representative following a disciplinary panel hearing Wednesday. Both have the right to appeal the firings.

Neither of the employees, who were suspended by Ambrose last week after District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham announced the criminal charges, attended the hearing.

Both will serve a 30-day unpaid suspension before being dismissed, according to DHS officials.

On Monday, Mayor Nutter suspended seven more employees who had oversight responsibility over caseworkers Poindexter and Sommerer.

The seven supervisors were named in the grand-jury report but were not indicted. Their role in the death will be investigated by both DHS and city Inspector General Amy Kurland, a former federal prosecutor, Nutter said.

Poindexter and Sommerer are each facing a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child and a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment for failing to take action as Kelly, who relied on a wheelchair, starved to death in a fetid West Philadelphia apartment. Poindexter faces an additional charge of perjury.

The two were supposed to protect the girl from her allegedly neglectful parents, but Poindexter ignored at least five reports of Kelly's being mistreated between 2003 and 2005, according to the report.

Kelly's emaciated and bedsore-ravaged body was found Aug 4, 2006, on a feces-littered mattress, her mother allegedly having ignored her pleas for water as she sweltered in the summer heat in a third-floor bedroom, according to the report.

Sommerer made three home visits to the house, including one in late June 2006, but never checked in on the girl, according to the grand jury. She also did little to ensure the private agency hired to look out for Kelly did its job. The girl weighed just 42 pounds when she died.

Seven others have been criminally charged in the case. Kelly's mother, Andrea Kelly, 39, is charged with murder for allegedly starving her daughter to death. Kelly's father, Daniel, 37, is charged with endangering her welfare for failing to intercede, although he did not live in the same house.

Also charged were two private child-welfare workers, Julius Murray, 51, and Mickal Kamuvaka, 59. They were hired by the city to perform weekly checks on Kelly but never did and later falsified documents in a "forgery fest" to make it appear as if they had, the grand jury said.

Lisa C. Dykstra, an attorney for Sommerer, was traveling yesterday and could not be reached for comment. Poindexter could not be reached for comment.