Two weeks after the death of a San Jose toddler in foster care, Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas confronted top child welfare officials, demanding to know why they should keep their jobs after the third child in three years died under the county’s watch.
“You tell me — or you all tell me — how many children could die under your leadership and you still have a job?” Arenas asked Thursday during a county committee meeting on child welfare, as agency leaders sat before her. “If they’re brown, maybe five? What is it if they’re White — none? What is it? What’s the quota?”
RELATED: At least 10 social workers put on leave after foster care death of San Jose toddler
No one answered.
A silence fell over the board chambers as Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, director of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, broke down in tears, covering her face and reaching for tissues. A colleague sitting next to her put an arm around her.
The meeting — scheduled in advance as part of the county’s Children, Seniors and Families Committee oversight of child welfare — turned into a broad rebuke of the county’s system, its leadership and the reforms put in place after earlier deaths.
The confrontation came as new details have emerged raising questions about whether the county’s own policies were followed in the weeks leading up to 2-year-old Jaxon Juarez’s death.
Social workers placed Jaxon in February with a 40-year-old cousin who had a felony conviction for child endangerment, a placement that appears to conflict with county rules restricting emergency placements in homes with such histories. Jaxon’s foster mother pleaded no contest in 2014 to felony child endangerment after drunken driving with her 1-year-old daughter in the back seat.
Two days before he was found unconscious, his caregiver took him to a health clinic and was referred for additional care, which he apparently never received.
In an email obtained by The Mercury News, Kinnear-Rausch offered clues about what may have gone wrong in the case. In the message, sent to staff before midnight Wednesday, she reminded social workers of two key policies: one that prohibits emergency placements in homes where adults have felony convictions involving crimes against children, and another requiring consultation with the Child Advocacy Center when social workers learn of an allegation of mistreatment.
The email suggests those policies may not have been followed — that the placement itself may have violated county rules and that Jaxon may not have been referred to the Child Advocacy Center after his clinic visit.
Jaxon died April 9. Authorities say he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by his foster mother’s teenage son. The boy now faces murder and sexual assault charges.
Jaxon’s death marks the third time since 2023 that a child under Santa Clara County supervision has died.
The others include baby Phoenix Castro, who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2023, and 7-year-old Jordan Walker, who was stabbed to death in 2024, allegedly by an uncle despite concerns from family members that he would not be safe there.
Arenas’s remarks came after a week of growing calls for accountability following Jaxon’s death, from the toddler’s relatives to District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
Rosen has filed murder and sexual assault charges against the teenage suspect and said he would investigate whether anyone else — including county employees — could face criminal charges.
At the meeting, Arenas, who previously worked in child welfare, also became emotional, questioning her own accountability.
“I don’t want to hear from anybody who’s sorry about this loss if you’re not going to move the stars, the moon, everything to make sure that this system is different this time,” she said, addressing Kinnear-Rausch, Social Services Agency Director Daniel Little and County Executive James Williams. “And I expect you to reflect on your own leadership, just as I’m reflecting on mine, where did we go wrong?”
Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas cries during a Children and Families committee meeting at the Santa Clara County Building in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
A state investigation is expected to be complete in about two weeks, Kinnear-Rausch said, and county officials have pledged to release it quickly, as well as the full case file with redactions for privacy sometime after that.
Ten county employees involved in Jaxon’s case have been placed on administrative leave, Williams confirmed.
“Depending on the findings of our investigation,” Williams said, “staff may face disciplinary action up to and including termination.”
Jaxon Rey Juarez, 2, in a recent photo while living with his grandfather, died April 9 after moving last month to live with other relatives. A cousin is charged with sexual abuse of a child. (Photo courtesy of family)
Before the confrontation Thursday, Kinnear-Rausch, Little and Williams all expressed grief over Jaxon’s death and pledged to address the failures that led to it.
Kinnear-Rausch said the county has already begun implementing changes, including her directive to staff and a review of all children placed with relatives under the county’s emergency placement system to ensure no other child faces similar risks.
“We did realize early on that there are some urgent actions that we need to take and to shore things up,” she said. “Not only do we need to get to the bottom of what’s occurred and how this fatality occurred, but at the same time I need to support a dedicated workforce to make sure they’re continuing to show up for every single child.”
Shortly before the meeting, Arenas spoke at a news conference.
“Children should not be dying under the care and custody of a system that exists to protect them,” she said.
A memorial for baby Jaxon Juarez outside of the Department of Family and Children’s Services in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Jennifer Celaya, center, founder of New Beginnings Family Services, speaks during a Children and Families committee meeting at the Santa Clara County Building in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, far right, confronts, from left to right, Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, director of the Department of Family and Children Services, Sarah Duffy, deputy director of the Social Services Agency, and Daniel Little, director of the Social Services Agency, during a Children and Families committee meeting at the Santa Clara County Building in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)