{"id":286291,"date":"2026-04-26T02:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/286291\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T02:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:43:14","slug":"supervisor-demands-answers-after-third-child-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/286291\/","title":{"rendered":"Supervisor demands answers after third child dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two weeks after the death of a San Jose toddler in foster care<\/a>, 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\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou tell me \u2014 or you all tell me \u2014 how many children could die under your leadership and you still have a job?\u201d Arenas asked Thursday during a county committee meeting on child welfare, as agency leaders sat before her. \u201cIf they\u2019re brown, maybe five? What is it if they\u2019re White \u2014 none? What is it? What\u2019s the quota?\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0At least 10 social workers put on leave after foster care death of San Jose toddler<\/a><\/p>\n

No one answered.<\/p>\n

A silence fell over the board chambers as Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, director of the Department of Family and Children\u2019s Services, broke down in tears, covering her face and reaching for tissues. A colleague sitting next to her put an arm around her.<\/p>\n

The meeting \u2014 scheduled in advance as part of the county\u2019s Children, Seniors and Families Committee oversight of child welfare \u2014 turned into a broad rebuke of the county\u2019s system, its leadership and the reforms put in place after earlier deaths.<\/p>\n

The confrontation came as new details have emerged raising questions about whether the county\u2019s own policies were followed in the weeks leading up to 2-year-old Jaxon Juarez\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s foster mother pleaded no contest in 2014 to felony child endangerment after drunken driving with her 1-year-old daughter in the back seat.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The email suggests those policies may not have been followed \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Jaxon died April 9. Authorities say he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by his foster mother\u2019s teenage son. The boy now faces murder and sexual assault charges.<\/p>\n

Jaxon\u2019s death marks the third time since 2023 that a child under Santa Clara County supervision has died.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Arenas\u2019s remarks came after a week of growing calls for accountability following Jaxon\u2019s death, from the toddler\u2019s relatives to District Attorney Jeff Rosen.<\/p>\n

Rosen has filed murder and sexual assault charges against the teenage suspect and said he would investigate whether anyone else \u2014 including county employees \u2014 could face criminal charges.<\/p>\n

At the meeting, Arenas, who previously worked in child welfare, also became emotional, questioning her own accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to hear from anybody who\u2019s sorry about this loss if you\u2019re not going to move the stars, the moon, everything to make sure that this system is different this time,\u201d she said, addressing Kinnear-Rausch, Social Services Agency Director Daniel Little and County Executive James Williams. \u201cAnd I expect you to reflect on your own leadership, just as I\u2019m reflecting on mine, where did we go wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SantaSanta 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)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ten county employees involved in Jaxon\u2019s case have been placed on administrative leave, Williams confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on the findings of our investigation,\u201d Williams said, \u201cstaff may face disciplinary action up to and including termination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JaxonJaxon 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)<\/p>\n

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Before the confrontation Thursday, Kinnear-Rausch, Little and Williams all expressed grief over Jaxon\u2019s death and pledged to address the failures that led to it.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s emergency placement system to ensure no other child faces similar risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did realize early on that there are some urgent actions that we need to take and to shore things up,\u201d she said. \u201cNot only do we need to get to the bottom of what\u2019s occurred and how this fatality occurred, but at the same time I need to support a dedicated workforce to make sure they\u2019re continuing to show up for every single child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly before the meeting, Arenas spoke at a news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren should not be dying under the care and custody of a system that exists to protect them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"AA memorial for baby Jaxon Juarez outside of the Department of Family and Children\u2019s Services in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)
\n\"JenniferJennifer 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)
\n\"SantaSanta 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)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two weeks after the death of a San Jose toddler in foster care, Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,8,138,100,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-286291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-news","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}