WOODLAND — Burdened by heavy caseloads, Yolo County child welfare workers considered a newborn Justice Rees at low risk of harm compared to other families that were under the agency’s watch, the social worker assigned to his case testified Monday at Samantha Lee Green’s murder trial.
Valerie Zeller said she recommended that Green and her fiancé Frank Rees retain custody of their baby “given the mother’s willingness to address the drug issues” that caused both Green and Justice to test positive for methamphetamine following the baby’s birth on Feb. 5, 2015.
Samantha Green listens to opening statements in her murder trial in Yolo Superior Court. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
“There was less of a concern … given their stable housing” and other family support, added Zeller, who helped craft the family safety plan required for Justice’s discharge from the hospital. “There were other families, unfortunately, that were at a higher risk.”
Zeller’s testimony in Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg’s courtroom marked the first time Child Welfare Services has broken its silence regarding its contacts with Green and her baby, both of whom went missing from their Woodland home on Feb. 23, 2015. Justice died the following day after Green allegedly took him into a Knights Landing slough and kept him outdoors overnight.
The agency confirmed it provided services to the baby’s family but declined to release specific details following Justice’s death, citing the ongoing criminal investigation and anticipated court proceedings.
Whether Green put Justice at risk while in a jealous rage over Rees’ suspected infidelity and with conscious disregard for her baby’s life, as prosecutors allege, or in the midst of a drug-induced psychosis that left her unable to appreciate her own actions, as the defense contends, will be for the jury to decide.
Green, 24, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
Justice Rees lived only 19 days. Courtesy photo
It was shortly after Justice’s birth at Kaiser Permanente’s Roseville hospital that news of the positive drug tests reached Yolo County Child Welfare Services, which, according to Zeller, maintains an “overall goal” of keeping children safe and unified with their families.
In addition to the positive drug screenings, “there were concerns that Samantha appeared to be under the influence, and she was leaving the hospital without permission,” said Zeller, who first contacted the family the day after Justice was born.
Rees, meanwhile, appeared disinterested in his newborn son, and hospital staff noted he was using his hospital visits to shower and sleep — getting more shuteye than Green at times.
“It seemed as if he was using it as a vacation spot,” Zeller said.
Despite the potential dangers posed by Green and Rees’ drug abuse, on its own it didn’t warrant Justice’s removal from their custody, Zeller said. She noted that social workers consider a number of factors, including the home environment, family history, the child’s fragility and parents’ cognitive stability.
With Justice placed on a protective hold that prevented his parents from leaving the hospital with him, Zeller met with Green, Rees and Rees’ parents on Feb. 9, 2015, to develop a safety plan, a process that involved a discussion of the family’s concerns and how to address them.
The drug use was “the biggest worry,” Zeller said, along with the family’s living situation in which Green, Rees and Rees’ four children from a prior marriage all lived under his parents’ roof. Rees, long unemployed, refused to seek public aid for himself or his kids, who already had open child welfare cases of their own.
Green seemed “engaged” during the meeting, acknowledging — though minimizing — her drug use and expressing willingness to undergo treatment, Zeller recalled. Rees, however, was “preoccupied,” wandering the room and participating little in the discussion.
Justice eventually was released to their custody after meeting several conditions, including clean drug tests for both Green and Rees and their agreement to undergo random screenings, though that never happened before Green and Justice went missing on Feb. 23.
That day, Zeller received a phone call from Rees’ sister, who had concerns that the new parents weren’t following the safety plan. Zeller paid a surprise lunchtime visit to their house, encountering Rees and his father in the driveway. Green and Justice were nowhere in sight.
Frank Rees was “not very friendly or engaged,” Zeller said. “It seemed a little bit odd, but only in retrospect, knowing they were trying to locate Ms. Green at the time.”
Why no random testing occurred during the two weeks after Justice came home “I don’t know,” Zeller said, though added that Green may have been given some leeway to recover from childbirth. She also cited an agency caseload she described as “overwhelming.”
“We do end up prioritizing the most fragile or dangerous situations,” added Zeller, who admitted harboring concerns that some might blame Child Welfare Services for Justice’s tragic fate.
“Of course. We do this job on a daily basis,” she said. Given the agency’s confidentiality policies that prohibit public discussion of social workers’ decision-making protocols, “it’s all often misunderstood.”
Zeller said she received a second warning about Justice on Feb. 25, 2015, from Frank Rees’ ex-girlfriend, who several days earlier saw Green appearing under the influence of drugs outside a local fast-food restaurant, her baby clad in just a onesie despite the bitter winter cold.
By the time Zeller got that call, however, Justice had died on the bank of Ridge Cut Slough.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene