Utah releases timeline of DCFS involvement with 12-year-old Gavin Peterson before his death

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released a timeline of involvement the state Division of Child and Family Services had with 12-year-old Gavin Peterson and his family in the years before his death in July from abuse and malnutrition.

The statement was released hours before DCFS leaders met with a panel of state lawmakers behind closed doors to discuss the Peterson case and three other suspicious deaths in Utah that occurred in the recent past. While the specifics of the case were not discussed publicly in an effort to protect privacy, the health department said the public statement and timeline were meant to promote transparency in the case — after community members have pressed the agency for details about what steps had been taken before Gavin’s death.

“DCFS caseworkers are responsible for some of the hardest — and most important — decisions a public servant ever has to make,” said Tracy Gruber, executive director of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. “They must decide if the government should intervene with a family in the privacy of their home to protect a child. We must carefully balance state law and facts known at the time of an investigation, when we make decisions that may forever change the lives of a child and family.”

Gavin Peterson died on July 9, and his father Shane Peterson, stepmother Nichole Scott, and older brother Tyler Peterson were arrested shortly after his death and accused of causing his death following years of abuse, including severe malnutrition.

Read the full story at KSL.com.

Related:

• Annual report from Utah DCFS illustrates problem of child abuse, neglect
• Community members press DCFS for answers on abuse death of Gavin Peterson
• Lawmaker demands answers from DCFS, proposes new bill to help
• ‘The system is broken’: Cafeteria worker speaks out in death of 12-year-old boy