Under fire for allowing a father accused of sexually abusing his daughter to remain in the home, the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services says it will revisit the case.
“We are currently reviewing the case to determine how the decisions and actions of the department contributed to this result, and to determine what actions and policy changes are necessary in the future,” Director Marcia Kennai said in a statement.
On July 5, the Department of Social Services closed its investigation of claims made by a 15-year old Severna Park girl who said her father, 46, had been sexually abusing her since she was 8. The department?s records are not made public, but lawyers in the criminal case said the department found that the child was not in immediate danger.
The Examiner is not naming the man because it would identify his daughter.
Anne Arundel County State?s Attorney Frank Weathersbee and Assistant State?s Attorney Laura Kiessling, who is prosecuting the case, blasted the Department of Social Services for this decision.
“I really can?t think of a case where the defendant was the natural father” and was permitted to move back in with his family, Kiessling said.
But Roger Harris, the accused man?s attorney, says the blame on the Department of Social Services is misplaced.
“Just snatching people away from their families is not the first course of action you are supposed to take, he said.
Also, prosecutors didn?t have a problem with the conditions of bail until the man?s neighbors flooded the state?s attorney?s office complaining that the man was still living in the neighborhood, Harris said.
“They (the Department of Social Services) made a finding as a result of their investigation, and that?s all they are supposed to do,” Harris said. “It was never their responsibility to establish release conditions for my client.”
That responsibility, he said, fell with the court commissioner and the prosecutors who reviewed the case.
The man was ordered to move out of his house last week by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge. He was also ordered not to have contact with his daughter or any of his other children pending trial in November.
