The Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA) September 23, 2003 Tuesday ...

HEADLINE: Agency clears itself in boy's beating death;Social Services seals results of internal probe; outside report may be released later, official saysBYLINE: By Michele R. Marcucci, STAFF WRITERBODY:Just days after the apparent beating death of 3-year-old Chazarus Hill Jr., Social Services AgencyDirector Chet Hewitt promised an "honest, complete investigation."Five months later, county officials have released little information about the boy's alleged beatingdeath at the hands of his father, Chazarus Hill Sr., who has pleaded innocent to the charge. And itis unclear how much information will ultimately be made public.Social Services spokeswoman Sylvia Myles said her agency never intended to release a report onthe findings of its internal investigation, but she said the investigation indicated no wrongdoingon the agency's part. She said the results, which included a review of Chazarus' death, would notbe released due to confidentiality constraints.Myles said no policy or procedure changes have been made as a result of the agency's response toChazarus' case."We have no indication that this call or this case was handled any differently from any of theother calls and cases we get when we respond to abuse and neglect," she said. "Everything thatwe have found, in terms of our processes -- we did everything that we were supposed to do."The draft of an external report by DR Associates International, an investigative firm, has beencompleted but can't be released until Social Services officials check it for confidentialinformation, and until it is seen by the Board of Supervisors, County Counsel Richard Winnie said.The report is to be viewed by the board on next Tuesday and a version of it may be released afterthat, Winnie said."I have every reason to believe we will issue it after the meeting," he said.Winnie said the external investigation, which deals with a wider range of issues than the internalin-vestigation, was slow because of the confidential nature of much of the information needed tocomplete it and because of the criminal investigation and case over Chazarus's death. He said itisrare for a public agency to issue such a report."We've been trying to strike a balance between being complete, so we can perform a publicresponsibility, but at the same time abide by our requirement to keep records confidential. It is abalance," Winnie said.Neighbors and family members said they had made several calls to Child Protective Servicesprior to the boy's death that they claim went unanswered. Social service officials admitted they