City let doomed boy stay at this home
Child-welfare workers made 13 visits to the parents of a Queens boy who died after being found unconscious in his home — and noted evidence of abuse more than half the time, sources told The Post Monday.
But Michael Guzman, 5, was allowed to remain with his mom and dad in the family’s Jamaica house despite the red flags, the sources said.
On Sunday afternoon, medics were called to the home and found Michael unresponsive. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital but could not be saved.
Michael’s parents — Phyllis Reynoso and Michael Guzman — were questioned Monday at the 103rd Precinct station house.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office was expected to bring charges of child-endangerment, at the least, the sources said.
Administration for Children’s Services workers visited the parents 13 times before Michael’s death. They found credible evidence of abuse or neglect during eight visits to the house, documenting each instance as “indicated” in their reports, the sources said.
But there is no limit to the number of home visits or “indicated” reports before a child is removed, sources said. That decision is instead made when a caseworker believes a child is in imminent danger.
Authorities planned to conduct an autopsy. A spokeswoman for the Medical Examiner’s Office said, “There is no sign of acute injury.”
A neighbor told The Post that he regularly heard signs of abuse from the home, and that his family had made a complaint to the ACS in recent weeks.
“We had to make the complaint. I heard the kids screaming. Oh, my God. It’s terrible,” said the neighbor, who requested to remain anonymous.
“I have kids myself. I just couldn’t listen to it anymore,” he explained.
“The police came, but they didn’t do nothing. My mother has been talking to the people from the city for weeks about this. We’re just fed up. It’s terrible.”
Another neighbor, Keisha Lee, 39, said she didn’t like letting her kids hang out with the boy or his siblings.
“I wouldn’t let my daughter hang out with them after I notice the patterns of behavior,” she said.
An ACS representative would not comment on the case, citing confidentiality laws, but said in a statement, “We are saddened by this troubling news and are investigating the circumstances leading to this child fatality, along with the NYPD.”
The tragedy follows the Sept. 26, 2016, death of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins of Harlem, which exposed major flaws the ACS.
City and state reports concluded the agency failed Zymere, who was the victim of repeated abuse. Child-welfare workers squandered several opportunities to intervene on his behalf, the reports found.