DCF subcontractor accused of ignoring kids’ calls

A Department of Children and Families subcontractor is accused of falsifying a report about a house visit she allegedly never made, as well as failing to answer more than a dozen calls from one of the children in the home, officials said.

Vanessa Arias, 33, was arrested Thursday on charges of official misconduct and falsification of records. She has bonded out of the Osceola County Jail.

Arias, an employee of Clearwater-based DCF subcontractor Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, filed a report in January 2015 describing a home visit to a Kissimmee family.

In the report, Arias wrote that the mother and her five children seemed to be doing well. She wrote that the home was clean, the children were dressed appropriately and she had no concerns about their safety or well-being, records show. But one of the children, an older teenage girl, called 911 about a week later describing a very different situation.

Kissimmee police came to the home and found it didn’t have electricity or hot water, records show. The fridge was nearly empty, with just a wilted salad, some bread and American cheese inside. The children said their mother was seldom home.

The mother was arrested on charges of child neglect.

As police spoke with the children, they found more evidence that contradicted what Arias wrote in her report, records show: She said the children were welldressed, but one of them told police they couldn’t wash clothes or shower without hot water or electricity. The house was not clean, police said, and there was wax on the floor where someone had knocked over a candle the children were using as a light source.

The teen said she tried calling Arias about 16 times between December 2014 and January 2015 but did not hear from anyone until she called 911.