Posted: Dec 9, 2011 6:35 AM by Kate Richards
DENVER (AP) - The Colorado Department of Human Services is defending two social workers who are being sued over the death of a 7-year-old boy who starved to death.
Agency spokeswoman Revekka Balancier tells the Denver Post the agency has confidence that its workers perform their duties with attention to the safety needs of children.
The two social workers were supervising the case of 7-year-old Chandler Grafner when he starved to death in the care of his mother's ex-boyfriend. The child weighed 34 pounds when he died in May 2007.
On Wednesday, a federal judge denied a motion to dismiss a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against them by Chandler's estate and his biological parents. The judge says the neglect of Chandler by social services was conscience-shocking.