Georgia DFACS Investigating Baby's Death

Reported By: Valerie Hoff
Web Editor: Michael King
WXIA-TV, 11 Alive (Atlanta NBC affiliate)
Last Modified: 1/26/2006 12:01:31 AM

A Roswell family is mourning the loss of two children. They say one died from injuries sustained in a December 27 fall, the other is now in the custody of the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFACS), pending an investigation into the death.Rachel Bortz was the mother of five-month-old Dylan, who died January 3, a week after what she and her mother say they thought was a minor fall.“I was in the kitchen. I accidentally dropped him in his vibrating chair. He landed on his head,” Bortz said.Bortz’s mother, Randi St. Denis said they kept an eye on little Dylan after the fall.“We picked him up, put ice on him. Watched him. He quieted easily,” St. Denis said.Dylan stopped breathing in his crib five days later.Doctors who examined him said his skull was fractured, and it didn't appear to be an accident. DFACS caseworkers placed Bortz’s other son, three-year-old Jackson, with her in-laws while they investigated the case.That arrangement only lasted four days.“They came to the door with two policemen,” said Emily Bortz, Dylan and Jackson’s grandmother. “It was traumatic. The sense of unfairness was so deep.”Emily says DFACS caseworkers objected to Jackson’s parents spending the night, though she says the rules were never clearly explained.DFACS officials say under the law, they can say very little about the specifics of the case.“We have a legal obligation to make a decision for the safety of the child at all times,” said DFACS director Mary Dean Harvey. “We do the assessment. We make the judgment, and we act.”The family has hired a lawyer to regain custody of Jackson.The investigation will not end until the medical examiner finishes an autopsy. The next court hearing is not until April.