Alameda County and Triad Family Services, a nonprofit foster care provider, are expected to pay a $3.5 million settlement over a tragic incident in 2015 that led to the death of 3-year-old Mariah Mustafa, who fatally overdosed on methamphetamine after social workers overrode warnings about the danger she was in at her foster home, according to court filings as reported by East Bay Times.
The settlement comes after a series of failures by the individuals tasked with keeping Mariah safe, most notably in their decision to return her to her foster home after a first overdose pointed out in a separate East Bay Times editorial from 2018.
There were alleged systemic failures in how county social workers investigated claims of abuse and neglect in Alameda County's foster care system, and these concerns have added to the growing unease about the county's ability to protect children from abuse or neglect.
Alameda County agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle the lawsuit, while Triad Family Services is expected to pay $1.25 million. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors announced their agreement with the settlement in July 2023. But it was years before, in October 2017, when CBS News reported that the family of the child had filed a lawsuit against Alameda County.
Following Mariah's second overdose, her foster mother Maria Moore left her in the care of her boyfriend, Ernest Stevens III, despite his history of drug abuse highlighted by East Bay Times. Mariah was found cold and unresponsive by Stevens, who handed a small white rock of meth to emergency responders, claiming he found it on Mariah's toy box. Stevens later committed suicide in February 2016.
Questions still linger about how the system failed Mariah, with the lawsuit raising concerns about Alameda County social workers' failure to heed warnings about the safety of children in the foster care system, and whether other organizations, including Triad Family Services, properly investigated claims of abuse and neglect.
In securing the settlement, attorneys Darren Kessler and Liza de Vries highlighted that Triad Family Services could be tried as a "state actor" if the case went to trial. This means that counties cannot attempt to avoid responsibility by claiming it was the agency rather than the county that committed the wrongful acts.
