Three state child protection workers have been fired for their handling of the case of 10-year-old Kentae Williams, whose adoptive father allegedly drowned him in a bathtub last month in DeKalb County.
Susan Boatwright, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Family and Child Protective Services, said mistakes were made in the handling of earlier incidents of mistreatment of Kentae by his adoptive father, Leon Williams.
The firings involve two DFCS supervisors and a case worker.
DeKalb County police documents accuse Leon Williams, 43, of burning the boy's feet and holding him underwater while lecturing him about acting out in school. CPR efforts by the father and emergency workers failed at their apartment on Glen Hollow Drive outside Decatur, a police report says.
Williams, who had reportedly been the boy’s foster father before adopting him, is charged with murder and child cruelty.
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Warrants say Williams told police he spanked Kentae about 10 times with a belt and poured hot water on his feet in their home at Serenade Apartments.
“There were visible burns and blistering to the child’s feet,” one warrant says. “The suspect stated that the child was not listening to the suspect as he was lecturing him, and admitted to holding the child under water for 30 to 45 seconds and then repeating the same action again.”
A little while earlier, a woman in the apartment heard the boy “throwing a fit” because he didn’t want to take a bath.
Then there was silence.
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