Bay Area social workers were repeatedly warned that Sophia Mason was being abused but they failed to stop the 8-year-old’s death.
, the girl relatives affectionately knew as So-So had been an exuberant child — a performer who loved to sing and dance, and doted on the grandmother she’d lived with in Hayward since infancy.When relatives learned Samantha Johnson was pregnant at age 21, they immediately worried about her child’s welfare, citing her mental state, drug use and her record of prostitution.
For the next seven years, Samantha remained on the periphery of the girl’s life, while Sophia was raised in Hayward. Despite the extended absences of her mother, Sophia grew up surrounded by an expansive support system, relatives said, including aunts, cousins, neighbors and her grandmother Sylvia, who considered Sophia her “little sidekick.”
“She was just the sweetest little girl,” Emerald Johnson said. “If something was wrong or you were going through something, she was always trying to make you feel better.” A safety and risk assessment completed by a DCFS social worker found that Sophia faced no safety threats at that time and was not at risk of future mistreatment, though it contains no notes with details from the case worker.
Convinced Sophia was in peril, Emerald Johnson persuaded Samantha’s caseworker with the Regional Center, Sophia’s DCFS social worker, and Hayward police to join her in a Hayward park with Sophia and her mother to discuss the girl’s welfare. Police confirmed the meeting, saying that an officer provided security while DCFS conducted interviews.
After the confrontation at the park, relatives didn’t see Samantha or Sophia for several months; evidence suggests the mother took the girl to Southern California. During that same time frame, an OnlyFans page was created and used to post pornographic photos and videos of Samantha from May to September 2021.
After that call, Emerald said, Samantha slowly began cutting most of her family out of Sophia’s life. And yet, one final report was made to DCFS in September — six months before her body was found — when Samantha and Sophia were living in a sober living home in San Leandro. Alameda County was required to release Sophia’s medical records to this news organization but claimed that none existed.In November, Samantha Jonhson was kicked out of the sober living facility for failing to follow the rules such as curfew and cleaning regimens, according to relatives, and she moved with Jackson and Sophia to Merced.Thompson said she remembers telling the DCFS caseworker “that something is going to happen to this baby.
DCFS’s Love claimed the agency released all required records, and that it would violate privacy laws to provide anything more. But Howard called that response “baffling.” “Different people might make different determinations and it just might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said Christopher Keane, a San Francisco-based child abuse attorney, explaining the need for police to review DCFS findings. “The point is that more information is better and time is of the essence.”
“Anytime you get more than three or four referrals on the same kid, something is not right,” said an Alameda County DCFS employee who spoke to this news organization anonymously. “It should probe us to go look a little harder, but that didn’t happen here.” A curbside memorial marks the home in the 500 block of Barclay Way in Merced where 8-year-old Sophia Mason’s body was found in March.
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