LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Three-year-old Reygan Moon died from starvation last month, her mother is in jail charged in her death, and now, DFCS admits there may have been "missed opportunities" to help Reygan before it was too late.
On Friday, 11Alive obtained the Georgia Division of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) case file on Reygan, and DFCS admits in its own files that Reygan's case was not fully assessed, and follow-up visits were not done; less than a month before her third birthday, she was dead.
According to the DFCS report, a case worker, in October 2017, at first did not notice the dramatic weight loss in Reygan that others in her family were seeing. The case worker later did notice a need for implementing a nutrition and parenting plan for Reygan's mother, Devin Moon, to follow on Reygan's behalf.
The files show that the DFCS worker closed Reygan's case in November 2017, and DFCS never monitored whether Devin was following the nutrition and parenting plan.
Reygan died on July 24, 2018, weighing only 14 pounds, half of what her normal weight should have been.
Reygan's autopsy determined that her death was due to neglect and malnutrition. Subsequently, her mother, Devin Moon, was charged by Gwinnett County Police in her death.
DFCS case workers had not only been alerted to safety concerns by family members, but at times did report that they had concerns of their own. Devin, as well, expressed to case workers her struggles to care for Reygan, while trying to go to school and work, unable to afford daycare, and trying to obtain childcare assistance.
Reygan remained in Devin’s care until the day she died.
PHOTOS| 2-year-old Reygan
Inside the DFCS case file
DFCS first became involved in Reygan’s case in December 2016, when she was just over a year old.
By November 2017, DFCS closed their case on her. Eight months later, after no contact between DFCS and Devin, Reygan was gone.
“Had we been able to go deeper in our efforts of support with the aunt and the grandparent at some of the early contacts, would we be having this conversation today? While we may have done some work and support with the family and with the birth mother, there were probably some opportunities that we missed," said DFCS department division director of child welfare, Keith Bostick.
“This is a case that is extremely tragic—the loss of the life of a small infant that was starved by her mother. It’s a case that, as I look at it and review it, is extremely heart-wrenching.”
Those heart-wrenching details are well-documented in the final DCFS report, indicating missed opportunities to step in, follow up with and help the young child.
The “case was never fully assessed, and safety was clearly indicated during the initial assessment. Follow up in regards to the relevant collaterals… around the caring of this [child] was not done,” stated the final report after Reygan’s death regarding the case workers' role in her safety.
The report noted that there were “red flags for us to further explore with this situation,” and “concerns in regards to how this assessment was handled,” including:
- Instead of a follow up, a text was sent to Devin and she was allowed to text a photo of Reygan to the case worker, and there was no proof that the photo was a current photo
- Several concerns around Devin’s ability care for Reygan—Devin struggles to care for her daughter, no follow up thorough assessment around this.
- Devin expressed her struggles where she was not in school and could not work and trying to take care of a child… there was no follow up or support given.
Bostick points the finger at Devin for the lack of communication and follow up on the case.
“We relied heavily on mom and her commitment or her promises to follow up with healthcare for the child and support for the child—she isolated herself,” Bostick said.
One tragic case, he continued, does not mean the system is broken.
However, he assured 11Alive that DFCS will re-assess their staff and systems in place moving forward, to make sure another child doesn’t fall through the crack.
“[I’m] saddened by the horrific actions by this mother,” Bostick said. “We will not allow Reygan’s death to be in vain, that we will learn from that and learn from those areas where we can do better.”
“We need to strengthen our staff knowledge in the area of medical neglect and the detection of that,” Bostick said of his case managers. He said case workers in Gwinnett, where Reygan lived, had, on average last fall, about 30 cases each. The statewide average is currently 19 cases for every case worker.
“Child welfare is not an exact science, and most times we’re dealing not only with just the black and white, but most times in the grey area.”
Family voiced grave concerns
Deborah Walton Moon said she raised red flags about her granddaughter’s safety a year prior to her death.
She told 11Alive last month that said she became concerned about Reygan’s weight in July 2017.
She said Devin would not let the rest of the family see Reygan after that, and it wasn't until October before the grandmother was able to see Reygan again. "We took her to [Children's Healthcare at] Egleston because she was just skin and bones and the doctor, the hospital, said she weighs the same 20 pounds that she weighed when you brought her here in April," Deborah said.
The grandmother said she repeatedly called the Division of Family and Children Services, which angered the child's mother.
"And she said to me, 'You called DFCS on me, didn't you?' I said, 'I did. Only because I care. Cared about you, cared about the baby, that's the only reason,'" Deborah said.
By October, when Deborah called DFCS again, Devin again cut off communication with her family, the grandmother said.
"She said, 'I hate you. You've lost a daughter and a granddaughter,'" Moon said. "And I have."
Deborah said the DFCS caseworker assured her in October that Devin would care for Reygan properly.
"The investigator said they had made arrangements that a nutritionist would go once a week and that DFCS would make sure Devin was doing what she was supposed to do for Reygan," she said. "I begged DFCS to not, but the investigator says Devin is taking good care of her."
That October 2017 visit was the last time Deborah saw Reygan alive.
PHOTOS: Reygan Moon's funeral
"I begged them to please just let her go with me," she said. "Please let her go with me."
On July 24, Devin called authorities to report that Reygan was "unresponsive" and "cold to the touch."
Gwinnett County Police arrived at the apartment on Paxton Lane in unincorporated Lilburn, Ga., and found the child dead.
Investigators said that Devin originally told them that her daughter had a medical condition that didn't allow her to gain weight.
Deborah said that Devin came to her the night of her daughter's death after she talked with police for the first time.
Investigators said Devin worked as a dancer and stripper at a local club and would leave her child alone as she worked overnights.
"The [child] really was left at home alone for 10-12 hours most nights,” Gwinnett County Police Sgt. Jake Smith said.
Detectives arrested Devin and charged her with first-degree cruelty to children and felony murder.
"I'm just so heartbroken because it didn't have to happen this way," Deborah said.
The Gwinnett County detective, Cpl. Micah Hegwood, who is investigating the case said Reygan was starved to death, said she may have died alone, in a closet.
Earlier this month, Hegwood testified at the preliminary hearing that, from the feces and urine in the carpet and on the walls, it looked like Reygan may have died alone in a closet, and that perhaps her mother moved her body to a couch before calling 911.
“It appeared that Reygan had likely been isolated in a closet.... There's a possibility Reygan died in a closet instead of the couch” because, Hegwood said, the medical examiner noted that the couch where Reygan was found was not wet as it would have been if she had died there. "This could have been staged."
Hegwood testified that in October 2017, just before Moon cut off her family from seeing Reygan, the child spent four days in a hospital for malnutrition.
“Reygan's body was extremely emaciated," when she died last month, "meaning there was little to no muscle mass, little to no body fat, and her skin appeared, looked like leather, it was extremely dry and wrinkled,” Hegwood said.
The magistrate court judge ordered Devin's case moved to Superior Court for prosecution on her felony charges.
She is being held without bond.
A GoFundMe account has been established to help cover Reygan's funeral costs. Click here for more information.
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