Child welfare workers said Monday that confidentiality laws prohibited them from responding to claims they had been warned a little girl was in danger before the child’s bruised body was abandoned in a southwest Bakersfield home Sunday.
Also on Monday:
The coroner’s office identified the victim as Serenity Julia Gandara, 3.
The coroner’s office reported an autopsy was performed and the cause and manner of death “are pending further investigation."
The Bakersfield Police Department said the girl’s foster parents – who were her aunt and uncle – probably are in or near Mexico hiding from authorities. The parents, Carla Garcia, 26, and Alberto Garcia, 26, apparently took their three biological children. Relatives said Carla Garcia is a Mexican citizen.
Police said Carla Garcia called her sister Sunday morning and asked her to come to the Garcia house in the 5900 block of Summer Country Drive, in southwest Bakersfield.
When she got there, the sister found Serenity’s body on the floor in one room, and Serenity’s 4-year-old brother sleeping in another room. The Garcias and their three children were gone.
Police said Serenity had trauma to her head and torso, and both she and her brother had injuries in various stages of healing.
On Monday, Maria Garcia, the maternal grandmother of the foster children, told Channel 17’s Emily Moore she had warned a CPS social worker about abuse in the Garcia household.
"I told her many times something happened with these kids,” Maria Garcia said.
The children belonged to Alberto Garcia's sister, but he and Carla were fostering them and were in the process of adopting them.
The toddler’s paternal grandmother, Renee Maese, said other family members wanted to adopt the children, but CPS would not consider anyone but Alberto and Carla.
Barbara Zimmerman of the Kern County Department of Social Services said she could not comment on the case, even to answer the family’s allegations, until the case was determined to have been foul play.
Alberto and Carla Garcia are believed to be in a white 1997 Ford Explorer, Eddie Bauer edition, with a license plate number of 5FLC681.
Anyone who sees the car is asked to call 911.
