NC orders Mecklenburg County to address multiple DSS issues after child death
North Carolina officials found “systemic” issues in Mecklenburg County’s social services department after the death of a local child sparked a review of child welfare cases handled by the agency.
The state Department of Health and Human Services ordered the county to develop a corrective action plan for the Department of Social Services in a Wednesday letter to county leadership provided by DHHS.
“While the review of the 122 (Child Protective Services) reports/assessments revealed some strengths in social work practice, a broad, systemic lack of appropriate safety planning to address identified danger indicators and risk factors to the children was found,” the letter said.
The three-page letter is signed by the state’s deputy director for Child Welfare Services and addressed to Mecklenburg County Manager Mike Bryant, Mecklenburg County Commission Chairman Mark Jerrell, the deputy county manager who oversees health and human services and the interim director of the county’s Department of Child, Family and Adult Services.
The county told The Charlotte Observer in response to the letter it “has begun a deliberate process of improving and strengthening child protective services.”
The letter doesn’t mention 6-year-old Dominique Moody by name. But it says the review began when the state was notified of a December child fatality, the same month Moody was found dead in her aunt’s home in east Charlotte.
Moody weighed 27 pounds when she died, and a medical examiner found burn scars, rib fractures and wounds from “prolonged sitting in urine/feces-soiled items, such as a diaper, for extensive periods of time,” the Observer reported previously.
The aunt and two other women face first-degree murder charges in the case, which has triggered multiple investigations and a potential change in state law.
WBTV first reported about the state letter.
NC puts Mecklenburg social services on corrective action plan
The state launched a review of the December child fatality in January that “revealed concerns with Mecklenburg County Department of Social Service’s (MCDSS) child welfare practice,” the DHHS letter said.
According to the letter, four out of five previous reports in the case “met the definition of abuse and neglect” but “were screened out with no further assessment of safety of the children.” Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and the county’s Social Services department received numerous reports about Moody’s home before she died, the Observer reported previously.
The DHHS letter also said “contacts were not frequent enough to ensure safety” and expresses concern about a “lack of thorough assessment” of the child’s health, development, environment and history with Child Protective Services.
“Inaccurate case decisions were made that resulted in no services being provided to ensure safety of the children,” the letter stated.
The findings from the review of the child fatality case led the state to look into a sample of other cases, according to the letter.
That review found multiple violations of laws, rules and policies, including instances of intake workers not asking “sufficient questions to explore all alleged maltreatment.” The state reported safety assessments had adequate safety plans “in only 43% of the cases” and that “ongoing contacts with families were not sufficient to ensure safety and risk.”
The county has 30 days to submit its corrective action plan to the state for review. Once the state signs off on the plan, the county is required to provide monthly progress reports until everything in the plan is addressed.
Mecklenburg County responds to state letter
Mecklenburg County said in a statement Thursday to the Observer an “internal review of the work of the Department of Child, Family and Adult Services is ongoing to address the issues identified in the letter.”
The county manager pledged full cooperation with the state. “As Mecklenburg County experiences an increase in the need for health and human services overall, it is critical that we respond with robust support for those services,” Bryant said in the statement.
The county added that Bryant’s proposed budget for the new fiscal year beginning July 1 includes a $2.5 million investment in Child, Family and Adult Services, including funding for 18 additional child welfare positions.
“A strong child welfare team is one of the most important investments we can make in this community,” Jerrell said in the statement.
Other reviews of Moody’s death
The NCDHHS review isn’t the only probe into Moody’s case.
A group of high-profile attorneys led by Ben Crump — known for representing the families of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Breonna Taylor — said in March they were looking into the case.
Members of the state House Oversight Committee said previously they may hold a hearing on the case, and state lawmakers have asked Charlotte and Mecklenburg County officials to hand over records in the case.
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers also introduced legislation named for Moody that would establish a new statewide team to review some of the state’s most serious child welfare cases.
This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 12:50 PM.
