By Mosi Secret, New York Times, Dec. 17/18, 2013

The employees, Damon T. Adams, a caseworker with the Administration for Children’s Services, and Chereece M. Bell, his supervisor, were initially indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide, a felony, in the death of the girl, Marchella Pierce. But under the agreement with the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, all charges will probably be dismissed.  

The pleas mark the final chapter of a tragic case that outraged the city, focused a new light on a troubled agency and on the district attorney’s office, which, for the first time, filed homicide charges against caseworkers for the death of a child under their supervision [....]

In March 2011, Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, announced an indictment against them on felony homicide charges, a move that provoked outcry and protests from other caseworkers and their union, who said that Mr. Adams and Ms. Bell were being used as scapegoats. Mr. Hynes also announced a grand jury investigation into “evidence of alleged systemic failures” at the Administration for Children’s Services. 

The grand jury released a 102-page report in October laying much of the blame for the deaths of Marchella and 18 other children since 2007 on the agency, saying that it needed to hire workers in sufficient numbers, rigorously train them and provide them with resources and supervision so that they could protect children [....]