LISTEN:
During a press conference held earlier this month, Acting Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty revealed the indictment of three individuals, including the child’s parents, in relation to their daughter’s fatal overdose.
Acting Sullivan County District Attorney expressed concerns about County Attorney McGuire’s handling of the case.
“The county attorney’s office, the county attorney himself, Mike McGuire refused to institute removal proceedings as requested. It was further learned under his regime, he created a culture of widespread apathy. That has discouraged the workers from bringing forth appropriate requests to remove children.”
The allegations prompted McGuire to directly address the matter. During his statement, McGuire clarified that Child Protective Services does not require his permission to intervene and remove endangered children.
“Mr. Conaty asserts that on three occasions, I was begged to remove these children and that I refused such an assertion as patently false. From the time the now-deceased child was born, until the day she died, here had never been a substantiated allegation of child abuse following an investigation by the CPS unit. As such, there would not have ever been a basis upon which to seek removal.”
The Acting District Attorney announced that their office is currently conducting an investigation into the handling of the case.
“We must move forward to solving and preventing these problems. And that takes new bold ideas, views, and leadership. This is why I decided to determine what exactly went wrong here and how we exactly got here.”
Additional reporting provided by Liam Mayo from The River Reporter