Social worker Lynne Boissel says she asked her supervisors three times whether she should license Gilbert Delestre as a foster parent, in light of his 2003 marijuana arrest.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, January 2, 2005

BY MICHAEL CORKERY
Journal Staff Writer

Months before Gilbert Delestre was charged with murdering 3-year-old Thomas J. Wright, a social worker at the state Department of Children, Youth and Families had questions about the Woonsocket man's previous drug arrest and repeatedly asked her supervisors whether he should be licensed as a foster parent.

But the social worker never received an answer, according to an internal document she was asked to submit after the boy's death.

DCYF continued the process of licensing Delestre, 23, and his live-in girlfriend, Katherine S. Bunnell, 21, as foster parents until Oct. 30, when the couple were accused of murdering Thomas, whom the state had entrusted with their care.

Licensing social worker Lynne Boissel wrote that she asked her supervisors three times, over a two-month period, whether she should license Delestre in light of unanswered questions about his arrest in Arkansas in March 2003.

Delestre had been caught with 130 pounds of marijuana but was never prosecuted. DCYF did not learn the details of the arrest until after Thomas' death.

Boissel said she asked her supervisor about the arrest. When she did not get a response, she e-mailed him and the licensing administrator about the issue. She sent a second e-mail to the licensing administrator. Each time, Boissel said, she got no response.

The document, obtained by The Journal, is called a "home study." It evaluated whether the couple would make suitable foster parents for Thomas and his two brothers.

The home study raises questions about how the state handled the the boys' case. Thomas is the first child in state custody to be beaten to death since 1995.

In an interview on Friday, DCYF director Jay Lindgren explained that some of the agency's supervisors are inundated with as many as 100 e-mails a day and their workloads are rising.

"You can't assume that an e-mail is going to take care of it," Lindgren said.

He added,"If she felt she was raising an urgent, legitimate issue and it wasn't being treated that way, she had to work her way up the chain of command."

The issues raised by the home study are part of DCYF's internal review of the case. Those findings will be sent to the Office of the Child Advocate, which is conducting an independent probe of Thomas' death.

Lindgren said the case raises some concerns, such as the length of time it takes to license a foster home. He said the average time is about nine months, which he called "unaceptable." He's also worried about rising caseloads among social workers and morale across the department. There are about 1,200 foster children in Rhode Island.

"Let's shed some light on this," Lindgren said. "Let's not go at this fixing blame. My goal is, how to get a system that is more responsive and more agile."

There are also questions about the report itself. The home study is dated Nov. 3 -- three days after Thomas died.

In an interview Friday, Boissel said that typically she does not file a final home study until her licensing process is complete. At the time of Thomas' death, the couple's license had not yet been approved.

After the death, Boissel was asked to type up her handwritten notes based on her interviews with the couple and visits to their Woonsocket apartment in May and August.

"I stand by what I put in the home study," said Boissel, a 34-year veteran at DCYF.

Boissel would not comment further about her correspondence with her DCYF supervisors.

"I haven't slept in two weeks. It's just a tragedy," she said of Thomas' death. "It affects you very deeply."

Thomas and his two brothers were allowed to live with Bunnell, who is their aunt, and Delestre and their two daughters while their license was pending. Thomas L. Dwyer, DCYF's associate director, has said DCYF wanted to keep the three brothers together and that the couple showed no signs of being unfit guardians.

The couple had been caring for the boys since their mother and Bunnell's sister, Karen Wright, was sent to an Illinois prison for transporting 100 pounds of marijuana last January. Wright's arrest came about 10 months after Delestre was stopped in Arkansas with marijuana.

In her home study, Boissel wrote that Bunnell and Delestre "presented as a caring couple."

"Mr. Delestre appeared to be a quiet individual and Ms. Bunnell was more outgoing."

Bunnell said she left school in the ninth grade when she became pregnant at age 17. She had odd jobs delivering pizza and working in a nursing home. Since 2003, she had been at home with her children.

Delestre said he dropped out of school in the 10th grade to work. He was laid off in March and had been looking for a job.

The couple were living in a subsidized apartment at 2229 Diamond Hill Rd. and paying $65 a month, according to the home study.

Bunnell reported that her income included $276 every two weeks from the state Family Independence Program and $279 a month in food stamps. DCYF paid the couple $100 per week per foster chid, Dwyer said.

On her visits with the couple, Boissel said, she met their daughters, ages 2 and 4, and Thomas. "All three children were well groomed and dressed," Boissel wrote. She does not mention whether she met Thomas' two brothers, ages 9 and 6.

According to the home study, "Ms. Bunnell states that her children are pretty well-behaved children but when they need to be disciplined she usually has them sit on the couch for a few minutes."

Boissel wrote, "I made Ms. Bunnell and Mr. Delestre aware that the use of corporal punishment on a foster child is strictly prohibited. They state they are in agreement with this rule."

Under the section of the report titled personal references, Boissel noted: "None required for foster care licensing."

Boissel also wrote that Bunnell's physician wrote on his medical reference: "would require further evaluation."

"She subsequently told me she spoke with [the doctor] and he agreed to give her a positive medical reference," Boissel wrote.

Boissel said the "new positive medical reference" was faxed to her on Aug. 2.

Boissel also wrote in her report that both Bunnell and Delestre said they did not use drugs or alcohol.

In concluding the home study, Boissel detailed how she requested guidance from supervisors about Delestre's drug arrest:

"Note that when Mr. Delestre's fingerprints came back from the Woonsocket police, he had a drug possession in Arkansas. The document from the Woonsocket police was shown to supervisor Phil Steiner on May 21, 2004 who responded that we could not license the home unless there was proof that Mr. Delestre was not convicted or that the charge was disposed of in some [way] then we can reconsider.

"This response from Mr. Steiner was faxed to supervisor Carol Creighton on May 22.

"On May 24, [social worker] Pat Chabot emailed me and Mr. Steiner indicating that she had spoken to Detective [Gerard] Durand at the Woonsocket police station. She states that according to Detective Durand, Gilbert was arrested in [Arkansas] with this drug charge and fingerprinted.

"He was released on $750 bail and the story goes he never served time and once bailed out spilled the story to the police that the drugs were not his and said who they belonged to so his record was expunged.

"She called Russellville [Arkansas] to get the report and they could not find his name in any of their files. They indicated further that if the record was expunged, it would never show up in their files but would not get off the FBI record because he was fingerprinted.

"Ms. Chabot states she did speak with Ms. Bunnell and Mr. Delestre indicating that she would either have to remove the children or that Mr. Delestre needed to move out.

"She asked that she be told by the end of the day if Mr. Delestre needed to move out. I was never informed if Mr. Steiner responded to her request. I subsequently asked Mr. Steiner on July 29 if I was to continue to license this home. I received no response.

"I emailed him and licensing administrator Lee Sperduti on Aug. 23 if they both wanted me to go forward in attempting to license the home.

"I recieved no response.

"Finally on Aug. 30, I emailed Lee Sperduti reiterating what Pat Chabot's email had said on May 21 and again asking if I were to continue with licensing the home or close it out.

"I received no response.

"Therefore since I was not told to close out this home I proceeded to continue to license the home."

In interviews since the boy's death, DCYF officials said they never learned the quantity of marijuana -- 130 pounds -- that Delestre was allegedly arrested with in Arkansas.

Delestre and Bunnell's young daughters were also in the Chevy Blazer at the time of the arrest, the police said. Bunnell was driving the Blazer.

The Arkansas State Police made the arrest and maintain a detailed record of the incident, which was provided to The Journal by a state police spokesman. Dwyer, DCYF's associate director, has said having that information might have changed the agency's opinion about Delestre.

Sperduti would not comment on the home study, saying the issues it raises are addressed in DCYF's internal review.

"It doesn't do the whole thing justice unless you get that [internal DCYF review]," Sperduti said in an interview. Steiner and Chabot could not be reached for comment.

Thomas died on Oct. 31 from brain injuries and a broken femur suffered in the beating.

During a bail hearing last month, a District Court judge heard extensive testimony that the couple took turns beating the boy when they returned home from a night out and found a mess in their apartment. Delestre told the police that he was drunk when he hit Thomas.

The judge ordered Bunnell and Delestre held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions, pending indictment.

Michael Corkery can be reached at mcorkery [at] projo.com or at (401) 277-7133.