Carmen Barahona peers from behind a sheet of paper she used to shield herself from media cameras during court proceedings on Feb. 16, 2011. Her husband, Jorge Barahona, and one foster child were found covered in chemicals inside a truck alongside I-95 in Palm Beach County. The body of another child also was in the truck. A hearing to determine fate of children in the care of the Barahona family was held at the Juvenile Justice Center in front of Judge Cindy Lederman.
MIAMI — The case of Nubia Doctor was a confounding one for child welfare investigators.
The adopted Miami-Dade County girl was painfully skinny and her hair was falling out. But when investigators asked about her appearance, they were told she had been born with a serious hormonal condition, not that she was being neglected.
By the time they figured out that both were apparently true, it was too late.
Ten-year-old Nubia was dead, covered in chemical burns and hidden in a plastic garbage bag in a truck along Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County. Her twin brother, Victor, was near death in the same truck, also covered with burns. Their adoptive father, Jorge Barahona, was the driver.
"This situation has completely outraged all of us," David Wilkins, secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families, said Thursday, three days after the gruesome discovery. "The facts are horrific and this is a very emotional time for all of us."
But Wilkins defended his workers and their contacts with the family.
"Remember that these people have been deceiving the system for quite a long time," Wilkins said of Jorge and Carmen Barahona.
Jorge Barahona, 53, is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail on charges of attempted murder and aggravated child abuse. In addition to burns, doctors found evidence of a broken arm and clavicle, scars on Victor's stomach and buttocks and ligature marks on both wrists.
Victor, who was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's burn unit in critical condition, was "improving" Thursday, DCF spokeswoman Lisette Valdes Valle said.
"When he is awake, he is interacting," she said. "We are cautiously optimistic."
Carmen Barahona, 60, is likely to face charges for helping her husband hide his alleged crimes, said Jacqui Colyer, a DCF regional director.
After adopting the twins, the Barahonas collected of hundreds of dollars a month because of the children's special needs, a DCF official said.
"This case has proven that despite the best efforts of this department, our community partners and so many others, it is impossible to prevent evil people from doing evil things," Wilkins said.
DCF has launched an investigation, and Wilkins said he had asked department leaders to "begin assembling an outside review of the case," although he did not say who would conduct that review.
"I want to know exactly what happened in what sequence," he said.
DCF received a call on its hot line last week after the Barahonas' granddaughter Alessandra, who sometimes stayed with them after school, told a therapist that the twins were often confined in a bathroom or made to stand in garbage bins. The children also were seen with ligature marks on their wrists.
DCF investigator Andrea Fleary responded, visiting the house twice, on Thursday and Friday. Carmen Barahona told Fleary that neither her husband nor the children were there and she never did see them.
"In this situation, the investigators got out there in pretty quick time," Wilkins said. "The husband and children were already gone. We don't know if at that time (Nubia was) already deceased."
During a hearing Wednesday in Miami-Dade Dependency Court, Fleary said she had temporarily stopped her investigation at 9 p.m. Friday because "we don't do investigations on weekends."
Wilkins said Fleary was obviously rattled by the hearing and that what she said in court was not accurate.
"We do investigations 24/7," he said. "We have employees who work weekends. We have employees who work nights."
The Barahonas became the twins' foster parents in 2004 and moved to adopt them in 2008.
Sonia Ferrer, head of the county's guardian ad litem program, said that during an evidentiary hearing, the twins' guardian ad litem, Paul Neumann, expressed his doubts to a judge.
"The guardian was with the children for four years," Ferrer said. "He had concerns about the placement."
She did not elaborate on the concerns.
But the judge heard other evidence and chose to leave the children with the Barahonas.
"We did everything we could at the time," Ferrer said.
After adoption, foster children are no longer represented by such a guardian.
Neumann, 50, confirmed Thursday that he raised objections at the time of the adoption. He said he could not discuss the case publicly without the consent of his superiors because of privacy concerns.
"I was shocked when I heard what happened to them," said Neumann, who had not seen the twins since the adoption. "It's such a shame."
DCF officials said they received four calls to their abuse hot line after the children went to live with the Barahonas in 2004. Three of those came before the adoption and one was in June.
"The medical conditions of the children complicated the decision-making of our investigators," Wilkins said.
Wilkins said he would try to visit Victor at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Thursday evening.
The Miami Herald contributed to this story.
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