If there is justification for the taps on the wrist given two Department of Human Services managers implicated in the death of Danieal Kelly, then the public deserves to know what it is.
Danieal died in August 2006 while under the care of her mother and the supervision of the DHS and a private contractor hired by the city agency. The girl, who had cerebral palsy, weighed only 42 pounds.
Criminal charges were filed against nine people, including the child's parents and two DHS workers.
Pamela Mayo and Wesley Brown weren't charged, but are named in a scathing grand jury report for failing to supervise subordinates handling Danieal's case. Yet DHS has given them only brief suspensions without pay. DHS officials need to explain why that's appropriate.
An emotional Mayor Nutter promised that heads would roll for those who failed to protect the 14-year-old girl. But for all that tough talk, Mayo and Brown seem to have escaped with relatively minor punishment.
Mayo and Brown failed to properly supervise those directly responsible for ensuring Danieal's protection, the grand jury found. It said Mayo and Brown made excuses for the gross failings of their subordinates after Danieal's death.
The two were among seven supervisors not charged, but the grand jury said their actions or inactions "might arguably be considered criminal." It said, "A share of the stain of responsibility for Danieal's death remains on their hands."
Mayo, director of operations for the Children and Youth Division, received a two-day suspension from her $103,799-a-year job. That seems more like a long weekend than a stinging punishment.
Brown was given a 10-day suspension from his $93,178-a-year job as a director in the Children and Youth Division, another slap on the wrist.
A third worker, Janice Walker, escaped without punishment by retiring early while the investigation dragged on for two years. City officials say she would have been fired if she had not stepped down.
Failing to take more meaningful action against the DHS workers who were deemed deserving of some punishment sends the wrong message at a time when the long-troubled agency is trying to restore public confidence in it.
It may take much more aggressive house-cleaning to change the toxic culture at DHS. The next step must be to implement sweeping reforms recommended last year by a blue-ribbon panel.
Philadelphia Inspector General Amy Kurland, whose office led the city's investigation, advised new DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose to discipline Mayo and Brown. But Kurland left it up to Ambrose to decide the specific punishment.
The light suspensions that Ambrose meted out to Mayo and Brown require more explanation. Ambrose may believe that the supervisors can be trusted to avoid making the same mistakes. With the lives of vulnerable children at stake, Philadelphians must hope that she is right.
