By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
The death of Kei’Mani Latigue has sent shock waves throughout the Toledo community in ways that few such tragedies previously have. One result of the homicide has been the formation of a task force by the Lucas County Children Services Board and the Lucas County Board of Commissioners to examine the practices of the LCCS agency.
Kei’Mani’s teachers had reached out to LCCS to report that they suspected the 13-year-old was being abused at home. The agency received a report on December 8, 2023 and two reports on March 21, 2024, regarding the child, who lived with her grandmother, Dorothy Latigue. The agency conducted investigations but did not find any evidence to require removing her from her home.
However, while Kei’Mani’s murder, and the fact that LCCS did not take action in her case that might have prevented such an incident, has raised such a furor in this city, during a press conference last week announcing the formation of the task force, commissioners and members of a committee that will weigh options to form such a board made it clear that a task force will not be asked to merely look into the Kei’Mani Latigue issue.
“That case is a symptom of many issues,” said LC Commissioner Pete Gerken. “We are looking at a system, not an incident.”
One of the stated goals of a task force, said Gerken, “is to restore public trust in the agency – our sole purpose is to restore trust.”
The commissioners have put together a group of three to start the work – LCCS President Suzette Cowell, retired former LCCS Executive Director Robin Reeves and Breda Osborn, director Lucas County Job & Family Services – “a small group with expert knowledge, people with knowledge of the system,” as Gerken described the threesome.
Gerken said that the commissioners are quite used to the concept of putting together task forces. In the recent past they have done so to deal with issues involving the Toledo Zoo, Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority and the Toledo Lucas County Health Department.
“This will be an outside-in looking task force,” added Gerken. “This is not an attack on the workers, we respect the work force but the agency obviously needs some reform.”
According to records, LCCS served 11,808 children and 4,635 families in 2024, managing a monthly average of 834 children in its custody. The organization investigated nearly 4,479 child abuse and neglect referrals, resulting in 1,564 confirmed victims and 383 opened cases.
“Forming this task force is about building trust, it’s not about a specific case,” said Lisa Sobecki, president of the LC Board of Commissioners. “We will listen to the community, we know we can do better.”
“Every child in the community is important to me,” said Reeves, the former director of LCCS. “Our children won’t be safe if we don’t have a child protection agency.”