Gavin Peterson was 12 years old when he died of malnourishment this summer after authorities say the boy’s relatives abused him for “several years”. The state division responsible for investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect first received a report concerning his family 11 years ago, the agency disclosed Thursday.
This is the first time the Utah Division of Child and Family Services has released specific information about Gavin’s case history since he died on July 9. They have previously declined to comment or release reports and other records, citing privacy concerns.
“Due to the requests for information on the case, we wanted to be as transparent as possible,” said DCFS director Tonya Myrup on Thursday, following a Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel at the Capitol.
There, she and other state officials met with lawmakers to discuss a glaring gap in the system: There are currently no protocols in place to check on children with Department of Health and Humans Services case histories who suddenly disappear from the public eye.
This can happen, Myrup said, when parents “choose to isolate the child,” such as withdrawing them from school, like Gavin was, and removing them from other “community safety nets.”
A detailed case history goes dark
Gavin was withdrawn from school in August 2023, after Weber School District employees who suspected abuse and neglect filed “multiple complaints” concerning the boy with DCFS, the school district has said.
Nearly a year later, deputies found him unresponsive at his father’s home in West Haven. His father, stepmother and older brother were all charged with reckless child abuse homicide in connection with his death, as well as other offenses. Shane Peterson, Nichole Scott and Tyler Peterson, respectively, remain held without bail in Weber County Jail as the case is prosecuted.
The information DCFS released about Gavin on Thursday was limited, specific to “the household where his death occurred,” despite disclosing that Gavin had a “two-household family” and that the division worked with each household “at several points in Gavin’s life.”
It came in the form of a Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act statement; the act allows division officials to release otherwise protected information if a child is killed or nearly killed as a result of child abuse.
The timing of the release coincided the with the completion of internal and external reviews that examined the agency’s handling of abuse reports regarding Gavin. Myrup declined to comment on the findings of either review.
“DCFS caseworkers are responsible for some of the hardest — and most important — decisions a public servant ever has to make,” said Department of Health and Human Services director Tracy Gruber in a news release. “They must decide if the government should intervene with a family in the privacy of their home to protect a child.”
The agency receives approximately 40,000 child abuse and neglect reports per year.
“We must carefully balance state law and facts known at the time of an investigation,” Gruber continued, “when we make decisions that may forever change the lives of a child and family.”
‘We did not have enough information to intervene’
The agency’s disclosure Thursday acknowledged the boy had a case history dating back to his infancy, as well as a “complicated family history.”
His biological parents were separated. Different records released to The Salt Lake Tribune by the Weber County Sheriff’s Office this week indicate authorities had been called multiple times to both parents’ houses in response to reported abuse involving one of Gavin’s older siblings.
The details DCFS shared this week only involve child abuse allegations concerning Gavin while he lived at his father’s home — seven calls all reported between May 2019 and May 2023, resulting in three open cases.
Two calls did not result in the agency opening a case, and two were added as evidence into an already open case. All were closed by the time Gavin was taken out of school, and the agency didn’t receive any more reports between May 2023 and his death this summer.
Myrup said despite the volume of calls to DCFS caseworkers, “we did not have enough information to intervene” before Gavin was pulled out of school, away from other adults mandated to report suspected abuse.
Rep. Christine Watkins, R-Price, said Thursday she intends to sponsor a bill to allow caseworkers to seek welfare-check warrants in such situations, which Myrup described as a “unique” and as a “small subset” of child welfare cases.
Court documents allege Gavin had been abused for years, kept locked in a carpetless room without bedding or blankets while adults monitored him using multiple cameras. He was often beaten or starved, sometimes only given a piece of bread and mustard to eat, authorities said.
Medical staff determined he died from organ failure due to malnourishment, according to authorities.
The division has since asserted that Gavin was a “victim of severe and chronic physical abuse and severe and chronic physical neglect by Shane Peterson, Nichole Scott, and Tyler Peterson,” DCFS announced Thursday.
What caseworkers knew
(Fox 13 News) Utah Division of Child and Family Services director Tonya Myrup speaks at a Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel at the Capitol on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
The first report about Gavin that the division disclosed Thursday came on May 28, 2019, prompting agency workers to open a case.
That investigation found that Scott had been abusing another child in the home. The family soon began voluntary in-home services, meaning a caseworker visited the home and worked with relatives to address problems.
After a month of receiving help, caseworkers concluded the issues had been resolved and the case was closed.
Less than a year later, on Feb. 27, 2020, the agency received another call reporting Gavin was being abused and that another caregiver had failed to protect him. The abuse reportedly occurred at another house, and Shane Peterson and Scott were not involved.
In response to this report, the agency petitioned a “Juvenile Court” — for reasons DCFS did not specify — to address safety concerns and help Gavin’s parents “effectively co-parent.” The parents were ultimately ordered to participate in in-home services again.
The next call came Aug. 24, 2020, while in-home services were still ongoing. Someone reported “concerns about Gavin and his treatment in the Peterson home,” the statement said, but the agency did not open an investigation. The information was, however, shared with the family’s caseworker.
The family completed in-home services on May 21, 2021, and the division closed its case.
More than a year later, on Sept. 2, 2022, the agency received another report from “someone concerned about Gavin’s well-being, after observing some of his behaviors.” The division declined to open a case, determining it didn’t meet the legal criteria.
A DCFS supervisor reviewed the decision and agreed the case did not meet the threshold for opening an investigation.
On March 28, 2023, the agency received a new report “alleging physical neglect of Gavin.” This time, they opened an investigation. Two days later, they got another call also reporting suspected abuse and added that information to the open case file.
Caseworkers spoke with the callers and said neither had “additional information or concerns.” They also spoke with Gavin at school on March 31, 2023.
“Gavin did not disclose anything regarding abuse or neglect,” the statement said.
On May 3, 2023, investigators visited his father’s home, where they interviewed Shane Peterson. Five days later, the agency received another call “alleging physical abuse on Gavin.”
Investigators returned to the home again on May 15, 2023, and interviewed all adults. They also spoke with Gavin “outside the presence of any alleged abusers.”
They closed their case that day, deeming it “unsupported” because they didn’t have enough evidence to indicate Gavin had been abused.
Just over a year later, on July 9, 2024, the division got their final call about Gavin: He was in the emergency room with injuries that appeared consistent with abuse or neglect — and he was not expected to survive.
He died later that day.
Editor’s note • If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, reports can be made to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services by calling 1-855-323-3237 or visiting dcfs.utah.gov/child-abuse-reporting-form.
Myrup said the public’s reports of abuse remain “critically important.”
“If you have any suspicion of abuse or neglect, make that call,” she said.
