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Case worker suspended following infant's death

Posted at 9:49 PM, Feb 17, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-18 06:59:35-05
The death of 6-month-old Arrow Hyden, may have been preventable according to new documents from the investigation.
 
Records show a Department of Human Services caseworker had nearly a dozen times to remove Arrow from his home, but chose not to. 
 
In January, he died of cardiac arrestwhile in the care of his mother's boyfriend in a shed behind a Tulsa home.
 
 
"Whoever dropped that ball needs to be held accountable for the death of that baby," Sandra Givens with Save Our Youth said.
 
The local advocacy group has been outspoken after the baby's death, asking why Arrow was left in the custody of his drug-addicted mother Anna Hyden.
 
"We're losing children because of them failing to go back out and check on these kids," Givens said.
 
2 Works for You obtained internal DHS documents from a source close to the investigation.
 
They show the child protection agency got their first call about Arrow's safety, the day after he was born.
 
Records also reveal multiple complaints were filed in the months to come. They claimed that Arrow was living in filth and that his mother, Anna, was on drugs and moving from house to house. 
 
"Living house to house; living in sheds. Why would you put a baby through that?" Harris said.
 
 
One of the last times Anna and her son were visited by DHS was when she was at a hospital.
 
Documents show that case worker Ladana Miller made this visit where Anna confessed to being unstable, homeless and using meth while breastfeeding Arrow. 
 
Records also show that Miller allowed Arrow to go home with his mother after setting up a safety plan. However, that's where her intervention stopped, as she rarely checked in on the baby. 
 
Nine days before Arrow was found dead, Miller approached an Assistant District Attorney. At the time, she was told the baby should have been taken into custody immediately. 
 
 
While some may find it easy to point fingers, a Corporal with the Tulsa Police Department says it's not that simple.
 
"I can't really say,  'yes, he would be alive if they'd done something differently,' because there's so many factors in that," Corporal Greg Smith said.
 
He added, "We are hesitant to point any fingers in this, because we don't know what went on from the child protective services standpoint."
 
At this point, DHS is not going on camera to talk about the investigation into its employees. 
 
Arrow's case worker, Ladana Miller, has been suspended without pay and her manager has been reassigned.
 
 
2 Works for You pulled together multiple agencies that work to keep children safe: