POLK COUNTY, Fla. — “If you loved Jayden, he loved you back,” said Rashawd Hines when talking about his 2-year-old son Jayden Hines.
“He’d wake up in the morning and ask for P.J. Masks and pizza, so I’d give him P.J. Masks and his breakfast pizza,” Hines recalled.
But, he says he should be creating more.
Police say Jayden was murdered by his mother’s boyfriend, Alegray Jones.
“I still blame myself. Like, could I have done more,” said Hines.
Rashawd says he wrote two letters to a Polk County judge concerned about Jayden’s wellbeing while at his mom’s house. According to the Clerk of Court website, one of the letters was sent on Feb. 12, 2021.
That same day, 10 investigates has learned, an investigation was opened involving concerns about his mom’s mental health and inadequate supervision. The investigator found no immediate threat. But a follow-up, 30 days later, shows the investigator tried to reach the mother without any luck. They say they did talk to Jayden’s dad, who had no concerns at the time.
“They called me one time. When they called me, I voiced concerns and they told me they were going to make her take parenting classes,” said Hines.
All of this information is detailed in the final report from the state. That report also mentions the family had two prior cases with The Florida Department of Children and Families involving concerns for inadequate supervision and physical injury. The report states, there were "missed investigative opportunities" throughout the February investigation and states the investigator never did proper background checks on the mother’s grandparents who she was living with at the time or her boyfriend, Alegray Jones.
The report also says the investigator failed to collect additional information that would have provided a full assessment of the family.
“For them to fail they didn’t background. If you would’ve done your job, you would’ve seen these red flags that would’ve possibly saved my kid’s life,” said Hines.
Jones did have multiple drug charges. But the report mentions, if the missed opportunities were completed, it does not appear that it would have impacted the case trajectory resulting in the children’s removal from their mother.
“How can you explain to a parent you dropped the ball and a child I love isn’t here anymore? That’s so frustrating. There can be no excuses. To have a job this caliber you don’t make excuses when it comes to kids,” said Hines.
The report mentions, while there were missed opportunities these findings were "not a contributory factor" in Jayden’s death.
But the department immediately updated policies because of these findings.
They are now conducting case reviews of investigator's caseloads and providing additional training surrounding timely case activity.
The mother’s boyfriend, Alegray Jones, is behind bars charged for the murder of Jayden.
The report stated that Jayden’s mom admitted to seeing Jones mistreat Jayden but took no action to stop it even though she didn’t like it.
She is being charged with one count of accessory after the fact and one count of negligent child abuse.
There were 29 children in Polk County who died last year, as recorded by DCF.
Twelve of the families who lost a child had prior DCF involvement in the past five years. Two of the families had prior involvement in the past year.
Seven of the children who died had prior involvement with DCF.