MIDDLETOWN — The family of Courtney Centers had more than two dozen visits in two months from child-protection caseworkers and repeated contacts with police and doctors.

        So why did her life end so tragically, despite all the scrutiny meant to make sure she was safe from abuse?

Miles

Centers

        That question is the subject of an expanded internal probe by Butler County child-protection officials and of a multiagency review of the events leading up to New Year's Day, when Courtney, 3, bled to death.

        Police say her mother's boyfriend, Kevin Charles Miles of Woodlawn, 27, punched her more than once, causing a 2-inch gash in her liver. Police allege that Courtney's mother, Tania Centers, 20, knew Mr. Miles was abusive but left the children in his care anyway.

        Mr. Miles is charged with aggravated murder, punishable by death if he's convicted. Both he and Tania Centers are charged with felony child-endangering, which carries a sentence of one to five years.

        Municipal Judge Mark W. Wall set Ms. Centers' bond at $1 million. He ordered Mr. Miles held without bond. The couple remain in the city jail awaiting a Jan. 11 preliminary hearing.

        Under provisions of a new Ohio law that are just now taking effect, the death of a juvenile must be evaluated by a Child Fatality Review Team. The team includes the county coroner and health, police and child-protection officials. The goal is to determine what deaths are preventable, but the review process usually cannot begin until criminal prosecutions are finished.

        Meanwhile, the Butler County Children Services Board has already begun an internal probe of Courtney's case — and has decided to take an additional step in all such major abuse cases, Kathy Vallance, Children Services' executive director, said Friday.

Courtney

        For the first time, the agency is asking other involved professionals, such as doctors and police, to meet with caseworkers and discuss what might have been done to prevent Courtney's death, Ms. Vallance said, adding, “it's not a blaming session.”

        Michael A. Fox, a Butler County commissioner and a watchdog of child-protection practices, applauds those efforts. However, he sees similarities between Courtney's case and that of Christopher David Long, a 2-year-old Middletown boy who was killed last year.

        Caseworkers were monitoring both families. Courtney's 20-year-old mother of two was getting parenting and life-skills help, while Christopher's family was being checked after complaints of an unkempt house.

        When the agency is involved for such reasons, “how can you tell when there are more serious things going on beneath the surface?” Mr. Fox asked.

        On April 16, 2001, a caseworker tried to visit Christopher's home, but a babysitter explained that the boy's mother wasn't home, so the caseworker left.

        Twenty minutes later, paramedics were summoned on a report that he wasn't breathing. Christopher later died of brain injury caused by multiple blows to the head, authorities said.

        The babysitter, E.Y. Lawson, 22, faces a possible death sentence in a trial set for Jan. 22.

        Children Services has contact with about 3,000 families a year, so sorting out which cases need the most intervention can be one of its most difficult challenges, Ms. Vallance said.

        Until Courtney's death, nothing made her family's case stand out among the agency's 455 ongoing cases, Ms. Vallance said. “We're just really struggling with this.”

        Ms. Centers' relatives lament having had to return Courtney and her younger sister, Emily, to Ms. Centers' care in June. The relatives lacked legal custody, and only a court could transfer custody to them — and that was a route Ms. Centers' relatives didn't want to take.

        During a four-hour session Thursday, a dozen Children Services staffers “picked apart” Courtney's case and found no glaring errors or omissions, Ms. Vallance said.

        She rattled off 25 dates when caseworkers spent at least an hour in Ms. Centers' home during the nine weeks preceding Courtney's death.

        “A lot of cases don't get nearly that much attention ... So when we've done more than what we've usually done, it's baffling to us,” she said. “I'm not sure what more we could have done.”

        Mr. Fox said it may be that nothing could have helped.

        “The sad fact is there are evil, mean people who hurt kids out there,” he said. “And sometimes, you can't see any warning signs, no matter how hard you try.”

       Courtney Centers file

• Oct. 23: Butler County Children Services alerts Middletown police that Children's Hospital Medical Center reported suspicious bruises on the face of Emily Centers, then 15 months old. Police investigate. A detective warns the mother to be more cautious about who is around her children. No specific concerns are raised about Courtney, then 2.

        • Oct. 25: A Children Services caseworker visits and signs up the girls' mother, Tiana Centers, 20, for the “family preservation program,” which provides parenting and life-skills help.

        • Nov. 27: A caseworker notices Courtney's right ear is bruised. Her mother says she fell off the bed. When interviewed alone, the little girl demonstrates how she fell. The caseworker takes photos, has Middletown Regional Hospital examine the girl and reports the bruise to police. Doctors and police find no evidence of abuse.

        • Dec. 10: Caseworker notices Emily's eye is red and her leg appears swollen. The child is examined at a Middletown hospital. Although her ankle is determined to be fractured, doctors say the injury is consistent with a fall as Ms. Centers described.

        • Dec. 11: Courtney celebrates her third birthday; a caseworker visits.

        • Dec. 21: The last caseworker visit occurs, capping 25 different calls. Some visits were scheduled, others were surprises, and caseworkers rarely saw Kevin Charles Miles, the 27-year-old Woodlawn man who would later be charged in Courtney's death.

        • Dec. 27: Ms. Centers cancels a visit and reschedules it for the next day. A caseworker visits but finds no one home.

        • Dec. 31: A man answers caseworker's call, asks her to reschedule visit.

        • Jan. 1: Courtney dies of internal bleeding caused by a 2-inch laceration in her liver. Police later say she was “punched more than once” while her mother went to a convenience store, leaving her children with Mr. Miles.
       Source: Butler County Children Services, Middletown Police

Jones leaving federal bench
Q&A with Judge Jones
Centerville remembers soldier killed in war
Death prompts internal scrutiny
Arts school holds open house
GOP picks 3 for judges
Group trains teens in technology skills
Pepper suggests rules for conduct of council meetings
Tristate A.M. Report
BRONSON: Meet John Doe
CROWLEY: Kentucky Politics
HOWARD: Some Good News
PULFER: Mystery sport
Sales tax opponents pick up pace
Ohio puts off redraw of election districts
Frame going up for museum
Gambling opponents gathering
Keeneland supports gaming
Kid-porn figure admits guilt
Ky. activist ending career
School took 25 years to get home
Kentucky News Briefs