The father of a 17-month-old boy who died of a fentanyl overdose is filing a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services. He claims a child custody supervisor was in the home when the toddler took the deadly drug.
Montise Bulley will file a $65 million lawsuit accusing the government agency of failing to protect his son Justin Bulley, who was reportedly in a home with his three siblings and the three children of an LA County visitation supervisor when he died, his attorney Brian Claypool, told reporters Wednesday.
Montise Bulley
Claypool said the toddler’s mother only supervised his visits. The court-appointed supervisor was reportedly home with her own children when Justin’s mother visited him and his siblings on Feb. 18, 2024.
The cause of his death that day is listed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner as “effects of fentanyl.”
Shiara Davila-Morales, a spokesperson for the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), declined to comment on Justin’s father’s allegations.
“While we appreciate the opportunity to provide our perspective, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services does not comment on pending litigation,” Morales wrote in an email to KCAL News.
Justin’s father said he had unsupervised visits with his son at the time and had “fought” for full custody while the boy was in foster care. He said he was worried about Justin and was “devastated” when he heard of his death.
“I just miss my boy,” Bulley said. “I was devastated. I didn’t understand it. Who gets a phone call like that?”
A series of alleged incidents that Claypool described as “huge red flags” occurred before the toddler was killed in what the medical examiner ruled was an accident. A man reportedly died of a fentanyl overdose at Justin’s mother’s home a year before the 17-month-old son died. Claypool said the boy’s mother was involved in an alleged DUI accident with her children in the car.
“It was only a matter of time before at least one child died at the hands of this mother,” Claypool said.
Claypool said Justin’s mother was allegedly doing drugs with her own father and that they had fallen asleep when the boy ingested the deadly drug. He accused the DCFS supervisor of leaving the home when paramedics responded. He claims the coroner found 25 nanograms of fentanyl in the boy’s blood, when just one nanogram can kill a child.
“The woman identified by the county is at the scene of the death,” Claypool said. “She doesn’t get the kids out. She runs away.”
The attorney claims the LA County employee was later found by police officers and that her children — as well as Justin’s three siblings — also reportedly had fentanyl in their system. Claypool claims Justin’s grandfather smoked fentanyl in the living room, causing widespread contamination of the area with the deadly drug.
According to Claypool, the DCFS office in Lancaster was handling the case of Justin and his siblings at the time of his death.
In October 2022, DCFS reached a $32 million settlement with the family of Lancaster boy Anthony Avalos, whose mother and her boyfriend both sentenced to life imprisonment for the torture and murder of the 10-year-old. In the days following his death, the director of DCFS said social workers were called to the home eight different times for reports of abuse before he died.
Just 10 miles away, in Palmdale, two other children were murdered in cases of child abuse, which also resulted in lawsuits against DCFS.
In 2014, the family of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was formed has sued the LA County agency. Fernandez’s mother and her boyfriend were both lifetime in prison for starving, torturing and murdering him. Six years later, in 2020, the great-grandmother of 4-year-old Noah Cuatro filed a lawsuit against DCFS. In March, his parents did not advocate contest to charges of murder and torture in his death.
In both cases, the children’s families said social workers were aware of the allegations of abuse before they were killed.
Claypool said “significant change” needs to happen at DCFS — specifically the part of the agency that handles cases in the Palmdale and Lancaster area. He said trained forensic psychologists should interview children after allegations of abuse or neglect and that there should be a “complete restructuring” of the agency. Justin’s father said he hopes changes will happen.
“Hopefully they can change the system,” Montise Bulley said.
