It’s been a long 12 years for the family and friends of Gabriel Fernandez, who have been fighting for legislation aimed at implementing more accountability in the child welfare system after the 8-year-old boy’s tragic death exposed its failings.
But on Sept. 20, their efforts finally bore fruit as Assembly Bill (AB) 2304, otherwise known as Gabriel’s Law, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Emily Carranza, Gabriel’s cousin, learned about the bill’s passage through a contact in Assemblymember Tom Lackey’s office, who introduced the legislation. Suffice it to say, she was surprised to hear the news.
“It caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting to hear about it on a Sunday afternoon,” Carranza said. “I was in a little bit of disbelief, but excited at the same time.
“It feels great that we were actually able to use our voices and never took no for an answer,” she continued. “We didn’t do it just for Gabriel, but we did it for all the kids that have been silenced. And it’s a really great feeling knowing that we, with Lackey and [prosecutor] Jonathan Hatami, never gave up.”
Under the bill, social workers are legally required to take immediate, reasonable steps to secure emergency medical, surgical or remedial care for any child under their custody who appears to need urgent treatment. It also clarifies existing statutes to ensure that county child welfare workers face severe consequences under public record laws if they knowingly alter, manipulate or falsify official case records.
“I have carried this bill for years, and I cannot put into words what it means to finally see Gabriel’s Law be signed,” Lackey told news media. “We came back, we made changes, we fought again and we refused to let another rejection be the end of this effort.”
Lackey also spoke with the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, saying, “I’m feeling very thankful for the people who have been battling, including the family … all the witnesses who came forward and all the people who advocated [for this bill]. All those people mattered, and they’re all part of the momentum that it took to get this legislation to move forward, be successful and hopefully prevent further tragedy.”
Gabriel’s Law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
The 2013 murder of the young boy that the bill is named after grew widespread media attention for months after details came out about the abuse and torture he was subjected to at the hands of his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre. He was burned with cigarettes, shot with a BB gun, forced to eat spoiled food, cat litter and feces and was locked in a small kitchen cabinet and beaten to death.
The pair were convicted in 2018. Fernandez was sentenced to life in prison, and Aguirre was given the death penalty.
LA County social workers had made home visits, but they failed to take action, even after Gabriel’s school teacher informed them of the abuse. The case revealed that other child abuse cases had flooded the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), yet were not being properly reported and were allowed to fall through the cracks, while social workers complained of overwork.
With the passing of Gabriel’s Law, Carranza wants children who are in abusive homes to feel that there is hope for them, that social workers will act more promptly to give them the care and protection they need.
“Not all social workers are bad people,” Carranza emphasized. “Some do their job with their heart in it, wanting to save these children, and I get that most of the time, their hands are tied. But with Gabriel’s Law in place, they have more access, leeway and the ability to get those kids to the doctor.”
She also advised that adults learn to recognize the signs of child abuse, and if a child does come forward about their abuse, to get them the care they need and to report what they know to the proper authorities immediately.
“If a child confides in you and says, ‘Please don’t tell,’ I highly recommend you do tell and you do report it because at the end of the day, that child is depending on you to help save them.”
A Decade-Long Effort
Carranza said she started drafting the piece of legislation that would eventually become Gabriel’s Law a year after the boy’s death with her friend, Amanda Navarez. She recalled how the two of them would work on it even at the courthouse while the trial against Fernandez and Aguirre was still underway.
In this version, they sought to create a national database where, if a person under investigation for child abuse by the DCFS moved to another state, the proper agencies in the new state would be notified.
They presented their draft to Lackey in 2014, who at the time was in his first year as an assemblymember. Although Lackey liked what they had drafted, the bill ended up going through many revisions over the years, to the point that the bill signed on Sunday bears zero resemblance to the original.
Lackey pursued no fewer than five versions of the legislation over the years, including AB 1911 in 2018, AB 1450 in 2019-20, AB 31 in 2021, AB 2654 in 2022 and AB 1544 in 2023.
Additionally, this wasn’t the first time the bill had reached Newsom’s desk. It managed to do so around six years ago, but Newsom never signed it; instead, he tabled the bill, effectively killing it. For the bill’s supporters, it was a difficult pill to swallow.
“[But] we can’t let temporary setbacks define our journey, and I had a significant number of people who were equally as committed as I have been to making sure that we do everything we can to prevent this kind of tragedy from reoccurring,” Lackey said. “I hope that people use this as an example of when they feel discouraged because things don’t go their way … that they don’t wave the white flag. [For me], this was six elected terms that it took to finally get it across the finish line.”
With his tenure ending later this year due to term limits, Lackey remarked, “The journey is worth it, and when you think about all the suffering that this poor young boy endured, and the fact that he’s no longer with us, that’s high motivation, and you can’t let that discouragement swallow you. We didn’t, and so this makes me proud to be part of that effort.”