Probe Continues in Birth to Disabled Woman

Initial results of an autopsy on an infant born to a woman living in a Santa Ana home for the developmentally disabled were inconclusive Friday, and authorities said they will await blood tests to determine whether the baby boy was stillborn.

Santa Ana police and other authorities said they will continue to investigate the matter as a rape, because the 30-year-old mother, whose name was not released, has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old and under state law is unable to give consent to sexual relations.

In addition, the state Department of Social Services and the Regional Center of Orange County, which places clients in homes for the developmentally disabled, have launched investigations of the temporarily closed Camden Westview Care Home, and Westview Services Inc., an Anaheim-based company that operates Camden and facilities throughout Southern California and in Glendale, Ariz.

“Because of the severity of this case, we will be reviewing all of our interactions with Westview--not just at this facility but at all their [Orange County] facilities,” center spokeswoman Karen Taylor said Friday.

On Friday, officials at the home on West Camden Place declined repeated requests for comment. It is managed by a licensed husband-and-wife team who live on the premises, according to Blanca Barna, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services.

Caregivers at the home told police they discovered the baby when they tried to change the woman’s diaper. However, instead of notifying authorities, they drove the woman to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center with the baby’s body in a plastic bag, police said.

A state licensing investigator visited the Camden home Friday and spoke with administrators to determine who has access to the three residents, Barna said. The woman had been living there since March 1989. The other clients at the home have been placed elsewhere temporarily.

“From our licensing point of view, they have a good reputation,” Barna said. “We’ve had a good, long-standing relationship with them.”

Westview took over the license for the Camden home last May, after the state began investigating problems reported while it was run by the previous operator, Barna said.

Barna and Taylor said their agencies had not received any complaints against the facility since Westview took over.