One of Oregon’s influential advocacy groups issued a scathing report Tuesday, accusing the Department of Human Services of failing to protect a teenager with autism who was discovered in his home after he had been dead for several weeks.

The report also criticized the state for the investigation into the 16-year-old’s death, blasting it as merely a “public relations exercise” to cover up its failings.

Disability Rights Oregon, the nonprofit that wrote the report, is federally mandated to protect and advocate for individuals with disabilities. Federal law gives its team the ability to access more public records than what is available to the public.

The nonprofit used those records to dig into the death of Thomas Strong. The disability rights group didn’t identify the teenager. The Oregonian/OregonLive first identified him.

DeNae Bauer, a middle and high school teacher in Lakeview, where Strong went to school, said he was a sweet kid everyone knew. Bauer had concerns for Strong’s well-being and reported those to the school.

“I think for a lot of us that had him as a student, there aren’t many days that go by that I don’t think about him or have some type of memory that crosses my mind,” she said.

The report from Disability Rights Oregon claims that between Dec 11, 2024, and the boy’s death two months later, three separate reports were filed with the state “alleging abuse or neglect.” According to the report, numerous community members and the boy’s grandfather were concerned and begged the human services agency to take action, but ”DHS did very little.”

Sara Campos, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Human Services, said in an email that the agency’s heart goes out to “the family, friends and community who a year later remain impacted by this tragic loss.”

The state is responsible for responding to allegations of child abuse. Campos also said “safety is the highest priority of the work” they do.

In November 2024, Strong was taken out of school. The teenager lived with his mother. Later, three people would call the DHS child abuse hotline to report concerns about his well-being. They reported he was losing weight and not attending school. Those close to him, including school staff and his grandfather, were concerned.

The state opened an abuse and neglect case in December, but did very little, according to the Disability Rights Oregon report.

In December 2024, the school resource officer and principal visited the boy’s home. The boy was still sleeping when they arrived at 9 a.m., according to the report. The home had “so many bags of trash everywhere” that it was hard to move. Strong hadn’t been to school for weeks at that point. And the front door of the home was barricaded with a fully-loaded rifle. The home was dark, with blackout curtains, requiring a flashlight to move around the home.

Despite these details, DHS did not further investigate, deciding there was no presence of abuse, according to the advocate’s report.

Finally, a third report prompted ODHS to start a “narrow investigation,” the report states. After that, staffers met with Strong and his mother and let them know they could be referred to places, such as counseling, that could help them.

“At no point during this five-week period did DHS establish a safety plan, make unannounced visits to verify [Strong’s] well-being, seek legal authority to intervene, or treat the mounting evidence — a mother who wouldn’t answer calls, wouldn’t engage in services, wouldn’t bring her child to school or medical appointments — as the emergency it was,” the report reads.

On Feb. 18, after another call of concern from the child’s grandfather, human services officials obtained a court order to enter the home. Strong, however, had been dead at that point for two or three weeks, according to the report.

The teenager’s mother, Amanda Edwards, and her boyfriend, Nathan Cullins, have been indicted on murder charges. They have pleaded not guilty.

Court records state they “unlawfully and knowingly withhold necessary and adequate food, physical care or medical attention.”

When a child who has come in contact with the state’s human services agency dies, the state is required to do what is called a Critical Incident Review Team to try to identify any systemic issues and prevent future deaths.

Disability Rights Oregon also questioned the state’s follow-up into the boy’s death. They believe DHS’s group panel charged with investigating the child’s death shouldn’t have included the supervisor in charge of Strong’s case.

“It would be hard to have a full-fledged and open discussion of the events surrounding a child’s death if some findings might be directly critical of someone in the room,” the report states.

State officials responded that the investigations are not “formal investigations,” but rather a “critical incident review team,” and the statute is clear about who can participate.

In general, the state responded, the advocacy group gave them very little time, nine hours, to respond to the draft.

“This is an insufficient amount of time to consider the language and recommendations in your 21-page report,” state officials responded.

This is not the first time Disability Rights Oregon has criticized the state’s child-welfare system. In 2025, they accused the state of covering up another child’s death who was in their custody at the time. That report was titled, “Cover Up: The Life and Death of An Oregon Son.”

There were 17 death investigations in 2025 that have been reported so far.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/10/flaws-in-oregons-social-safety-net-contributed-to-teens-death-report-says/