2 Virginia brothers 'fell through the cracks' of state's child protection system. A senator wants answers.

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Two young brothers were abused for years despite repeated reports to Child Protective Services. Now, a state senator wants answers.

Virginia state Senator Glen Sturtevant (R-12th District) is calling for an investigation into how CPS handled repeated abuse reports involving two young brothers in Chesterfield County — reports that seemingly went unaddressed for years.

CBS 6 reported in July on videos showing child abuse inside a Chesterfield home. Our investigation revealed that school staff contacted child protective services five times between 2018 and 2024 to report potential abuse of the two boys — and five times, nothing was done. Police finally got involved in October of 2024, and the boys' father and the father's fiancée were ultimately convicted and sentenced for hurting them.

"Somebody dropped the ball on my boys and it continued for 7 years, 8 years, nobody, what happened,” the boys’ maternal grandmother, Angela Fountain, said.

RELATED: Grandmother says systemic failures let boys' abuse continue for years

Just over a week after the CBS 6 story aired, Sturtevant, who represents parts of Chesterfield County, sent a letter to Eric Reynolds, Director of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman, referencing our reporting and asking Reynolds to review how the CPS reports about the boys were received, documented, and handled. Sturtevant also asked Reynolds to advise whether the case reveals broader problems in the child-protection system that should be addressed.

"These boys were abused over several years, and the adults that were supposed to stop it didn't," Sturtevant said. “And so many years of abuse, it looks like, fell through the cracks, and these boys suffered as a result of that."

"And that's why I reached out to the children's ombudsman for the state to figure out exactly where the problem was in this whole process. You know, we have policies in place. We pay taxes to have folks do these jobs, and we expect them to do their jobs to protect these kids," Sturtevant said.

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Reynolds said in an email to Sturtevant’s staff that he would have his office initiate an investigation.

Virginia's Office of the Children's Ombudsman has the authority to investigate complaints regarding cases involving children for whom a report of abuse or neglect was made.

In their 2025 annual report, the office found that in too many cases, CPS workers did not reach back out to mandated reporters to get more information about alleged abuse or neglect. The report found this was particularly problematic when a child discloses abuse to a teacher or school counselor but then denies any abuse when speaking with CPS workers. In some cases, CPS workers documented a report as "unsubstantiated" because the child did not disclose abuse to the CPS worker — which is not necessarily true since the child did disclose it to someone.

"It's going to be important for the children's ombudsman and other stakeholders to be able to see the actual documentation from when these incidents were reported, so that we can best identify where there was the breakdown of the process and what changes need to be made going forward," Sturtevant said.

"I'm hopeful that his office is going to be able to identify where there was the breakdown in communication, in follow-up, in protecting these kids, and then if we need to come back in this coming general assembly session and introduce legislation, I'll be able to work with his office to identify where there was the breakdown," Sturtevant said.

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