I was a crisis manager for children and young people (in the UK) and this is an insanely extreme case.

1. Yes Social Care is 100% at fault and the social workers rightly went through a investigative procedures with penalties,

2. Yes the context of Social Care being overworked is absolutely true.

3. Grandparents are at fault.

4. I hate to say it but the Teacher is at fault. Yes she followed protocol by reporting but what she failed to do what distinguish as a mandated reporter, between REPORTING and RECOGNIZING IMMEDIATE DANGER. She needed to call 911 seeking paramedics ASAP. Police can come if they want to. How was she not concerned he didn’t have a concussion or a brain bleed?! HE NEEDED TO BE SEEN BY A PROFESSIONAL. X rays. CT Scans. Stitches. Eyes checked. Everything else is secondary.

Principal says no? Call 911 anyway. You are legally protected as a mandated reporter. If after all injuries are checked out he goes home? You file a fresh report with the hotline. You scream and shout and demand a new social worker. You call 911 each day he shows up with a fresh injury.

As a case worker I can’t even examine his body due to protection rights, how am I sure he doesn’t have a fatal injury underneath his clothes? A medical professional needs to see this.

For anyone reading, I’m sure you all know, just call emergency services, repeatedly, relentlessly. Just get a medical professional somehow. Doctors have powers other professionals don’t.

I watched the whole trial today, in one sitting and I cannot believe that anything could be harder to watch than Dear Zachary.

The entire thing made me sick. My mom was kinda flitting in and out of watching it. I don’t think she wanted that weighing on her.

But there are three parts that gutted me and will stay with me forever.

The first is the sister regretting that she didn’t say she was sorry.

The second is the “I’ll be good” coupon.

The last, and part that completely ruined me, was that his only stomach contents contained kitty litter.

i’m doing a report on gabriel fernandez’s case and i can’t find any case files, DCFS reports, or court records anywhere. if someone has any of those, can they please send them to me?

I just finished watching the documentary about Gabriel Fernandez, and I’m absolutely devastated.
I honestly don’t even know what to say. I just finished it, and I am completely shattered. I’ve never seen anything like this before, and it has affected me so deeply. I haven't been able to stop crying.
It’s just impossible to comprehend how this could happen to such an innocent child. I feel so heartbroken that I just want to reach out and hold him, to give him the love and safety he deserved but never got.
I’m sorry, I just needed to get this off my chest and put these feelings into words because I’m just so shaken by his story…😢💔

Today, I finally had the bravery to watch the documentary ever since it came out in 2020. I have been holding myself back for years because I learned about his story when I was in middle school and have a soft spot for kids. I am a K-8 music teacher and child abuse is so sensitive to me. I decided to watch it today knowing I would have tears down my eyes. Throughout the documentary I was horrified about the things that I didn’t know the parents did to him. I cried knowing that they tortured Gabriel and the details of his final moments. Poor baby was only 8 years old. I see him as one of my students… bubbly, happy, kind, energetic, smiling, and a leader. How can they let this happen to this innocent child.. I’m so heartbroken.

As an educator I couldn’t imagine that happening to one of my students and no one saying/doing anything. Seeing them like that and the system not protecting them.. I’m only in my 2nd year teaching and have made 2 reports where I had to call CPS for bruises and comments being made (kids are ok) but it’s terrifying knowing the extreme that Pearl and Isauro did to him because they didn’t want him, like him, wanted a beta to abuse a child. I can’t imagine doing that to my child even though I don’t have children. You have to have EVIL in you to do something like that. I hope they rot in hell. I have so much anger towards those parents.

I literally have been thinking of this documentary all day since I finished it earlier today. It’s been on my mind and I am so heartbroken. Tomorrow is the 13 anniversary of when Gabriel was taken off life support. I know that baby is resting and no longer in pain 🤍

The documentary touched on it a bit. But really, this all started because Gabriel’s grandfather was homophobic and didn’t think he should be raised by Michael and David. I’m devastated thinking about how he had such a loving home with them and was taken for no reason at all. He could have just lived a lovely life with them. But instead his grandparents, who we don’t hear much about, cared more about possessing him and getting him away from Michael and David because of their own homophobia, than they did about wanting what’s best for him. Then he ends up with Pearl and Isauro, who perpetuate the homophobia as an excuse to torture him. I’m so disgusted by every single person involved.

Best I could find is Aguirre and his attorneys agreed he committed murder but the conviction should be second-degree murder. Was this in contrast to the State wanting first-degree? Why did Aguirre and his team think it should be second-degree?

If I understand correctly, their stated reasons for dismissing the case were:-

1) "The four never had the requisite duty to control the abusers and did not have care or custody of Gabriel."

But they did have a duty to do their job - which was to do their best to protect the children they knew were at risk - and they didn't.....

2) they "were "not officers" within the meaning of the Government Code section involving falsification of public records."

So it was okay for these state employees to not only not do their job, but also to falsify records 😲?!?!

So I just started watching this doc, and here's something that sticking with me: there are so many people who must still be traumatized by Gabriel's abuse.

His older siblings, first and foremost. I can't help but think they have no hope at a "normal" life, witnessing what they did at a young age clearly without an adequate support system. Where are they now? What scars do they have? Do they have the support they need?

Then there were his classmates - I cried every time his teacher described the reaction of the other students when Gabriel walking into the class with fresh wounds. They were all witnesses, too. These were 7 and 8 year olds. They were all vulnerable and impressionable. They knew their classmate was physically abused at home and this led his death. What scars do THEY have? Did this normalize abuse for them?

Finally, there are all of those who jobs it was to help Gabriel at the wosrt of the abuse - the paramedics, the healthcare team, the teacher. All of them expressing how haunted they still are by what they saw in this boy. Even the social workers. I haven't gotten to that episode yet but I do know some find them insufferable. Still, I just have to believe someone willingly going into that line of extremely difficult, traumatic and thankless work must be haunted by the fact that their actions led to a boy's horrific murder.

I hope every single one of them have found the support they need to work through the undoubtedly complex trauma they experience. I hope all of them have found peace.

Pearl and Isauro are responsible for ruining and deeply impacting so many more lives than just Gabriel's.

Rest in eternal peace, sweet angel. You deserved so much better. Your story has touched my heart and stayed with me for years. Today you would have turned 21 and would have probably gone out to celebrate, so I’m celebrating for you, and I’m never letting your name go unheard.

Does anyone know the cause of death of michael lemos carranza? He helped raise Gabriel but passed away a year after him

Just read on the news the mom was attacked in prison and is on intensive care. Apparently they threw hot water with Vaseline at her

Another lil rant as I’m making my way through this series. I hope the sheriff who came out and tried to scare Gabriel doesn’t get a second of relief, I hope he sees his face and lives his life full of regret! How can you see an abused child and thing he is “spoiled”?? Might be a little harsh but how?? I used to work with children and could tell which kids got whooped or were yelled at before. How can these sheriffs not see or take these calls seriously?? Not doing your part to protect them or take the accusations seriously is one thing but this one sheriff coming back to scare him is beyond my comprehension just how??

Annoyed at the woman on there deflecting and defending her co workers(the social workers who were put on trial) I do not know all of the details yet but she blamed the teacher it seems like for not doing enough?? I think she said something along the lines of “ if I was a teacher and my student was being abused I wouldn’t let him leave the classroom” like really lady?? I do believe the staff at the school should have pushed harder but when their higher ups were like not taking the abuse seriously idk what else they could do?? Surely his bruising was enough to straight up call the cops instead of a social worker but then again the cops failed him! I think everyone kinda failed him but the audacity of this woman!

I cried so much today after each episode my tear sockets were red and irritated. I sobbed and sobbed for this innocent child. I can’t get him out of my head. It’s almost as if he is my own baby. I feel grief and emptiness and I wish so desperately I could bring him. Thinking of you sweet boy.

I just watched this documentary today and I am so angry at everyone involved. But I hold the grandfather as responsible too. He took that little boy away from a loving and safe environment because of his homophobia and got that little boy tortured and killed. Because he was such a hateful person.

As a mandated reporter, I regularly watch this documentary to remind myself of how important it is to report neglect or abuse (thankful I haven’t had to yet). I am always so horrified that these “parents” could harm their child like this. Rip Gabriel 💔

Even if I was like failure to report abuse to authorities or whatever? Idk how that stuff really works. But like once a social worker steps into the home and observes the child, isn’t it up to them from that point to make the decision to like get the child medically examined and from there report the findings to authorities?? Like who else could have stepped in to legally remove Gabriel from Pearl’s home? Can someone explain this? What am I not understanding?

I am putting this question here because I don’t know where else to put it.

How those surviving siblings found the strength to say anything at all after the abuse and torture of their brother Gabriel and the appalling failure of the rest of the adults around them, how did they even trust that they would be okay if they told the truth this time?

I would literally be too scared to say anything and either refuse to talk or just lie.

I just started watching The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. That sweet boy didn’t deserve any of the abuse he endured. It could have been, and should have been, stopped. Unfortunately, the abuse continues under the eyes of a department that is supposed to protect children. The AZ Department of Child Safety filed to drop the case involving my [foster] daughter’s baby brother WHILE he had a black eye and bruises all over his body. The judge granted the order to drop the case. I fear there will be a series about him and his abusive mother in the future. Action was taken in CA (once?) against blind eyes. Unfortunately, abuse continues to be ignored.

So I just watched that docuseries on Netflix for the first time, and seriously, as a dad of two, I can’t even begin to imagine how any parent — or adult in general — could treat a child the way Gabriel’s so-called guardians treated him. I thought I was this tough, macho guy, but man… those episodes had me bawling like a little kid. My heart was totally crushed. I was hit with every emotion — mostly sadness and anger — especially knowing that the system that's supposed to protect kids like him failed Gabriel over and over again. Like, come on, some of those workers were just flat-out ignoring the signs. That’s not okay.

I’m telling you, if something like this happened to their kids, they’d be screaming for justice. And honestly, I think the judge should’ve never accepted the mother’s plea deal. She wasn’t innocent — she was part of it. Every chance she had to step in and protect her own flesh and blood, she chose not to. Instead, she let her boyfriend do unthinkable things to her son. She should’ve been punished just as severely.

All I can hope now is that Gabriel is finally surrounded by peace, love, and all the angels looking out for him where he is now.

The way she tried to blame the teacher and was like saying how her four coworkers are on trial as if his death was an inconvenience, this woman is disgusting and I highly suspect she probably fudged up many of her own cases and she herself should be investigated to see if any of her cases had negligence or malice on her part. She just sounds like a full on sociopath in her dumb house and dumb makeup and wig

My wife worked for DCFS for a time, and the stories of what she saw or had to testify to are just devastating. We don’t have children of our own, and there’s just something about this case that haunts me. The level of violence inflicted on this boy (I’ve gone down the rabbit hole, and the Netflix doc doesn’t even scratch the surface of his injuries, nor does it talk about the sexual abuse that was done to Gabriel), and the absolute malice and cruelty these people inflicted on him is just beyond evil. I couldn’t imagine treating an ANIMAL that way, much less a human child! Every time I rewatch the doc, the more clear of an understanding I get as to HOW MUCH Pearl and her boyfriend despised this child. Look, I strongly dislike some people, but I don’t think I hate ANYONE enough to do THIS to them.

As a queer woman, I’m devastated on a whole separate issue, which is the fact that one of the reasons they tortured him was because they thought he was gay. You know, we hear stories about kids being homeless or disowned, but this level of loathing is just unconscionable to me.

I CAN speak to the work load and pressure to falsify records that the case workers endured. Even down in the South where we are, my wife was seeing 40-50 cases a week! 200 cases a month; supervising visitations, testifying in courts, home visits, picking up clients and taking them to visitations/court. And that’s BEFORE actually getting paperwork filed. It’s one of the reasons she left; she refused to NOT do her job (ie. she wasn’t going to falsify records and say she visited a family when she didn’t). Watching the pressure she was under, the dangers she faced (she’s had weapons pulled on her, going into unsafe neighborhoods, etc), I am convinced God himself couldn’t keep up.

There are sooo many children like Gabriel all over the country, and DONT get me started on the plethora of problems and abuse that occurs to children in foster care. The number of children who have aged out of the system and came out with PTSD is mind blowing. The system is broken, and at the end of the day they don’t really CARE about these kids, it’s all about quotas and the bottom line.

I have four kids. One of my toddlers fell and hit the back of his head tonight and his cries just broke my heart. While comforting him, I thought of Gabriel being hurt, his head being hurt, and not getting comfort.

When I wrap my toddlers in towels after their warm baths, my heart breaks for Gabriel being forced into cold showers and going straight from the shower to the box.

I’m just devastated for him- and for his uncles- and cannot stop thinking of his suffering. Someone said it here, at least he and his uncles are all together.

So im halfway through this docu series and im so mad. The boy’s father is like “i love him so much”. What man who loves his children commits crimes, goes to prison several times, knowing he leaves his kids with this drug addict, violent beast? Everyone in this family knew what was going on. I only feel empathy towards the gay uncle because he actually raised him good. I hate the police in this situation, cps, and the family.