Child and Family Services' incompetence had contributed to a two-year-old boy's death.

And Dr. Clarence Terceira revealed that lessons had been learnt from D'shun Dill's killing and the department's policy for dealing with reports of abuse had been changed.

The news came after Paul Christian Darrell was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for the manslaughter of his son D'shun. Coalition for the Protection of Children chairwoman Sheelagh Cooper claimed this week that the department was aware of the danger the child was in after it had taken him from the care of a foster mother and returned him to Darrell's care.

But Dr. Terceira said: "That is not correct. I don't know how Mrs. Cooper came to that conclusion, but we have never had D'shun in care and have never been in a position to give him to his father, or anyone else for that matter.'' But Mrs. Cooper replied: "He's clearly been misinformed. There appears to be a discrepancy between what I know to be the facts and what is being told to him.'' She resumed her call for an independent inquiry into the killing of the toddler by his father as this was the only way the public could expect to get accurate information concerning D'shun's death.

"I want an independent inquiry into this child's death,'' said Mrs. Cooper.

"The very people who were negligent in this case are the same people who are being relied upon to provide accurate information.'' Mrs. Cooper claimed she spoke to D'shun's foster mother yesterday.

"She confirmed that the Department of Child and Family Services visited her regularly during that time and that they were instrumental in processing documents for her to adopt the child,'' said Mrs. Cooper.

During Darrell's trial, D'shun's mother Donna-Mae Dill said she left her son in the care of a friend, Patricia Wade, while she was off the Island.

Ms Wade could not be contacted last night for comment.

However, also during the trial, Mary Basden of the Physical Abuse shelter testified that D'shun and his mother lived there for a month and D'shun left with his father on November 15.

Mrs. Cooper continued: "I can only assume that the department is splitting hairs here because this was clearly a foster family.

"It may be that they are posturing because the foster mother is not on their roster or was not found by them for the child or was not being compensated by them so it was not foster care -- but they're just splitting hairs.'' And Mrs. Cooper claimed: "The department had an ongoing relationship with this child. The foster mother made the department fully aware of the circumstances that led her to having the child.

"The bottom line is that they were intimately involved in this case inasmuch as they regularly visited the woman and particularly tried to help in the adoption.'' Terceira denies negligence Mrs. Cooper also revealed that three months before D'shun's death, the department received a phone call stressing concern about the beating of Dill and his siblings.

"The department did not know where the child was so they phoned this foster mother to try and locate the child. Bear in mind that by this time the child had been returned to his mother,'' she said.

Mrs. Cooper continued: "When the child was allowed to return to his parents, the department gave their assurances to the foster mother that they would oversee and monitor the safety of this child on an ongoing basis as it was recognised by them to be a situation that was less than ideal.'' It emerged during an inquest into the child's death that D'shun died just five days after a social worker went to his home following a tip-off that a child had been seriously beaten.

Family Services' social worker Marionette Hollis said she received a phone call from a female with an English accent on December 8, 1994 who reported that a child had been beaten but refused to give details about her identity or the age or sex of the child.

Mrs. Hollis said that the woman gave a partial address and the first name of the alleged perpetrator. As a result she went to the residence with another social worker to investigate the complaint on the following day.

She said she was unable to locate anyone who answered to the name and conducted no further checks because the information was vague. D'shun died on December 14, 1994.

Mrs. Cooper said: "The inquest proved the department had all it needed to know to investigate this complaint.

"All they needed to know was who and where and they went to the right house and knocked on the door. The problem was not the information. The problem was that the social worker walked away.'' But Dr. Terceira said: "I would point out that the Coroner had every opportunity at the inquest to inquire into the circumstances of that call.

"I have every confidence that if there had been some concern about our actions, the Coroner would have felt duty bound to say so. As you know, no such comment was made.'' Dr. Terceira added: "In these circumstances I see no reason to inquire into this matter further. That is not to say we have not learned from this experience.

"We have put into place a small intake section, for example, which is specially trained in dealing with calls from the public.'' And the Health Ministry had agreed to a series of recommendations contained in the report of the Task Force on Child Abuse. The report is due to be debated in Parliament during the upcoming session, he continued.

Dr. Terceira said the Ministry was "actively engaged'' in the process of putting the recommendations into effect.

"I have no hesitation in saying that we are willing to take every reasonable step possible to ensure we work as effectively and in as appropriate a fashion in this field as we can.'' Mrs. Cooper said: "Dr. Terceira is a man of great integrity and I believe he cares deeply about the children of Bermuda but as a politician he must rely on the accuracy of the information he receives from his Department.

"He does not know what happened so how would he know how to prevent it from happening again?''