In an unfortunate twist of timing, Tulare County is now facing a federal lawsuit over the drowning deaths of two Ivanhoe minors, while on the heels of recognizing August as Child Support Awareness Month. The County celebrated with public events and community drives aimed at highlighting its support for at-risk children and families across the County. Yet for Maria Saltos, the mother of 13-year-old Hannah Gonzalez-Saltos and 14-year-old Mia Gonzalez-Saltos, life will never be the same again.
Saltos has recently filed suit against Tulare County’s Child Welfare Services division, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, a nonprofit foster family agency contracted by the County named Aspiranet, and individual employees of the County, including Social Worker Cecilia Rodriguez and Sheriff’s Deputy Luke Hamilton, who were acting in their official capacity. She alleges negligence, civil rights violations, and dangerous placement decisions that led directly to her daughters’ deaths.
The lawsuit, filed July 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks damages for wrongful death, emotional distress, medical and funeral costs, and constitutional violations.
Saltos’ attorney, Wyatt Vespermann of Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, called the case “as preventable as it was tragic.”
Vespermann said filing in federal court instead of the Tulare County Superior Court was deliberate, “Because we’re pursuing civil rights claims, we brought this in the Northern District where Aspiranet is headquartered. This isn’t just a Tulare County issue; it’s a systemic issue of how foster care is administered across California.”
Tulare County Public Information Officer Jeniffer Fawkes said that as of September 3, the county had not been served. Vespermann said that though the case was filed on July 28, he served Tulare County around the third week of August, and that they should be receiving service today if not before.
From Ivanhoe Home to Foster Care
According to Vespermann, the origin story of this lawsuit began in April 2024, when Tulare County Child Welfare Services responded to a referral alleging that one of Saltos’ children was consistently arriving at school dirty, which suggested a lack of good hygienic practices in the home. A social worker noted that the family’s Ivanhoe home lacked running water and electricity, but allowed the children to remain with their mother under a family maintenance plan after Saltos was able to restore basic utilities within the same day.
For months, Saltos’ home was monitored by County personnel and deemed safe. In a moment of vulnerability, Saltos decided to disclose to her caseworker that she had repeatedly been a victim of domestic violence and was advised to contact law enforcement if any future incidents occurred.
On July 2, 2024, Maria followed that advice and instructed her son to call 911 after the children’s father had physically assaulted her. Deputies responded, confirmed the father had fled the scene, and observed home conditions similar to those that had already been reported and cleared by the previous social worker from Tulare County, who was familiar with the context and situation.
Nonetheless, Rodriguez and Deputy Hamilton decided that the best course of action was to remove all 13 children from the household that same night. Saltos’ complaint alleges that both Rodriguez and Hamilton acted without a warrant and in the absence of any imminent danger. “There was no emergency, no exigent circumstance that justified taking those kids that night,” Vespermann said. “The home had already been cleared by another social worker, yet the sheriff and caseworker decided to split a mother from her children anyway.”
The Fatal Placement and Drowning
One day after the July 2, 2024, incident, Maria’s three eldest children, Hannah, Mia, and their younger brother Andy, were placed in the Fresno home of Michael and Judith Yoakum, elderly foster parents in their mid-70s who were certified by Aspiranet. The Yoakum home featured a large in-ground pool. However, neither Hannah nor Mia could swim, and communication was limited due to a significant language barrier, as Saltos’ children spoke primarily Spanish while the Yoakums spoke English.
On July 3, 2024, with temperatures reaching 110 degrees, Vespermann alleges that the Saltos children were allowed access to the pool without supervision from an adult swimmer, a direct violation of California foster care regulations. According to court filings, Mia fell from a floating lounge chair into the deep end and, in a panic, grabbed for her sister Hannah, who was holding on to the side wall in the deep end of the pool. According to the court filing and a phone conversation with Mr. Vespermann, the sisters proceeded to sink together, clinging to each other, while their brother Andy watched helplessly before running to get help. Judith Yoakum attempted to rescue the girls but was unable to reach the bottom of the pool. Eventually, neighbors joined in, and finally, a family member of the Yoakums pulled the girls to the shallow end, but it was too late.
Mia was pronounced dead that evening, and Hannah survived on life support until July 8, before succumbing to her injuries and passing away at Valley Children’s Hospital with her mother at her side. “If Maria’s kids had never been taken, they’d be alive today,” Vespermann said. “And if the county and Aspiranet had followed their own rules about pool supervision, the girls wouldn’t have drowned.”
Systemic Failures and Official Responses
The lawsuit accuses the county and Aspiranet of failing to train foster parents adequately, ignoring language and cultural needs, and disregarding basic safety standards. Federal and state law requires constant supervision of foster children in homes with swimming pools by an adult capable of swimming. Vespermann called the placement “a recipe for disaster” and argued that officials acted with deliberate indifference to the children’s safety.
Fawkes responded briefly via email, stating that, “The County is unaware of any lawsuit filed against it by plaintiff Maria Saltos.”
Aspiranet also declined to comment on the pending lawsuit and the allegations against them, writing: “Aspiranet has no comment pertaining to pending legal actions.”
Saltos is seeking damages for wrongful death, survival claims, emotional distress, and constitutional civil rights violations. Her surviving son, Andy, is also named as a plaintiff and is seeking relief for the trauma of witnessing the drownings of his two older sisters. Punitive damages are also being sought against individual county employees who were acting in their official capacity, but not against Tulare County itself.
For Saltos, the fight is not only about damages but also about reuniting with her remaining children, many of whom remain in foster care.
“Maria took care of her kids their entire lives,” Vespermann said. “One day, the county took them, and everything changed in the worst possible way. She deserved support and resources, not to have her children ripped away.”