(The Center Square) – A 39-year-old woman charged in connection with the death of her one-year-old son made a second court appearance Monday in King County Superior Court, as critics blame the system for allowing the death to occur..
According to court documents, Divina Tangalan was arraigned on charges of reckless endangerment, domestic violence and unlawful possession of a firearm.
It was just after midnight on Aug. 23 when Seattle police officers and medics responded to an apartment on South Grand Street on reports that a child was not breathing, court documents show.
The mother told responding officers that she had fallen asleep on the couch with her infant son, and when she woke up, the baby was limp and not breathing.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tangalan reportedly said she suffers from a fentanyl addiction and that there was a stash in the house, records show.
Reports indicated the medical examiner found the child’s blood and urine were positive for fentanyl.
Passed in 2021 and effective July 2023, the Keeping Families Together Act was intended to reduce foster care placements and racial disproportionality by raising the legal standard for removing children from homes.
The presence of hard drugs in the home is not considered imminent harm and many of the children who have died or nearly died have been exposed to fentanyl and meth.
Critics say the program leads to incidents like the Tangalan case.
Tim Emerson is a program director at We Heart Seattle, a boots-on-the-ground movement that organizes drug debris and trash cleanups in public spaces and offers resources to those in need.
He witnessed the baby brought out in a tiny body bad on Aug. 23.
“And right after that, we encountered a gentleman that passed away at a bus stop on Third and Bell. And here’s the difference between him and that child. He had a choice. You know, he chose to buy the drugs. He chose to use the drugs. My heart goes out to his family, but he made that choice. With this baby, this one-year-old infant, he never had a chance,” said Emerson in a Monday interview with The Center Square.
“This Keeping Families Together Act is destroying lives every single day,” he said.
Emerson said the low-income building where the mother was living is notorious for drug activity.
“I’m constantly out on their property, getting people from smoking fent and all from underneath their building,” said Emerson. “The Keeping Families Together Act is allowing these children to go inside these facilities, and now we’ve got a one-year-old baby that got a hold of some of the drugs. That baby paid the ultimate price. He didn’t even have a chance.”
As reported by The Center Square, KFTA is blamed for an alarming increase in critical incidents involving children under state supervision.
Through the first nine months of 2025, there were 57 critical incidents – deaths and near-deaths – within the child welfare system. More than half of those were linked to opioids.
The Department of Children Youth and Families had an open case with Tangalan and her children, with a case worker visiting the home earlier this month, when Tangalan tested positive for drugs, per media reports.
Despite that, the baby and a two-and-a-half year old sibling were not removed from the home.
DCYF did not respond to request for comment from The Center Square.
Tracie Jefferson is the president of Keeping Kids Safe. The organization advocates for a child welfare system where every decision prioritizes child safety and the overall well-being of the child.
She’s also a foster man pushing back on the Keeping Families Together Act.
“Let’s pretend that this perfect world exists where we’re going to hand parents a lockbox and we’re going to teach them about Narcan. And they’re going to use their fentanyl and clean up after themselves and lock everything away and tuck child in with safe sleep practices into bed before the drugs hit them. Let’s pretend that would happen,” said Jefferson.
“We’re not taking into account what the parent had to do to get the drugs. Who else is hanging around the child? There’s a huge portion of children that are drug-endangered who are trafficked during the parent’s substance use. Not saying it’s by the parents, but these are the things that happen to children that are left in these environments.”
Jefferson said taking the focus off of protecting children above all else, and instead focusing on “harm reduction”, has failed everyone all the way around.
“We’ve got DCYF on their website saying that over 753 doses of Narcan have helped save lives. 23,000 harm reduction kits have been handed out. To me, those aren’t statistics as a state we should be proud of. Those are statistics that to me say we have a much bigger problem than we’re admitting to.
Bail remained at $200,000 after Tangalan’s Monday court appearance.