Rep. Carla Cunningham (U-Mecklenburg) spoke at a press conference on May 6, 2026 alongside a bipartisan coalition advocating for increased state oversight of county child welfare services. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
Rep. Carla Cunningham (U-Mecklenburg) is leading a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers seeking to strengthen state oversight of local child welfare agencies after a child’s death from severe abuse and neglect in her home county.
House Bill 1144, “Dominique Moody Safety Act,” is named in memory of a Charlotte 6-year-old who died in December 2025 after years of severe abuse and neglect, according to authorities. Cunningham said Moody weighed just 27 pounds at the time of her death.
Moody’s home was visited nearly 50 times by police and subject to five child welfare investigations prior to her death, WBTV first reported in January, but all were closed due to insufficient evidence. A Mecklenburg County Social Services spokesperson told WBTV that each child removal case is complex and unique as they depend on numerous case-specific factors.
“Her sister stated that Dominique stayed in a cage and sometimes rats would bite her,” Cunningham said. “She heard her cry and scream, but it was ignored. She described Dominique being tied up with black tape — her arms, her legs, and her butt. The adults in the home would whoop Dominique with a belt, a stick, or a pole.”
The N.C. House Oversight Committee has requested records pertaining to the case from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the Mecklenburg County DSS, but neither request has been met. A Mecklenburg County judge blocked the release of the CMPD files out of concern for the rights of the defendants in the abuse case, WBTV reported.
Rep. Allen Chesser (R-Nash), pictured at the May 6, 2026 press conference, is a lead sponsor on the Dominique Moody bill. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)Cunningham said she authored the bill after she met with Moody’s uncle and several other relatives in December. She said the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services told her no rapid response team was in place to work alongside county social services departments in cases such as Moody’s.
“She could be any child in the state of North Carolina,” Cunningham said.
H1144 would establish a child welfare case escalation team of representatives for each regional social services department under DHHS’s Division of Social Services.. Each regional team would be tasked with assessing when to escalate cases where minors have repeatedly been the subject of child protective services reports.
“It would give them another level of expertise for acceleration and looking at these cases in coordination with the local [departments of social services],” Cunningham said.
The bill would appropriate $550,000 in recurring funds, as well as $157,000 in federal dollars, to establish six full-time positions to staff and implement the program. It would also appropriate $100,000 to train child protective services employees and social workers in identifying signs of abuse and neglect.
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Rep. Allen Chesser, a Republican lead sponsor, represents Nash County, where two children also died of abuse and neglect in recent years despite the involvement of social services. DHHS took over the county’s Division of Social Services for seven months after the second death.
Chesser said intervention needs to happen earlier.
“Every time a tragedy occurs, we look at it and say, ‘Okay, well, DHHS goes in and takes over, and now it should never happen again,’” Chesser said. “We cannot continue to let that cycle play out and just say these are isolated incidents. The Dominique Moody Act here works to correct this lack of oversight.”
The news conference was Cunningham’s first public appearance since changing her party affiliation from Democratic to unaffiliated. She was introduced by Demi Dowdy, deputy chief of staff to Republican House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell).
Dowdy’s presence at the press conference reignited questions about whether Cunningham will choose to caucus with Republicans or join them in upcoming veto overrides — a possibility the Charlotte lawmaker alluded to last month after losing her primary in March to a challenger backed by Gov. Josh Stein.
Cunningham was joined by both Republicans and Democrats in support of her bill at Wednesday’s press conference, a positive indicator for her bill’s odds of passage.
“I think we ought to operate like that all the time, I really do, because you can get things done,” Cunningham said. “When you’re carrying on with each other all the time, that’s a distraction that keeps you from getting to the solution.”
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