The horrific story of a young girl who was failed by the child protection apparatus of Alameda County has come to an end with the county paying out its second-largest-ever settlement to the girl's grandmother.

Sophia Mason was found dead in the bathroom of a home in Merced in March 2022, after she had not been seen or heard from by family members for several months. The eight-year-old, who had mostly been raised by her grandmother in Hayward, had been taken to live with her mother and boyfriend, and despite signs of abuse and neglect and numerous calls of concern to Child Protective Services, she was allowed to stay there, until she ultimately lost her life.

Police would later determine that the girl was made to live in a shed behind the house, and was subjected to extended physical and sexual abuse over the course of 15 months living with her mother and the mother's boyfriend.

Sophia's mother, Samantha Johnson, who abused drugs and who family members said had the intellectual capacity of a child, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and child abuse, and was sentenced in March to 15 years and 8 months in prison. Her boyfriend, Dhante Jackson, who was initially thought to be the main perpetrator of the abuse and who was on the run for six months after Sophia's body was found, ultimately pleaded no contest to being an accessory to murder, and was released for time served last year.

But looming over this case from the beginning were the failures of Alameda County social workers, who received at least seven abuse reports relating to Sophia Mason beginning in January 2021. Their last contact with the girl was in September 2021, when, as Bay Area News Group reports, she was brought into Kaiser Permanente hospital in San Leandro with suspicious bruises and cigarette burns on her arms. Social workers at that point, in violation of state law, failed to notify law enforcement and declined to intervene regarding the girl's custody.

In 2023, Sophia's grandmother, Silvia Johnson, filed a civil wrongful death suit against the county, accusing social workers of "horrifying inaction."

In a Tuesday statement, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors acknowleged that "the systems in place designed to keep [Sophia] safe were unsuccessul." The board announced a $12 million settlement to end the civil litigation, and the release of a comprehensive, independent report on the "lessons learned from the case, along with a set of recommendations they've agreed to implement in the Child Protective Services agency.

As KTVU reports, the settlement was agreed to back in October 2025, but it had not been publicly announced while the court determined who the heir was to Sophia Mason's estate.

The county says that some recommended changes have already been put into effect, including the expanded use of search warrants in abuse cases, and new protocols for identifying physical abuse injuries.

"As leaders of Alameday County, we recognize the gravity of this moment," the supervisors say in a statement. "We understand that Sophia Mason deserved support from the public resources allocated and designed to protect her... May we all honor the memory and spirit of Sophia Mason through our actions."

As KTVU notes, this is the second significant wrongful death settlement the county has paid out this year. The first, which was the county's largest ever, was agreed to in May, giving $36 million to the son and family of 57-year-old Benison Tran and 42-year-old Maria Tran, who were murdered by an Alameda County sheriff's deputy in their home in September 2022.

Previously: Grandmother of Tortured and Murdered Hayward Girl Sues Alameda County for 'Horrifying Inaction'