Cynthia is a Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services case worker that appears throughout Major Crimes.
History[]
Cynthia first appears in the first season of Major Crimes as the case worker of Rusty Beck, the young man who became a witness in a major murder trial while living on the street.
In Cynthia's first appearance in "Before and After", she conducts a home study on Sharon Raydor's condo to determine if it would be a good home for Rusty. Despite Rusty's attempts to sabotage the visit, Cynthia finds it to be a good living environment for him and admonishes Rusty for his attempted sabotage.
In "The Shame Game", Cynthia visits Sharon to let her know that DCFS accidentally found Rusty's biological father, Daniel Dunn. Sharon decides to inform Rusty of the fact herself rather than have Cynthia do it. She is mentioned in “The Ecstasy and the Agony” to be sitting with Rusty while Sharon is on a stakeout due to his need for constant supervision.
In "Fifth Dynasty", after Rusty finds Alice Herrera's brother Gus, the two are called into a meeting with Andy Flynn and Cynthia. Andy is revealed to have located Gus' surviving missing sister Paloma in a foster home that falls under Cynthia's care. Cynthia assures Gus that his sister is in a good foster home that she has personally conducted four inspections on. However, Rusty is more dubious due to his own experiences on the other side of a home inspection. Cynthia and Andy then reveal that if Gus identifies Paloma as his sister, she will have to be taken from the home and potentially sent back to her parents and Gus is left with a decision about what to do.
In "Cashed Out", Cynthia performs an investigation into Julio Sanchez to determine if he would make a good foster parent or not. Cynthia interviews the members of the Major Crimes Division on Julio as well as Assistant Chief Russell Taylor, concerned over Julio's past issues with an aggressive temper and the events of a violent murder that had recently occurred. At the end of the investigation, Cynthia learns that Julio is up for the LAPD's Medal for Valor for his actions and is spoken to by Rusty who gives her his perspective of Julio as a former foster child coming off the streets.
In "Family Law", Cynthia returns to offer Julio the temporary placement of an eight-year old boy named Mark Jarvis who had been living in a car and whose mother has disappeared. Cynthia officially congratulates Julio on becoming a foster parent, stating that his temporary placement of Mark will lead to him gaining permanent placements in the future. However, Mark turns out to be a racist and makes derogatory comments about both Cynthia and Julio due to them being African-American and Hispanic respectively. Cynthia eventually returns to reveal that instead of being there to take Mark, she has the news that his mother was murdered at least three days prior. As Major Crimes prepares to investigate the murder, Julio asks Cynthia about what happens now with Mark, but she appears to have no answer.
In "White Lies, Part 3", Cynthia visits Julio to reveal that DCFS has located Mark's grandparents and she will be taking him to them. Julio is heartbroken, having grown to love Mark and has bonded with him. A deeply sympathetic Cynthia apologizes for her need to take the boy away from Julio and commends his dedication to what was always supposed to be a temporary placement. When Cynthia returns to take Mark away, she sadly watches their goodbye. Mark, having changed over his time with Julio, apologizes to Cynthia for his earlier derogatory comments and thoughts about her race.
Known children under her care[]
- Rusty Beck (“Before and After”)
- Paloma Wallace (“Fifth Dynasty”)
- Mark Jarvis (“Family Law”)
Trivia[]
- In "Fifth Dynasty", Provenza refers to Cynthia as Rusty's old probation officer. This alarms Gus until Rusty explains that probation officer is the title of DCFS social workers.