Such “special conditions” cases came under withering criticism just last year when a panel of child-welfare experts were appointed to look into the death of 10-year-old Nubia Barahona, whose beaten, decomposing body was found Feb. 14 stuffed inside a garbage bag in the pickup truck of her adoptive father. Six months before the girl’s death, a report to the hotline was coded as a special conditions case, and the agency closed the case without taking any action.

During questioning by the judge, a therapist from JMH who had been treating the boy — who remains hospitalized — said he had not appeared malnourished until only recently. The therapist said the boy had a significant mental illness, and that some of his injuries were self-inflicted. The boy, the therapist said, picked at his own skin, and sometimes ate the flesh. The therapist told Lederman that, in the past, the boy had eaten excessively — sometimes seven or eight times in a day — though he was unable to gain weight. More recently, she said, the 9-year-old stopped eating after he was placed on psychiatric drugs.

“There was no neglect,” the therapist said. “He just refused to eat.”

Lederman was incredulous: “I don’t see how he could have looked much different in one month,” said Lederman, who added “you can see the boy’s bones through his skin.”

“That does not happen in a month,” the judge said. “To let a human being deteriorate to this condition is beyond me…. His eye looks like it’s coming out of its socket.”

She added: “How can you be blind to child abuse? It’s horrible. There are hundreds of marks on this child’s body.”

Lederman was also angry that the boy, and several of his siblings, all had missed weeks of school. Four of the kids had failed the state’s standardized test, the FCAT.

Both parents are unemployed. Strong had no arrest record until Saturday; Bailey had been arrested four times in the past.

In 1990, Bailey was convicted for possessing marijuana and loitering and served one day in jail. Two years later, he was convicted of petty theft and paid a fine.

Also, in 1992, police arrested Bailey on charges of strong-arm robbery, but ultimately prosecutors dropped the case.

In 1994, a judge granted Bailey a “withhold of adjudication” — meaning no conviction appeared on his record — for petty theft. That same year, he had a separate petty theft that was dismissed by a judge.

DCF attorneys have not yet said whether they will ask that the parents be given an opportunity to regain custody.

An agency spokeswoman, Lissette Valdes-Valle, said late Monday that the agency is still investigating the family, and will send the children on Tuesday to be examined by the Department of Health’s Child Protection Team, which helps determine whether there is evidence that a child has been maltreated.

“It would be imprudent on our part to rush to judgments without having all of the facts,” said Valdes-Valle. “In this case and in every case, our priority and focus is the safety and well-being of the children.”