For six months, Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor had been struggling to referee Alberto and Jocelyn Barros' nightmare of a marriage.

A former federal prosecutor who presides in the county's specialized Domestic Violence Court, she knew all too well how badly such things can end.

But O'Connor was less worried about the warring adults than their infant son Bryce, whom she feared might well become collateral damage. Three times in February and March, she faxed the state's child-abuse hot line: ``The court is deeply concerned about the welfare of the minor child.''

Child welfare administrators finally accepted the case on July 3. By then, Bryce Barros was dead. He was just shy of 2.

Now, Hallandale Beach police homicide detectives are trying to figure out what child-abuse investigators never tried to, and to determine what, exactly, killed the dark-haired boy.

The Department of Children & Families, too, is looking for answers. Among them: why its hot line counselors repeatedly ignored what amounts to a court order.

``The system didn't work in this case,'' DCF Secretary George Sheldon acknowledged. ``There are no excuses for it . . . This is a reminder to everybody that what we do is so critical to the lives of people.''

Hallandale Beach police would not discuss Bryce's death, which both police and the Broward medical examiner's office say is an open investigation. The Miami Herald received detailed records of DCF's role through a public records request, which the agency initially fought.

The boy's father, Alberto Barros, 31, who in an unrelated 2004 case in Minnesota had been convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault, could not be reached for comment.

Mother Jocelyn Barros, 24, who now lives in Hollywood, says she is devastated.

``I have never abused [Bryce] in any way,'' she told The Herald. ``I would have done anything for that kid, God knows. I can't tell you how many times I had gone weeks without eating myself just to make sure there was food on his table, just to make sure he was taken care of.''

``He was my little angel.''

DCF's ongoing investigation says police have two theories as to how the baby died: ``First, the child may have had a bad virus and died from complications caused by that. Second, the symptoms match those of blunt force trauma,'' a report says.

WARNING SIGNS

O'Connor first raised a red flag in the form of a handwritten fax to DCF that followed a threat to the warring parents from the bench.

In the case before O'Connor, Jocelyn accused her husband of stalking her, and he had sought a restraining order against her as well. The two were living separately and sharing custody of Bryce.

``Because you two couldn't get along, and are doing ridiculous things with your child, DCF is going to get involved and do an investigation and they are going to figure out whether you're doing an OK job,'' she warned the couple at a Jan. 29 court hearing.

It proved to be an empty threat. DCF investigators rejected the judge's request. ``The fax was screened because there are are no allegations of abuse, neglect [or] threatened harm to the child,'' a hot line counselor wrote at the time.

On March 10, at 11:22 a.m., O'Connor re-faxed the complaint. It was again rejected -- this time because it did not specify where the baby could be found, and because it contained ``no allegations'' of harm to him.

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