CARTHAGE (AP) — The Moore County Department of Social Services’ board has authorized its director to hire three people to conduct an independent investigation into the drowning of a toddler whose mother is charged in his death.

The Fayetteville Observer reports the investigators will review information regarding the death of 23-month-old Rylan Ott, who drowned in April.

Rylan was removed from the custody of his mother, Samantha Nacole Bryant of Carthage, in October 2015 after authorities said she became involved in a drunken fight with her boyfriend at her home.

In December 2015, District Court Judge Scott C. Etheridge ruled that Rylan would be reunited with his mother, saying she had met the state’s minimum safe standards for keeping her son.

His guardian ad litem, Pam Reed, and temporary parents, Shane and Amanda Mills, argued against the move in court. DSS monitored Rylan and his mother until his death.

Reed, who quit the volunteer job after the judge’s ruling, contends that a DSS supervisor said in court that she advocated for reunification because DSS didn’t have time to drive back and forth to the Mills home on Fort Bragg to visit Rylan. The Millses live about 45 miles from the DSS offices.

While DSS Director John L. Benton has acknowledged that more could have been done in Rylan’s case, he says the department did nothing wrong.

For months, Reed has appeared before the DSS board to demand that it do more to determine whether the department played a role in Rylan’s death. She returned before the board Wednesday.

“This agency failed Rylan Ott, yet you now have the opportunity to make it better for the 20,000 children still living in Moore County,” Reed said. “Please do not allow the independent investigation to be complicit by a narrow scope of work. Please choose integrity over self-interest.”

Authorities said Rylan was reported missing on the afternoon of April 14. Deputies found him unresponsive about two hours later in a small pond.

His mother remains in the Moore County jail, charged with felony child abuse and involuntary manslaughter.