In a recent hearing before Judge Mark Jones in the Nowatney case, DCF case worker David Fazzone criticized the Nowatneys for being "too nice." He said that when he saw one-year-old Nathan hit his older sister, the children's mother simply admonished the little boy verbally, explaining to him that hitting her was wrong."I would have preferred to see her tell the boy that she was going to `slap him into next week' if he did that again. That is what normal parents do."
Fazzone is also the case worker who, when the Nowatney children were in a foster home, canceled a planned visit by the parents to, he said, try to "normalize" the lives of the children.