MILTON, Del. - A Milton woman says a plea for help to her state representative turned into confusion after her medical complaint was somehow routed to Child Support Services. The misstep has raised new concerns about the ongoing absence of Rep. Stell Parker Selby. The representative has not been present at Legislative Hall at any point during 2025.
Chrystina Bird told CoastTV she contacted Parker Selby’s office about two weeks ago regarding an unresolved complaint against a health care provider. When she called, Bird said she spoke with a man named Sal, later identified as legislative aide Salvador Alarcon, who said he was handling constituent matters in the representative’s absence.
“I asked when [Stell Parker Selby] might be returning, and he said he doesn’t have an answer for that,” Bird recalled. “He said that, ‘She’s healing - so what can I help you with?’”
Bird said Alarcon listened and offered to reach out on her behalf, which she was appreciative of. Bird says the next thing she heard on the matter was when she received a call from Child Support Services, a department that had no record of her and no connection to her issue but was directed to her.
"She was very confused," Bird says of the Child Support Services caller. "She didn't have me in her file and I said, 'That's because I'm not in your file. And then it was confusing."
Bird tells CoastTV she's never had underage children in Delaware, so there would be no reason for her to have any affiliation with Child Support Services in the First State.
House Democrats Communications Director Jenevieve Worley confirmed that Alarcon followed protocol and showed CoastTV a screenshot of his outreach to the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services’ general constituent relations contact and an individual employee. Worley said in both emails, the recipient was redacted to protect state employee privacy. Worley insisted that no message was sent directly to Child Support Services.
Screenshots provided to CoastTV by Delaware House Democrats communications employees show an aide for Rep. Stell Parker Selby reached out on behalf a constituent, but don't show who the emails went to specifically.
"That may be a question for DHSS," she said.
Worley said to CoastTV that Rep. Parker Selby's office, “is more than adequately prepared and capable of handling constituent issues."
Worley also refutes claims that Bird went weeks without answers. She says Bird first contacted Parker Selby's office on June 9, and her complaint was handled the day staffers heard of it.
Still, Bird remains unsettled by the error and believes her representative should have been more directly involved, calling Parker Selby's absence "taxation without representation in its purest form."
“I feel compassion and empathy for Miss Parker Selby,” she said, “but it’s important to suit up and show up. And if we’re not able to suit up and show up, then we must resign.”
As the General Assembly prepares to reconvene on Tuesday, Parker Selby’s potential return would mark her first appearance at Legislative Hall in 2025.
