CHARLOTTE, Tenn. -- A juvenile court judge said the state Department of Children's Services could be to blame in the slayings of a foster mother and her mother-in-law because of the way it places troubled children in its care.

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Foster children James Earl Garrett, 17, and Jeffery Byrd Johnson Jr., 15, are charged with first-degree murder in the New Year's Day deaths.

Judge Andrew Jackson pointed the finger at DCS after a hearing Friday where he ordered the boys held in custody until he can decide whether they will be tried as adults.

"If the facts of the case are true, as they appear to be, the blame rests squarely at the front door of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services," the judge told reporters.

"This is exactly the kind of situation we have warned about," he said referring to the state's placement of foster children.

"It appears that DCS has been misappropriately placing juveniles for years."

Foster mother Mary Clark, 39, and Gail Clark, 66, of Orange, Mass., were shot to death early New Year's Day. William Clark, husband and son of the victims, also has blamed the state for a policy that gives DCS 15 days to respond to requests to relocate children from foster families.

One of the boys had asked to be moved from the home in White Bluff, and the slayings occurred while the family was waiting for a meeting to take place, William Clark said Thursday.

The process is expedited if there is a safety issue, DCS spokesman Rob Johnson said, but in general DCS is cautious about relocating foster children because of the disruption it can cause the child.

So far, DCS's internal review of the case has found no sign that anyone was in danger, Johnson reiterated Friday.

Clark said the younger teen was a student at Dickson's alternative high school, and didn't start to misbehave until Garrett arrived a few weeks ago. Clark said Garrett had asked the state to remove him from the house.

He said Johnson did have an assault charge for hitting a boy at school, a small charge that wouldn't cause DCS to move a child.

"As tragic and saddening as this case is, we still believe this is an appropriate placement," Johnson said in response to the judge's comments. "Based on everything we've reviewed so far, there's nothing we've seen that shows these boys should have been placed somewhere else."

The boys arrived at the court in Charlotte, about 30 miles west of Nashville, shackled at the waist.

The judge ordered both to stay in custody until a Feb. 18 hearing, but allowed Garrett permission to contact his biological parents, who live in Clarksville.

"He's disappointed right now. The young man, he's still a kid. He's just trying to hang in there," said Garrett's attorney, Jerred Creasy, who expects the case to be transferred to adult court.

"If this were an adult case, he'd be pleading not guilty today," he said. There is no plea process in Tennessee's juvenile courts.

The younger teen's father, Jeffery Johnson Sr., attended the hearing with his sister and her daughter. A tearful Johnson, holding up a picture from when his son was 3 years old, said his son did not pull the trigger in the slayings.

He also blamed DCS for the boys' placement in the Clarks' home.

"The system let both them boys down," Johnson said, pausing for a moment to wipe his eyes. "They fouled up big time." His son's attorney declined to comment.

Johnson said he had been trying to regain custody of his son for the last 18 months. He said his son was placed in foster care after he was taken away from his mother, who was living in Florida.

Johnson has not been allowed to visit or talk to his son since he was charged, until Friday's hearing.

"I'd rather be the one dead than see my boy chained up like that," Johnson said.

William Clark has said the younger boy got along well with the family for the four or five months he stayed with them, but Garrett had only lived with them for about month.

Neither boy has a history of violence, DCS officials said.

DCS has been repeatedly criticized by police and court authorities for putting violent juveniles in nonsecure facilities where they continue to commit crimes in the community.

Top officials of the agency were threatened with contempt of court charges by a Nashville juvenile court judge in 2006 after a teenage armed robbery suspect escaped custody from a nonsecure facility.

The judge's comments come seven months after he was censured for drinking too much at a judicial conference and using a racial slur to describe a black attendee. According to the order, Jackson underwent an alcohol abuse assessment that found the event to be isolated and recommended no treatment.

Davidson County Juvenile Court Judge Betty Adams Green, the same judge who threatened DCS officials with contempt charges, said she has seen signs of improvement with child placement.

"We have had some very heated discussions with the DCS," Green said. "At least, from my perspective, there have been some improvements, especially better classifications of children."

Green said while she agrees with Jackson that there needs to be more reform, she thought it was inappropriate and unethical for a judge to comment on a pending case.

"That's rather unusual," she said. "Certainly it has happened. But we are not supposed to comment while a case is in hand."

There will be a candlelight vigil Saturday night for Gail and Mary Clark that will be held in the front yard of the Clark home at 120 Lincoln Road in White Bluff between 5 and 6 p.m.