Police investigating death of boy placed in foster care by Department of Child Services

Authorities are investigating the death of a 10-year-old Northern Indiana boy who died while in the Indiana Department of Child Services' foster care system.

Dakota Levi Stevens died after he was taken to the hospital last week. Officers with the Porter County Sheriff's Police arrived at a house in the 200 block of Falcon Way in Valparaiso after receiving a call about a medical emergency shortly after 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Police have said little about the circumstances surrounding Dakota's death, citing an ongoing investigation, but family members told IndyStar he was in the custody of a foster parent when he died. He was first taken to Porter Memorial Hospital, then was airlifted to a hospital in South Bend, where he was taken off life support on Saturday, said Ana Parrish, Dakota's aunt.

Dakota is at least the second child involved with DCS to have died in April, which Gov. Eric Holcomb had designated as Child Abuse Prevention Month . His death has left questions among family members who said they have tried unsuccessfully for several years to gain custody of the boy to remove him from the foster care system. The case also raises concerns about the ability of DCS to adequately protect children who are either in the agency's care or in abusive family situations.

IndyStar is not naming the foster parent at this time and no one has been accused of abuse or any crime. A woman who answered a telephone listed in the foster parent's name, and tied to the address where police responded, said she could not comment because the matter is under investigation. When asked if she had been caring for Dakota, the woman hung up the phone.

"Our entire staff is heartbroken by this news," DCS said in a statement to IndyStar. "DCS works with stakeholders and partners across the state to investigate the death of a child any time there is suspected abuse or neglect and will take the appropriate action."

The statement added: "DCS foster parents must complete intensive training and education to achieve licensure. Licensure is reexamined each year to ensure the foster family continues to meet DCS requirements, including additional training each year to maintain this license. DCS policy also addresses termination of licensure, which includes circumstances where a foster parent or member of the household has been substantiated for abuse or neglect."

Three weeks before Dakota's death, a 5-year-old Indianapolis girl died in what police described as a "horrifying" case of child neglect. Kinsleigh Welty was locked in a squalid closet for months before dying of malnutrition on April 9. The child's mother, the mother's boyfriend and the child's grandmother are facing criminal charges.

DCS had significant involvement with Kinsleigh's family, and Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said the abuse would have been obvious to anyone. A caseworker even visited the home the day the girl died, but was told she was with a grandparent, according to court records. The child’s other family members are calling for reforms at DCS.

In another case, 4-year-old Judah Morgan died in 2021 after being beaten over potty training and duct taped in a basement, according to court records. His parents pleaded guilty to their roles in the boy’s torture and death. His former foster mother has filed a lawsuit against DCS alleging caseworkers performed sham investigations, downplayed concerns from relatives and failed to execute court-ordered drug tests.

Another lawsuit, a class action filed in federal court last year, accuses DCS of failing to keep foster children safe.

An ongoing IndyStar investigation also found problems in how DCS responds to allegations of abuse and neglect at schools and residential treatment centers. For example, DCS continued to send children and money to Pierceton Woods Academy , a treatment center in northeast Indiana, even after finding it failed to report sexual abuse. In at least two cases, DCS declined to look into allegations against staffers who were later found by police or a subsequent DCS investigation to have abused residents.

More recently, IndyStar found DCS failed to involve law enforcement after learning of allegations that an Indianapolis elementary school teacher orchestrated a "fight club"-style disciplinary system in his second-grade classroom.

More child welfare coverage: Despite teacher's disturbing video, school officials and DCS failed to involve police

According to DCS' latest annual child fatality report , 61 children died from abuse and neglect in 2022. This includes seven children involved in active investigations or open cases with the state agency at the time they died. In 13 of the deaths ― or 21% ― DCS had substantiated prior reports of abuse or neglect involving the children or their caregivers. The annual report, released in December, noted that represented a drop from 25% in 2021.

But a deeper review of the report reveals that in 38 deaths ― 62% of the fatalities ― DCS also was aware of prior allegations of abuse or neglect involving the children or their caregivers.

Lawmaker calls for deeper look into DCS protocols

That statistic alarmed Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn, a member of the House Family, Children, and Human Affairs Committee, who called the recent child deaths in cases in which DCS had been involved ― and should've intervened ― "profoundly disturbing."

"DCS has been fully staffed since November, which seems promising, but last month's deaths of Dakota Levi Stevens and Kinsleigh Welty raise concerns for me that DCS has bigger barriers to caring for our state's most vulnerable children," Wilburn said.

Wilburn, a Democrat from Fishers, called for a "full breakdown" of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Dakota and Kinsleigh.

"In light of these tragedies, I hope DCS will take a deeper look at their internal protocols and work with the General Assembly to implement the legislative tools and authority they need to protect Hoosier kids," Wilburn said.

Richard Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said the real problem in Indiana is that too many children are getting dragged into the child welfare system for being in low-income families or similarly tangential issues, making it difficult to identify and pursue legitimate cases of abuse and neglect.

"The children who die are the worst imaginable tragedy," he said. "They also are needles in a haystack and we cannot find the needles by constantly making the haystack bigger."

For example, while drug use is often cited as a reason to remove children from families, DCS may not  differentiate meth addiction from occasional marijuana use for health issues, he said. Racial bias may also cause unnecessary interventions.

Wexler also noted that some 17% of cases where children are separated from families in Indiana are due to "inadequate housing," which is significantly higher than the national average.

"So there's poverty confused with neglect for you right there," he said.

Juvenile injustice: Low-income families pay brunt of fees and fines that vary by county

Family members tried to get custody

Dakota's parents lost custody of him and his younger sister in 2018, after DCS concluded they were unable to care for the children, family members told IndyStar.

Parrish, whose younger sister was Dakota's mother, said the siblings were temporarily placed in her care after their parents lost custody. At that time, Dakota was 5 and his sister was 3. In May 2019, after about a year, Parrish said the state took the children out of her care for reasons that she said were never explained to her.

Dakota's sister was later adopted, while he spent the last five years of his life moving through different foster homes, Parrish said. Several family members tried to get custody of Dakota, Parrish said, but all were deemed unqualified.

It's mandatory: How to report suspected child abuse or neglect in Indiana

"This is beyond heartbreaking for our family. Myself, other family members, grandparents, aunt, my adoptive parents, we have all reached out since the beginning of this case to try to get custody of Dakota and to provide him a home," Parrish said. "Every single person in my family was turned down."

"Our family hired attorneys. The family of their father hired attorneys," Parrish added. "We tried our damnedest."

George Stevens, Dakota's grandfather, said the boy struggled to adapt with various foster families and yearned to be reunited with his parents. The boy's father died in 2021.

"When they first took him, he had a really, really hard time dealing with all of it," said Stevens, who remembered his grandson as a stubborn boy who could throw a tantrum but also could flourish with the right support. "He was a normal kid. He liked frogs, he liked bugs, he liked snakes."

Dakota also liked to draw and was a big fan of music and dancing. He loved any kind of music, but his favorites were Katy Perry and Bruno Mars, Parrish said. He was wise beyond his years and was well-spoken even at a young age.

"He was brilliant at math. He loved to read," Parrish said. "He could write his name when he was 3 years old."

He also was his little sister's best friend and confidant. Parrish said Dakota was devastated when he was separated from his sister.

The boy's death caught the family off guard, Parrish added, and left them feeling guilty.

"All of our attempts were just not enough," she said, "not good enough to help him."

Contact IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026 or at kphillips@indystar.com .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Police investigating death of boy placed in foster care by Department of Child Services