DHS investigating tub drowning of 11-month-old foster child

The city and police are trying to find out why an 11-month-old child drowned in a bathtub in the baby's foster home in Olney on Monday.

"We're still investigating this, and we're getting information from the police as well," said Alicia Taylor, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services.

"We are interviewing the children in the home and the foster mother in the home. We are deep into the investigation stage."

DHS, citing privacy laws, would not identify the foster parent, the deceased infant or two other children - ages 11 and 12 - who lived in the house on Ashdale Street near 4th.

"The 11-month-old was left in the tub; another child became distracted and left the room," said Sgt. Francis Erickson of the Special Victims Unit. "The water continued to rise, causing the drowning."

Erickson said someone returned to the bathroom to find the infant unresponsive in the tub, tried to perform CPR, and then called 911. The infant was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center and was pronounced dead at 4:29 p.m.

Erickson confirmed that the foster mother was home at the time of the drowning, but no charges have been filed against her.

Taylor said DHS generally doesn't release information on its procedures in preventing this sort of tragedy or in the aftermath of a drowning-related death.

Taylor issued a statement from DHS that read, "All of the other children in the home are safe and have been removed from the residence."

The statement said that the agency would not speculate on what happened and that it would provide grief-counseling services for any family or child involved in the foster program. *