Police: Baby died at unlicensed foster home in December

January 22, 2016 6:53 am

By Rebecca Turco

The Associated Press

news@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ The state Department of Children, Youth and Families is investigating the death of a 6-month-old girl last month at an unlicensed foster home in Providence.

Her foster parents found her unresponsive with a blanket covering her head around 6:35 a.m. on December 16th at their Veazie Street home, according to a police report.

She was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. A cause of death hasn’t been determined.

DCYF officials say Burt was placed in the home on September 20th. The residence was never licensed between then and the day she died.

An Executive Office of Health and Human Services spokesman says the foster family included a relative of the infant’s and the home was in the lengthy process of obtaining a license. DCYF places children in the custody of family when possible and it is common for the organization to vet the foster parents and place the child in the home before it is licensed, according to the spokesman.