A 4-month-old infant died in the state’s custody Sunday, Oregon child welfare officials have confirmed.

The Department of Human Services disclosed the baby’s death Tuesday, under a 2019 transparency law that requires state leaders to tell the public when a child on their radar dies by possible abuse or neglect.

The highly-private agency did not provide any specific information about the baby’s death, such as how or where the baby died. The agency said police are investigating the circumstances of the death.

Department of Human Services spokesman Jake Sunderland said case workers are still collecting information about the case. He said although DHS was the baby’s legal guardian, the baby was not in general foster care.

In Oregon, it’s routine for law enforcement to investigate unexpected deaths of children. The investigations do not often lead to criminal charges. Even so, if DHS officials have a reason to believe a child in their care died by abuse or neglect, they have to promptly disclose basic facts about the case online and launch a mandatory review into what happened.

A foster child’s death in an unavoidable car crash, for instance, likely wouldn’t meet the bar for disclosure.

DHS officials also have to conduct the reviews if a child dies by abuse or neglect after recent interaction with the child welfare system. The agency has disclosed 25 reviews since the new transparency law took effect in July. Only one other review involves children who were in the state’s legal custody.

The law requires the agency to conclude the reviews by issuing a detailed public report about the circumstances that led to the child’s death, the decisions state workers made during the child’s life and whether the case review uncovered any systemic issues that could be fixed.

Prior laws also required DHS to publish reports into child fatalities, but reporting by The Oregonian/OregonLive showed the agency routinely delayed reports and regularly disclosed few facts about the child’s death.

The new law gives the department 100 days to finish the report and 10 days to publish it online. In the case of the infant who died Sunday, the agency said the release of the public report may be delayed because of the criminal investigation.

Every day, DHS is responsible for the safety of thousands of children. Deaths of children in the state’s care are extremely rare, and deaths caused by abuse or neglect are rarer still. At least eight children have died in state custody since 2017. Prosecutors have never pursued criminal charges against any of the children’s state-selected caregivers.

One child’s teenage brother is facing murder charges after police say he shot and killed his 10-year-old sister, their foster mother and adult foster sister at their Roseburg home in November 2017. The state agreed in November to pay $1.7 million to settle wrongful death claims brought by the foster father on behalf of the women.

The biological families of two other children, both boys, also contend DHS could have done more to keep the boys alive.

A 14-year-old boy died after a fire broke out in his Riddle foster home in March 2017. Two years later, an attorney representing the teen’s estate filed a $5 million lawsuit, alleging the house did not meet safety standards to care for foster children. The case is set to go to trial in April.

A 1-year-old died in an overheated room inside his Springfield foster home in August 2018.

Court filings say a lawyer for the boy’s estate plans to meet later this month with state officials who handle liability claims. The talks could lead to a settlement before a lawsuit is filed.

DHS never issued a public review about either boy’s death or the steps case workers took before the boys died.

-- Molly Young

myoung@oregonian.com

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