Children's advocates say infant's death spotlights holes in DCFS
February 3, 2004 — The death last week of a 13-month-old Chicago girl
has exposed holes in the state's system designed to protect children,
advocates said.
Ashanti Affalo died Jan. 29 after suffering blows to the head, the
Cook County medical examiner's office said. Police have charged her
mother, Lynette Bailey, with first-degree murder.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services had an active
case file on Bailey and had already taken away two of her children,
officials said. Bailey, 26, was imprisoned for about a year after
admitting she had broken the leg of one child. But DCFS did not know
that Bailey had another child 17 months after her release from jail,
officials said.

Advocates said the case was especially troubling because DCFS
considered Bailey's file officially open, yet the agency had no
knowledge of the girl.

"They didn't have much of an open case, did they?" said Cook County
Public Guardian Patrick Murphy. "They didn't go out to the home. It
would have been impossible after October to not know this woman was
pregnant."
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DCFS spokeswoman Jill Manuel declined to comment Monday pending a
conversation with the agency contracted to handle Bailey's case.

"We're still in the process of tracking all the details down," Manuel
said. "We will continue to do the best we can on this one."

Bailey has a long history with DCFS.

In January 2000, the state found that Bailey was not adequately
supervising her 1-year-old son, DCFS spokeswoman Marjorie Newman said.
But the boy remained in her care and was injured a month later, Newman
said.

DCFS took the boy into custody and a foster family later adopted him.
A year later, Bailey pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and was
sentenced to 3 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

While in prison, Bailey gave birth to another son. The state took
custody of the child and a relative adopted the baby, Newman said.

Bailey was paroled June 29, 2001, said a Department of Corrections
spokesman. After her parole, DCFS had an active case file on Bailey.
The file was closed on Jan. 30, 2003, following the completion of the
second adoption, Newman said.

During the most recent investigation, DCFS also discovered that Bailey
has another son, now 7 years old.

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