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Born with a bad heart, Aaliyah's life was difficult. She was just a year and a half old when she underwent a heart transplant. It should have been the beginning of a new, healthy, life. But Aaliyah needed more help. Her biological mom couldn't care for her and asked DCFS to find her daughter a safe home.
DCFS gave custody of Aaliyah to Karen Castleberry who was trained to take care of medically complex children. Castleberry had already fostered another child who had a transplant and needed the same anti-rejection medicine as Aaliyah, called tacrolimus.
A year and a half after moving in with Castleberry, Aaliyah's body started rejecting the new heart. Castleberry took her to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
A report from the DCFS Office of the Inspector General says Aaliyah was hooked to machines for five days. But the damage to her heart was too much. Aaliyah died. She was just 3 years old.
The CBS 2 Investigators found records about her death in 2020 while digging into DCFS abuse and neglect data we obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. We then obtained other DCFS records and used FOIA to get Cook County Medical Examiner (ME) and Chicago Police Department (CPD) reports about Aaliyah's death.
Piecing together all the records, we found the cardiologist treating Aaliyah before her death was "alarmed" when she reviewed Aaliyah's blood work and saw a very low level of anti-rejection medication. Chicago Police and DCFS were called. A Medical Examiner report says the doctor suspected Castleberry neglected to give Aaliyah her anti-rejection medication.
The DCFS Inspector General's investigation found, "levels were nearly undetectable". And found Castleberry responsible for "failing to administer the child's medication to her." DCFS indicated her for "Death By Neglect" and "Medical Neglect."
The DCFS investigation also says, "The foster mother had not picked up the child's medication for the prior month of September despite several notifications from the pharmacy."
We tried to talk to Castleberry about the findings. She refused to answer most questions. Though when asked about not giving Aaliyah her medicine she said, "That's not true"."
The Medical Examiner's report says Castleberry denied failing to give Aaliyah her medicine.
A DCFS official says Castleberry did not appeal the findings and she surrendered her foster care license.
But our investigation raises questions about whether she should have even had her foster license at the time of Aaliyah's death in October of 2020.
New push to re-open a criminal investigation into the death of a 3-year-old Chicago girl
A CBS 2 investigation raises questions about whether the child's foster mother should have even had her foster license at the time of the girl's death.
www.cbsnews.com
