A lawsuit filed in Marion County accuses Indiana’s child welfare agency, several of its employees, and three family members of failing to protect a young girl who later died. The suit, filed by her grandfather, claims their negligence led to her death. Kinsleigh Welty was five years old.

Standing beside his attorney, Greg Laker of Cohen Malad LLP, Brian Welty became emotional as he spoke about the granddaughter he said “finally knew love” before being taken away by the same agency he blames for her death.

“We will not let Kinsleigh’s death be in vain,” Laker said. “We’re going to hold DCS accountable for what they did and for what they failed to do.”

According to the complaint, the Department of Child Services removed Kinsleigh from her mother’s care twice, placed her in a safe home where she was “fed and nurtured,” then returned her to her mother despite repeated reports of abuse and neglect.

“When Kinsleigh came to us, she was bruised from head to toe,” Welty said. “She had handprints on her chest, arms, and legs. Patches of hair were ripped out. She was terrified and didn’t want anyone to touch her. It took months before she began to trust again.”

For a time, Welty said, she began to heal. She smiled, laughed, and loved spending time in the garden with his wife. “I think that was the first time in her life she truly felt safe,” he said.

That peace ended when DCS took her back. “I begged them not to. I told them she wasn’t safe,” Welty said. “When they put her in that car, I knew I’d never see her alive again.”

The lawsuit says six reports of abuse were made to DCS in late 2023, describing starvation, torture, and confinement. Each time, the agency either closed the case or said the claims couldn’t be proven.

“They ignored the signs and the pleas,” Laker said. “They made false claims about Kinsleigh’s safety. They closed cases they should never have closed. Because of that, a little girl suffered and died.”

On April 9, first responders found Kinsleigh in what police described as a state of extreme neglect. She was “skin and bones,” with lice in her hair and on her feet. She was taken to Riley Hospital for Children but did not survive.

“When they told me she was gone, I felt like my soul left my body,” Welty said. “No child should ever die that way. No one should ever have to bury a five-year-old because people didn’t do their jobs.”

Welty said he is speaking out not just for Kinsleigh but for every child in the system. “DCS keeps talking about reunification, about getting kids back with their parents,” he said. “That’s fine when the parents are safe. But when they’re not, that policy kills kids. It killed my granddaughter.”

He believes the problem runs much deeper within the system. “I believe it happens on a daily basis,” Welty said. “I don’t know if they’re understaffed or if it’s a lack of training, but something’s wrong. The policies these workers have to follow — that’s a big part of the problem.”

“One of the main ones I have an issue with is the reunification policy,” he continued. “They take these kids out of the worst places on earth, and then immediately the goal is to reunify them — even if that means sending them back to their abuser.”

“In some cases, I understand reunification can be the right thing to do. You can’t assume every parent is guilty. But in Kinsleigh’s case, her mother was a convicted abuser. There was plenty of evidence of that over a five-year span.”