INDIANAPOLIS — INDIANAPOLIS — The family of 5-year-old Kinsleigh Welty has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Indiana Department of Child Services, claiming their failures led to the child's death in April.
Brian Welty, Kinsleigh's paternal grandfather, filed the complaint in Marion County Superior Court. The lawsuit targets DCS, 11 individual DCS employees, and three family members charged in Kinsleigh's death.
WATCH | Attorneys representing the family of Kinsleigh hold a press conference on the lawsuit
The complaint alleges DCS workers repeatedly failed to investigate reports of abuse and neglect against Kinsleigh's mother, Toni McClure, despite her prior felony conviction and multiple substantiated abuse cases.
DCS reportedly received five separate reports of abuse and neglect between November 2023 and January 2024.
WRTV previously reported that Kinsleigh's paternal grandparents, Tricia and Brian Welty, said they had repeatedly raised concerns about the child's safety with DCS.
The reports alleged Kinsleigh was malnourished, not being fed, locked in closets, and forced to stand facing walls for hours.
The lawsuit claims DCS workers closed all five investigations as "unsubstantiated" within days without ever making face-to-face contact with Kinsleigh.
Kinsleigh's death
On April 9, 2024, officers discovered Kinsleigh in a severely malnourished state at her home on Denver Drive. She weighed only 21 pounds and died that evening at Riley Hospital for Children.
The complaint alleges she was kept locked in a closet for up to 20 hours a day with little food and water for approximately five months before her death.
Three family members face criminal charges. McClure is charged with murder, criminal confinement and battery. Her boyfriend Ryan Smith and Kinsleigh's maternal grandmother Tammy Halsey are both charged with neglect resulting in death.
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The federal lawsuit alleges DCS violated Kinsleigh's constitutional rights and created a "state-created danger" by returning her to her mother's custody despite documented abuse history.
The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and demands a jury trial.
