2-year-old girl dies in foster care

The governor of Massachusetts said the case of a 2-year-old girl who died in foster care, days after welfare workers visited and found the girl in good health, has his highest priority and the state is launching its own internal investigation.

Officials said The Department of Children and Families visited the foster home three days before the girl's death but did not disclose the reason for the visit.

Gov. Charlie Baker described the incident as tragic, particularly coming after the case of a Massachusetts man charged last month with starving and beating his 7-year-old son, who remains in a long-term care facility.

"This has my highest priority, believe me," Baker told reporters Monday.

Worcester chief prosecutor Joseph Early Jr. said the children's foster mother called police Saturday afternoon. He said the 2-year-old girl and a 22-month-old girl were discovered unresponsive at the apartment in Auburn, west of Boston.

The older girl died at the hospital. The younger girl remains critical.

An autopsy has been completed, but the incident remains under investigation by law enforcement officials and a cause of death hasn't been released.

The Department of Children and Families said six children lived in the apartment, three of whom were the mother's children who were taken into state care. The third foster child was hospitalized as a precaution.

Officials said the apartment has been licensed as a foster home since 2014 and that six other foster children had previously lived there.

No criminal charges have been filed.

Sudders said since December 2013, there has been a 30 percent increase in the cases being handled by the state, the highest ever.

Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis Jr. said the mother is "very familiar" to police.

Officials have not released any names, but David Coxon told The Boston Globe he learned his granddaughter had died after a DCF official called him Saturday night.

Coxon, 69, said his granddaughter was placed in foster care after her mother, Jessica Conway, was sentenced to a year in prison. He said Conway is completing a residential drug rehabilitation program.

Conway, 27, told the Boston Herald she was devastated by her daughter's death and was working hard to regain custody of her other daughter.

"I will never see her smile again," a tearful Conway said. "I will never be able to hold my daughter again, and it's because of this foster home."

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