An autopsy that began Monday on
the body of a 2-year-old girl who died in a Canton Township
foster home showed that she suffered a traumatic head injury,
but it could not immediately determine whether the death was
accidental or homicide, police said.
The child, Allison Newman, was
found unresponsive and not breathing about 2 a.m. Friday in a
bedroom of the foster home licensed through Lutheran Social
Services of Michigan. She died early Saturday at the University
of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.
An investigation into the death
is continuing, said Canton police Sgt. Rick Pomorski.
Police said the girl's foster
mother called 911 when she found the baby unresponsive and told
them Allison had accidentally hit her head recently. She had
been a temporary ward of the Wayne County Family Court since she
was removed from her biological mother's care in November 2004.
Police would not confirm the
foster parents' names.
According to court records,
Allison's biological mother, Ann Marie Hirsch, 26, and father,
Kenneth Newman, 28, were addicted to crack cocaine when Allison
was taken into foster care. Officials alleged the couple didn't
have a suitable home.
Newman was jailed in January
2005 and is serving sentences for resisting arrest, fleeing
police, assault with a dangerous weapon and receiving and
concealing stolen property.
Hirsch stopped visiting her
daughter because a court referee had ordered that she could not
have visits unless she submitted to random drug tests, the court
records said.
When she came into foster care,
Allison was described as a normal baby with no known medical
problems, according to the records.
Lutheran Social Services of
Michigan filed a petition to terminate the biological parents'
rights to Allison in July, but no date was set after Hirsch's
attorney could not provide the court with an address for his
client.
The social service group's
communications director, Barbara Lewis, said Monday that until
proven otherwise the agency believes that the girl's death was
an accident.
"At this point we don't suspect
abuse of any kind," she said.
Contact JACK KRESNAK
at 313-223-4544 or
jkresnak@freepress.com.
