ANDERSON, Ind. (WTHR) — An Anderson woman is in jail facing neglect charges as her young son fights for his life.
"There's no justification for what happened to this child, there's none whatsoever," said Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings.
He's talking about 4-year-old Jacob Velasco Reyes, a boy fighting for his life in an Indianapolis hospital.
A Department of Child Services case manager found the little boy had serious injuries during a visit to his Anderson home last week.
"Development had been stunted, bruises throughout the body, injuries to the head, lethargic to the extent, basically not conscious, had burns on both ears," Cummings said.
The boy's mother, 28-year-old Kathryn Hill, was arrested on a preliminary charge of neglect of a dependent.
It's not the first time, Hill has faced charges like this.
"She's been convicted before of neglect of a dependent," said Cummings. "It's sickening because this child had already been made a ward of the state and for some reason, DCS puts the child back with the mother who has a pretty serious drug problem."
Jacob's father, who is Hill's ex-husband, said he can't understand why DCS put the child back in her custody. He said his son was safe with him and never should have been given back to a mom with a history of violence.
"He told DCS that she was not ready to have the kids back and he knew she wasn't, but they would not listen to him," the father said through a translator. "He said that he's very angry, very upset with DCS right now. That if they would have done their job better, this wouldn't have happened.
"He said he's praying to God that his son will be OK."
The boy's father is also frustrated because he said DCS won't let him see his son in the hospital, even though his ex-wife is the one facing charges.
A DCS spokesperson said confidentiality laws prohibit them from commenting on their involvement with a family or lack thereof.
Cummings referred to four children who died last year, all under the age of 2 and all involved with DCS, saying something is wrong.
"I don't know what to say. I know they have a hard job, but I'm getting incredibly frustrated with the number of kids that are dying and being injured in this community and the people who are supposed to protect them simply not doing it," Cummings said.
Hill was in court on Friday for an initial hearing. A judge gave the prosecutor a 72-hour extension to file formal charges.