INDIANAPOLIS — The family of a little girl who died of starvation is now suing the Indiana Department of Child Services and the caseworkers for negligence.

Kinsleigh Welty was 5 years old when she died in April 2024. But the lawsuit outlines alleged abuse at the hands of her mother that began right after Kinsleigh was born.

When the little girl died, she weighed just 21 pounds — less than when she was two years old.

Her mother, Toni McClure, goes on trial in March for murder. McClure was first convicted of neglecting Kinsleigh less than a month after she was born in 2018. Kinsleigh then lived in foster care and with Brian Welty, her paternal grandfather. But she was eventually reunited with her mother in 2021.

"The day that DCS took her back was the hardest day I'd ever experienced i

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