DCFS investigates allegations of neglect after infant dies in Roseland

Authorities are investigating allegations of neglect after a baby boy died Monday in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side.

The 2-month-old’s caretaker told investigators she went to pick someone up and left the boy in the care of a male at home, Chicago police said.

The woman, 36, returned home Monday morning in the 500 block of West 107th Street and found the boy on a mattress not breathing, police said. It was unclear how long the woman was gone.

Paramedics were called about 10:45 a.m. and found the woman holding the baby and screaming for help, police said.

The baby, identified as Rashawn Clark of the Park Manor neighborhood, was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m., police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He had no signs of trauma, police said.

The Department of Children and Family Services said it is investigating allegations of neglect in Clark’s death. DCFS had no prior contact with the boy’s family, a spokesperson for the department said.

Police said their investigation into the death was awaiting autopsy results. Clark’s autopsy was still pending Wednesday afternoon for “further studies,” the medical examiner’s office said.

Last week, a man was charged with first-degree murder in the beating death 2-year-old Ja’hir Gibbons in the Washington Park neighborhood.

In that case, a DCFS caseworker had visited Gibbons two days before he was killed and said the home was safe, prosecutors said. DCFS said it was investigating the case worker for falsifying records, the department said.