Estate of slain toddler Sema’j Crosby reaches $6.5M settlement in wrongful-death suit targeting DCFS contractor

Almost five years after 17-month-old Sema’j Crosby was found dead under a couch in her family’s squalid suburban home, a $6.5 million settlement was announced Thursday in a wrongful-death lawsuit targeting a contractor for the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services.

Prior to her death, Sema’j’s family had frequent contact with the child welfare system.

The complaint filed in Cook County court in April 2019 alleged the DCFS contractor, Children’s Home & Aid, failed to report the “unsanitary and unsafe conditions,” conduct background checks on the residents and coordinate about the multiple allegations of abuse and neglect, among other claims.

On April 24, 2017, a Children’s Home & Aid caseworker visited the home in unincorporated Joliet Township and saw “bedbugs, roaches [and] vermin,” according to the complaint.

Then the following day, a DCFS intern caseworker stopped by just hours before Sema’j was reported missing.

She was ultimately found beneath the couch the next day, and her death was ruled a homicide by asphyxia. No one has been charged in her killing, though her mother and other relatives who were living in the home were at one point considered suspects.

Will County land use department

Jay Paul Deratany, the attorney for Sema’j’s estate, announced the settlement Thursday, saying his clients hope the contractor “learned from their mistakes, and will provide better training to their employees along with better oversight over children under their care.”

“No amount of money can possibly bring Sema’j Crosby back, but we hope that organizations such as Children’s Home & Aid, as well as other contractors with the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, will abide by their contractual obligations to provide the best possible care for children,” Deratany said in a statement. “There was no reason Sema’j had to die, and the money that will go to her brothers and sisters will never ease the pain.”

He added that his clients “also believe that DCFS should have greater control of their contractors” and are continuing to pursue a separate case against the agency.

DCFS and Children’s Home & Aid didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.