State sued over death of Detroit toddler allegedly abused for years

A representative of a deceased three-year-old Detroit resident, Chayce Allen, has sued the state in federal court after employees of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services failed to stop a death allegedly caused by years of abuse.

Chayce Allen, 3, was one of 9,200 children in Michigan’s foster care system.

On June 24, 2022, Chayce’s decaying corpse was found in a broken freezer in the basement of his birth mother’s home. Officials from child protective services had visited that home several times before the child’s death, according to a lawsuit filed on March 31 by Juwan Allen, who seeks a jury trial.

Over three years of life, Chayce Allen’s alleged injuries included bruised ribs, nonaccidental blunt force trauma that caused permanent blindness, black eyes, third-degree burns, and regular vomiting from blows to the chest, the lawsuit says.

The state’s job is to protect kids, but at various times, child protective services employees either left the child with his mother or returned him to her, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Michigan’s Southern Division names 13 state health department employees, individually and in their official capacities: Randall T. Fields Davis, April L. Shakoor, Tracie Fields, Dominic Fox, Jasmine Gatling, Tresa Simmons, Candace Anderson, Alyson Dorsey, LaShawnda Mccoy, Larry Christ, Steven M. Brott, Joshelle Shelby and Kejuana Mccants. The employees are a mix of social workers and managers. State records show that only four of the 13 were still employed in the department as of 2024, according to the Mackinac Center’s government salaries database. Seven of the 13 were employed as late as 2022, according to the database, which has no records for two other individuals named in the lawsuit.

The state health department doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Michigan's Adoption Services Program is meant to place children with forever families through adoption once parental rights are terminated.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services contracts with 47 child placement agencies to provide adoption services to children and families before and after the adoption.

Michigan’s Adoption Assistance Program provides financial support to families who adopt children from foster care through the Michigan public child welfare system. Each year, that amount totals about $200 million.

Chayce’s representative alleges several complaints against the officials: they deprived Chayce of his civil rights; Chayce was subjected to a government-created danger; and the defendants engaged in gross negligence. The lawsuit also has a wrongful-death claim. It seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and other relief.

One child advocate told Michigan Capitol Confidential through an online message that children such as Chayce are in danger despite the work of government agents.

“This is not surprising at all; in fact, it is more common than not,” said Darcy Olsen, founder of the Center for the Rights of Abused Children. “In the majority of child abuse deaths across the country, authorities are well aware of the child living in imminent danger, and they either refuse to act, ignore the pleas, or simply think the parents’ ‘right’ to the child is more important than the child’s ‘right to life or to safety.’”

Children, she said, “need a voice in court to protect their lives and we are providing that voice pro bono and making good on the promise of the Constitution for them.”

In 2024, the state of Michigan had under its care 9,200 children who did not have a permanent place to call home. Individuals and families may act as foster parents until the children are adopted, returned to the birth family, or age out of the foster system. Of those children under the state's supervision, 137 lived outside of the state, according to documents obtained through a record request that show the state health department spent more than $1 million on out-of-state travel that year.

Those children lived in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Washington D.C.