MILWAUKEE, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A new report on child welfare in Milwaukee did not count the deaths of three children who were killed in a house fire after being locked in a bedroom.
The Milwaukee (Wisc.) Journal Sentinel said Sunday the report issued by the state-run Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare left out the April deaths of Angelica Belen's three young kids because of the methods used to measure the safety of children in Milwaukee County.
Belen was sentenced to 18 years in prison Friday, the same day the agency released its assessment of the efforts to reform child welfare.
The Journal Sentinel said Belen was well-known to social workers prior to the fatal fire due to incidents of domestic violence and child neglect in the home. But the children were never removed from the home, and the new report only counts incidents that occur when children are in out-of-home care.
The state Department of Children and Families said cases such as the Belen tragedy were not included in the statistics because removing children from their family is considered a measure of last resort.
