From the New York Post: A 3-year-old boy died in Alabama after he was left alone in a scorching car by a child protective services worker — immediately after leaving a supervised visit with his dad.
Ke’Torrius Starks Jr., who had been living in temporary foster care, was left in the Department of Human Resources worker’s car in Birmingham for five hours Tuesday as temperatures soared to 108 degrees, AL.com reported.
“This is a parent’s worst nightmare,” the child’s parents said in a statement. “Our baby should be alive.”
The tragedy unfolded after the child’s foster family had dropped him off at daycare at 9 a.m. so a DHR worker — who was contracted by a third party — could pick him up for a scheduled visit with his biological father, authorities said.
After picking up the child from the supervised visit with his father around 11:30 a.m., the protective services worker was reportedly supposed to drop the little boy off at his daycare facility.
Instead, she stopped to pick up food for her family, made a stop at a tobacco store and then drove to her own home and left the car parked in the driveway for over five hours.
When the foster parent went to pick up the child from daycare, he was not there.
The little boy was left in the car from 12:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m., and was pronounced dead on the scene at 6:03 p.m.
“With the current extreme outside temperatures and the heat index of 108 degrees, the interior temperature of the car where KJ was trapped likely exceeded 150 degrees,” the family’s attorney, Courtney French, explained.
3-year-old Bessemer foster child dead after being left in hot car at DHR worker’s house for 5 hours https://t.co/v60aCK14nx
— AL.com Birmingham (@ALcomBirmingham) July 24, 2025
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