DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – The father of a 2-year-old found dead in Decatur is suing Webster-Cantrell Hall and a supervisor.

Webster-Cantrell Hall is a nonprofit that helps children, families and adults in Macon County.

The federal lawsuit from Dartavius Barnes names the facility and Amanda Beasley-Ricks, who works for WCH, and wants them to be held liable. It claims both parties were “deliberately indifferent” in their actions leading up to authorities finding Barnes unresponsive in a Decatur home on Feb. 11, 2019.

When Barnes was found, her body temperature was too cold to measure and was dirty and malnourished. She was wrapped in a urine-soaked blanket. Her mother, T’wanka Davis, and Davis’ live-in boyfriend, Anthony Meyers, are both facing murder charges in connection to Barnes’ death.

DCFS had removed Barnes from the home of Davis and placed her in foster care starting in December of 2017 after receiving a hotline call about Barnes facing abuse and neglect. She and her brother were placed in foster care, while Davis and Meyers completed mental health assessments, parenting classes and substance abuse screenings. For part of 2018, Barnes was with her father and later was removed after another DCFS hotline call alleged abuse.

The lawsuit says Webster-Cantrell Hall and Beasley-Ricks are liable in Barnes’ death because they knew about Davis’ history of mental illness and abuse of drugs and alcohol, yet returned her to Davis’ home in August of 2018. It claims they also didn’t make sure Barnes had access to food, water and healthy living conditions. WCH made weekly unannounced visits after Barnes was placed back into their home.

WCH and Beasley-Ricks are accused of ignoring safety hazards in the Davis home, including no heat and no running water. The suit says conditions in the home were “uninhabitable and unsafe”.

Dartavius Barnes says in the lawsuit he is seeking compensatory damages to be determined a trial, an award of reasonable attorneys’ costs and litigation expenses and “such other relief” that the court might “deem just or equitable”.

WAND-TV reached out to Webster-Cantrell Hall for comment via email. This story will be updated if or when its leadership responds.

The full lawsuit is available in a PDF document attached to this story. Find the DCFS timeline involving the care of Barnes at this link.