Newborn Baby Dies While In Foster Care; Mother Says He Was 'Thriving' At Check-Ups

An investigation has been launched in Athens County, Ohio, into the death of a baby who was in the care of the county's children services.

Lindsey Householder, 30, gave birth to her son, Logan Dollison, at home on Dec. 19, 2021. The baby was placed with a foster family when his mother was hospitalized.

Logan died on Jan. 7 at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, while still under the care of Athens County Children Services, WTRF reported. The coroner has not yet released an official cause of death.

Householder told NBC 4 that her son was "thriving" during doctor checkups and supervised visits. She also claimed that she learned about her baby's hospitalization via text the night before he died.

"I was told he was in hospital in Columbus, but I was under a (snow emergency)," she told the news outlet. "I couldn't make it."

It's unclear why the baby was taken into foster care.

Householder told NBC4 and WKBN-TV that she was unaware she was pregnant until she went into labor late last year. Logan's father, 32-year-old William Dollison, said that he had other children taken away by children services whom he is fighting to get back.

Athens County Children Services has declined to disclose details of Logan's case, People reported. The case files remain sealed.

However, Otis Crockron, director of Athens County Children Services, said that his agency would not have notified a parent via text message.

"We take a situation where there’s a child fatality seriously," he said. "We would reach out directly to the mother and we would never notify via text, but I cannot speak for the foster parent or what the mother shared. … That should never happen, to learn about it over text."

"We would spend a lot of time to make sure that the mother had what she needed. I can tell you that we've been open and available to the mother and would do anything we could to help in this situation," he continued.

The newborn's family is struggling to come to terms with his death.

"They are supposed to be protecting my kids, but they just proved that they can't," the child's father told WKBN-TV. "They let my kid die, and they don't have no explanation, no nothing for it."

The Athens County Sheriff's Office is investigating the baby's death. No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly named in the case thus far.

"This is an open investigation," Captain Bryan Cooper of the sheriff's office told reporters Wednesday. "It's a thorough investigation. All resources that we can will be put forward to determine the death of Logan."