Foster Mom: Slain Girl Shouldn't Have Been Returned To Mother

INDIANAPOLIS -- A former foster mother said a 3-year-old girl who, according to police, was fatally beaten on Indianapolis' northeast side Tuesday should never have been returned to her biological mother and her boyfriend.

Police and medics were called to the Phoenix apartments early Wednesday morning after Charity Bailey called 911 to report that her daughter, Tajanay Bailey (pictured), was not breathing.

Police said they think the child had been beaten repeatedly and died on Monday morning.

"She had suffered some trauma. She was unresponsive at the time," said Indianapolis Metro police Sgt. Matt Mount. "They took her to Methodist Hospital and … she was pronounced dead."

Police are investigating allegations that Charity Bailey's boyfriend, Lawrence Green, 20, had whipped the child with a leather belt. Bailey also has a 6-month-old son and is pregnant, police said.

"I think it's disgusting. It's horrifying," said Bridget Johnson, a former foster mother, in a phone interview. "The children were in a home where they were loved. The foster parents would have adopted them. They would have had a very good life, gotten a good education, been taken care of, been loved."

Johnson said Bailey recently failed a drug test and that Tajanay was to be removed from the home following a court appearance scheduled for the couple on Tuesday. According to Johnson, the system failed to protect Tajanay.

"The children were going to be pulled from them, and they probably knew that because she had a dirty drug drop," Johnson said.

Bailey and Green were held Tuesday in the Marion County Jail, both facing murder and neglect charges.

Police told 6News that Child Protective Services cannot discuss the case right now.

Bailey's 6-month son was placed into the custody of child welfare officials.