Lailanni S. Amkha

Lailanni S. Amkha is dead.

It took nearly a day since CBS 58 broke the story, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel finally got around to covering the latest possible co-sleeping death in Milwaukee -- the SIXTH since March.

A 2-month-old girl who was found dead Tuesday after sleeping with her father on a couch could be the sixth Milwaukee infant since March to die as a result of co-sleeping.

An autopsy was done Wednesday, but no cause of death for Lailanni S. Amkha was determined, the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office said.

Milwaukee police said no arrests have been made.

The case is unusual in that child welfare authorities determined last year that one of Lailanni's parents had caused brain injuries to the girl's older brother, but no criminal charges were filed.

"That's my baby; yeah, I loved her, she meant the world to me," Lailanni's father, Darius L. Wade, said in a brief telephone interview Wednesday.

People make mistakes.

Cases slip through the cracks.

But there have been way too many cases in 2009 alone in which parents and guardians have been negligent in caring for their infants.

There have been way too many cases recently in which child welfare authorities have made terrible decisions yielding disastrous results.

According to the CBS 58 story:

A frantic 911 call about an unresponsive newborn came in shortly before 4:00 this afternoon from this home near 91st and Brown Deer, on Milwaukee's far northwest side.

Paramedics arrived minutes later to determine that rigor mortis had already set in, meaning the female baby was likely deceased for several hours.

Official sources tell CBS 58 that the child's father said he had been sleeping with her, and likely rolled over, suffocating her. And that when he woke up and noticed that she wasn't breathing, he then tried to perform CPR to no avail.

From the Journal Sentinel, the medical examiner's report states:

Wade and Lailanni had been sleeping on a couch in Wade's home in the 9100 block of N. Joyce Ave. when Lailanni woke about 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Wade, 20, said he fed Lailanni part of a bottle and changed her diaper before they went back to sleep on the couch. Wade said he awoke at noon and left Lailanni on the couch, thinking she was still asleep.

Wade said he checked on Lailanni several more times, even changing her diaper again.

The report quoted Wade as saying he knew something was wrong but wouldn't let his mind "go there."

The girl's mother, Nancy Luangphaxayachack, arrived about 3:30 p.m. and found Lailanni unresponsive. Wade's 19-year-old roommate called 911.

A Milwaukee Fire Department responder found the girl cold to the touch. An assistant medical examiner found no trauma on the girl's body.

Luangphaxayachack, 20, who also lives in Milwaukee, said she would take Lailanni to Wade's home when she went to work.

Why didn't Wade call 911 as soon as he suspected something was wrong?

That doesn't make any sense. Why would a father hesitate to call 911? Did he fear what would happen to him if he did?

...The case involving Lailanni's brother occurred last year.

The Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare determined that the boy, then 5 weeks old, had suffered a brain injury as a result of being shaken by one of his parents. The boy was placed in the home of a relative of Wade's.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Children and Families, which oversees the bureau, said the bureau cannot comment on cases unless a criminal charge is filed.

Why wouldn't a criminal charge be filed if a 5-week-old baby boy suffered a brain injury as a result of being shaken by his parent?

What is that about?

If it was determined that the baby boy needed to be removed from the home of his parent, why would the child's newborn sibling be permitted to stay in that same environment?

Bottom line: Parents aren't doing their jobs. The Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare isn't doing its job. Their failures result in deaths.

Innocent babies are dying, precious lives lost.

Where's the accountability?