Aunt of Jahmeik Modlin, 4-Year-Old Who Starved to Death, Is Suing Child-Welfare Agency

The aunt of a 4-year-old boy who starved to death in his parents’ Harlem apartment is suing the city’s child-welfare agency, her lawyers said on Thursday.The suit charges that the agency was on notice that children in the family were being underfed and that it negligently failed to prevent the boy’s death.The agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, had had several contacts with the family of the boy, Jahmeik Modlin, over the years and closed the family’s most recent case in 2022.Jahmeik’s parents, Nytavia Ragsdale, 26, and Laron Modlin, 25, have been charged with second-degree manslaughter in his death on Oct.

14, and with endangering the welfare of his three older siblings.They were all found to be severely malnourished and were hospitalized.Prosecutors said last week that in 2022, when Jahmeik was about 2½ years old, he was seen by a doctor and weighed 23 pounds — below the weight of nearly all boys that age, according to government statistics.It was not clear whether A.C.S.

knew that Jahmeik’s weight was abnormally low in 2022.When he died, he weighed 19 pounds — normal for a 1-year-old boy.The suit, brought by Ms.

Ragsdale’s sister Nyisha Ragsdale, who lives in Brooklyn, will argue that A.C.S.“failed in its duty to monitor the safety of Jahmeik Modlin, despite multiple reports of domestic violence, malnutrition and unsafe conditions within the household,” according to court papers.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....