Capitol News Illinois-Beth Hundsdorfer
A caseworker assigned to monitor Illinois foster child Mackenzi Felmlee — who later died in May 2024 — had a troubling past, including an arrest for a violent crime and orders of protection filed against her by eight women for alleged threats, harassment and abuse, court documents show.
Kurtavia White, a former Lutheran Child and Family Services caseworker, was arrested a decade before Mackenzi’s death for her involvement in a Metro East strip club brawl that left the victim, a dancer at the club, with eight staples in her head, court records show. She also was accused of retaliating against the woman by posting nude photos of her on social media.
Mackenzi, 18, died May 11, 2024, after being found unconscious and struggling to breathe at the bottom of the stairs in her Fairview Heights, Illinois, foster home. A search warrant application signed by a Fairview Heights police detective in the investigation of Mackenzi’s death also alleges that White failed to properly document home visits with the teen.
“It was discovered through the records that case worker Kurtavia White was copying and pasting notes for home visits, which does not appear to have correctly documented the visits,” an affidavit read that was signed June 23, 2024, prior to the arrest of Mackenzi’s foster mother, Shemeka Williams, and Williams’ mother, Cornelia Reid.
Williams and Reid were indicted on charges of first-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, aggravated domestic battery, intimidation, unlawful restraint and domestic battery in connection with Mackenzi’s death.
White has not been charged or arrested in relation to Mackenzi’s death and could not be reached for comment. White was a caseworker for Mackenzi from June 7, 2022, to May 17, 2023, roughly a year before she died.
By late last year, following Mackenzi’s death, White had a new job: The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services hired her as a child welfare specialist with an annual salary of $75,000, state comptroller records show.
Lutheran Child and Family Services, which is a contractor of DCFS, declined to provide comment for this story. DCFS could not provide immediate comment….read more.
Agency dysfunction and mismanagement puts our most vulnerable kids in danger. DCFS needs comprehensive reforms to protect children in state care so this never happens again.