Diamond Hillman, four months

Diamond Hillman, a four-month-old black child, died Sunday, Nov. 22, according to the Los Angeles County coroner.

Her death is one in a series of fatalities of young children whose families had previously come to the attention of Los Angeles County social workers. The following is an excerpt from Times' reporter Kim Christensen report on Diamond's case:

Five months before Diamond Hillman was born last July, her two half siblings were removed from their mother's home.

Social workers found that she had spanked her 6-year-old daughter with a belt, scrubbed her face so hard it left welts and sent her to school in diapers.

Despite that finding, and a resulting court order that the 28-year-old mother have only monitored visits with the two older children, child welfare authorities deemed her fit to care for Diamond.

The child lived just four months. She died Nov. 22, allegedly at the hands of her stepfather, a convicted batterer with whom the mother had left the baby, according to court records and a confidential child-fatality report obtained by The Times.

Her death comes amid growing public scrutiny of suspected abuse and neglect fatalities among children whose families at some point were under the supervision of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

There were 14 such deaths in 2008 and at least that many this year, though some remain under investigation, according to department officials and records recently made public under California law.

Diamond's death is being investigated by the department, Santa Monica police and the L.A. County coroner's office.

Many of those deaths occurred after children left the department's watch -- to return to their families after a stint in foster care or to enter the criminal justice system, records show.

But Diamond's case calls the department's vigilance into greater question, because she was still under its direct supervision when she was killed.

Donald Renald Hillman Jr., 33, a resident of Santa Monica and her mother's estranged husband, has pleaded not guilty to murder and child abuse.

He is being held in lieu of $1-million bail.