A Chicago Housing Authority flier that lists tips for preventing window accidents turned up this week at the Rockwell Gardens public housing complex, where 13-month-old LaTonia Foy died Monday after falling nine floors from her grandmother`s apartment window.
But outside of the warning, entitled ”Protect Your Children,” there is not much else being done to prevent falls from city high-rises.
The public agencies that oversee children, health and building safety in Chicago do not require any child-safety bars or other window-protection devices in high-rise buildings, and officials generally deny responsibility for the death of one child and the serious injuries of another in two separate CHA incidents this week.
A 14-year-old family friend is being held in juvenile detention awaiting trial for the Foy baby`s murder. The girl, whose name is being withheld by authorities, is accused of throwing or pushing LaTonia from the window early on Monday.
On Thursday, 5-year-old Twana McCoy fell out of her seventh-story apartment window at 5041 S. Federal St. in the Robert Taylor Homes, suffering a broken left arm and a dislocated right hip. She is in fair condition at Wyler Children`s Hospital.
CHA Lt. Charles Smith said housing authority police determined that Twana was playing with a 4-year-old sister when she slipped and fell out of the window. The girls` mother, Edna Jones, 30, was not home at the time. CHA police charged the mother with child neglect, a misdemeanor.
CHA spokesman Andre Garner said the agency originally distributed the window-safety fliers throughout public housing buildings during the summer. He was unable to determine Thursday whether they were re-distributed this week.
But Millie Wortham, a social worker at Rockwell Gardens, said neither she nor her many clients reported seeing the fliers until the past few days. Wortham said she complained to the management of the housing complex four months ago that she had seen many examples of children alone in rooms with open windows during her daily rounds.
Wortham said preventive measures such as screens, safety bars and educational programs are a necessity in the public housing apartments because so many parents are substance abusers.
”We need to be there for the children,” she said.
Wilbert Allen, first deputy general counsel for the housing authority, said the CHA has applied for several million dollars in federal funds to replace windows and install child guards at all its buildings. The CHA cannot afford the safety devices without federal funding, Allen said.
Safety bars have been installed at several CHA buildings, including the Dearborn Homes, Ickes and Ida B. Wells extension.
”The initial impulse is to blame the authority,” Allen said. ”But it is primarily the responsibility of the parents to safeguard the children. Anything that occurs within the units is the responsibility of the parents.” Buildings Department spokesmen said building code regulations require a safety device on any windows where the windowsill is less than two feet from the floor, such as floor-to-ceiling windows. There are no requirements for windows where the sill is higher than two feet.
Tim Haddock, a spokesman for the Department of Health, said he did not believe the department regulated window safety.
Dr. Herman Reyes, a pediatric surgeon at Cook County Hospital, said he has twice submitted proposals to the Department of Health asking it to require window bars, as are required in New York City, but city officials have not acted on his request.
”The bars could prevent accidents,” he said.
