INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of an infant under state foster care, which a coroner said could have been caused by the child being placed in an unsafe sleeping position.

The Indiana Department of Child Services said 7-week-old Destiny Linden died on April 28. She was the fourth child to die while in foster care in five months in Marion County.

Marion County Chief Deputy Coroner Alfarena Ballew said initial indications point to unsafe sleeping as the cause of death, but the final report will come after results of toxicology and other tests, which will not be available for several weeks.

Ballew said the infant was found unconscious on an adult bed and, after attempts to revive her, was placed on life support at Riley Hospital for Children for about two days before being pronounced dead.

Everette Coleman, 43, who identified himself as the girl's foster parent, said he called 911 when he discovered she had stopped breathing.

The Indianapolis police report says officers collected a quilt, blanket and bottle from the bed, a sheet from the baby's crib, and a bottle from the living room floor.

Susan Tielking, spokeswoman for the department, said confidentiality requirements forbid her from releasing details of how the girl ended up in foster care.

"The fact that a child dies while in state custody is not enough under state law to trigger the release of DCS records," she said.

Tielking said Coleman and his wife, Kim, are licensed foster parents in good standing with the department.

The girl is at least the fourth child under DCS supervision to die within the past five months in Marion County, including 3-year-old TaJanay Bailey, who was fatally beaten just weeks after she was returned to her mother and the woman's boyfriend. Her mother, Charity Bailey, 21, of Indianapolis, will avoid a murder charge after she pleaded guilty to four felony neglect charges.

Tielking said she could not say how the number of recent deaths compares with past trends because the agency does not track the deaths of all children who are in state care, such as those who die from natural causes or accidents.

Dawn Robertson, spokeswoman for the family rights group Honk For Kids, which works with parents dealing with the child welfare system, said the state should be able to say how many children in its care have died, regardless of the cause.

"They should be held to a higher standard," she said. "They have taken these children from their parents because they believe they will be safer with the state. The public certainly ought to know when one of these children dies, even if there was nothing done wrong."

___

Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com