By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – The grandmother of an infant who died in a 2014 vehicle crash and fire in Alabaster has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Shelby County Department of Human Resources, claiming the department placed the infant in the custody of its “drug abuser” mother.

Alta Renee Allen, the paternal grandmother of infant Jayden Allen, filed the civil lawsuit in Shelby County Circuit Court on Dec. 10, naming DHR Director Kim Mashego and DHR employees Lashandra Bell-Moore and Lorie McCullough as defendants.

The lawsuit claims the DHR contributed to the Feb. 28, 2014, death of Jayden Allen, by granting the infant’s biological parents, including 24-year-old Maylene resident Sommer Nicole Wilford, custody of the child in August 2013.

According to the Alabaster Police Department officers arrived on the scene of the Feb. 28, 2014, crash near the intersection of Alabama 119 and Kent Dairy Road to find Wilford “standing outside the vehicle that was engulfed in flames.” After Alabaster firefighters extinguished the fire, they discovered the body of 19-month-old Jayden Allen inside the vehicle.

After discovering the infant’s body, officers arrested Wilford and charged her with one criminal count of reckless murder, which is still pending against her in Shelby County Circuit Court.

According to Alta Allen’s lawsuit, which was filed by the Birmingham-based Fuston, Petway and French law firm, the DHR removed Jayden Allen from the custody of his mother and father and placed in Alta Allen’s custody “due to confirmed reports of abuse and/or neglect.”

In August 2013, the DHR placed Jayden Allen back in the care of his parents. The lawsuit claims Wilford “was known by the defendants to be a severe drug abuser,” and claimed Wilford was “under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol” at the time of the vehicle crash ending the infant’s life.

The lawsuit claims the defendants “negligently and/or wantonly failed to conduct mandatory home visits to ensure the continuous safety of Jayden Brodie Allen (while) in the care and custody of his parents,” and claimed DHR “placed (the infant) in a position of imminent danger that he would not have otherwise faced” when it placed Jayden Allen in the custody of his parents.

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and a monetary award from the defendants. The lawsuit is set for a hearing in front of Judge Hewitt “Sonny” Conwill on June 30, 2016 at 7 a.m.

Mashego declined to comment on the pending litigation.