Boy mauled to death was going to be adopted

BY ANNIE SWEENEY AND MAUREEN O’DONNELL Staff Reporters

A 4-year-old boy mauled to death Sunday by one or more Rottweilers at his Southwest Side foster home was going to be removed from the house and placed with a family that hoped to adopt him — possibly as early as this week.

Alex Angulo had lived with his foster family in the 3800 block of West 61st Street since 2007, said Public Guardian Robert Harris. The plan was to move Alex — who was not related to anyone in the home — as early as Thursday to a "pre-adoptive foster home," Harris said. "They had found one, and he was supposed to be moving." He already had five transitional visits with his new foster family.

A recent hearing found his current placement was not a good permanent solution because his foster mother was 77, court records show.

He was found dead in his yard at 3:20 p.m. Sunday after being mauled by one or more Rottweilers, Chicago Fire Department officials said.

Two Rottweilers and a poodle were removed from the home and euthanized, according to Chicago Animal Care and Control. Their remains were being tested for rabies, said agency spokesman Sandra Alfred.

Since Alex's placement in 2007, there had been no investigations or "safety issues," said DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe. A caseworker knew of dogs in the home, but it was thought they were kept outside and the boy would not have unsupervised contact with them.

People inside the foster home Monday said the dogs were always kept in the yard or the garage.

"All the dogs were outside," said a woman who added that she was Alex's foster aunt. "He [Alex] went outside," where he was attacked, she said. "We're so sad, we can't breathe."

"It is a good family," said a young woman inside the home. "My mother took care of children for 20 years" as a foster mom, she said. "I turned out pretty good. . . . Just like people can go crazy, dogs can go crazy."

An adult was in the yard operating a snow blower when Alex let himself out and was attacked, police said.

Many residents on the block keep dogs to guard against theft, but dogs at Alex's home sometimes escaped and scared people, neighbors said.

Ibette Carranza, 26, said the foster home was loving and Alex appeared well cared for. But she said she once saw her mother forced to slam the gate when the dogs got loose and hurled themselves against the Carranzas' fence. "They were dangerous," Carranza said. "You would just pass, and you would hear them — they were hitting against the fence, the wooden fence. I guess they were trying to bust out."

Alex had been in foster care since he was 7 days old after it was determined a sibling had been physically abused, court records show.