The Georgia child advocate said Monday that a state caseworker did not thoroughly investigate prior injuries to a child who was returned to her home and killed last week.

Child advocate Tom Rawlings said his preliminary review of the death of 16-month-old Amiya Brown raised "serious questions" about the handling of the case by the Fulton County office of the state Division of Family and Children Services.

Amiya died Wednesday of blunt trauma to the face and head, police said. On Thursday, police charged the girl's mother, LaBoiya Brown, 19, and Brown's boyfriend, 18-year-old Brandon Hall, with child abuse and murder. Both are being held without bail at the Fulton County Jail.

On May 19, nine days before Amiya was killed, she was taken to the hospital with fractures to her leg and arm. Rawlings said the hospital summoned a DFCS caseworker, who interviewed the mother and then allowed her to take the child home.

Rawlings said the caseworker should have spoken to other family members or others familiar with the household and investigated risks to the child before allowing her to return home.

"It certainly raises red flags," Rawlings said. "The facts I'm hearing suggest the call was made on insufficient investigation."

He added, "Before you send a child home ... you need to make sure you've asked and answered all the necessary questions."

On Monday, Lt. Keith Meadows, Atlanta police homicide commander, said police believe the boyfriend, Hall, killed the child and that he abused the toddler several times during the three months the teenage couple were together. Meadows said the child had signs of abuse that included a burn on her foot and scratch marks on her neck.

Meadows said the mother, Brown, was at work when the fatal incident occurred. She was charged with child abuse and felony murder, Meadows said, because she did not remove the child from the dangerous situation though she knew Hall was abusing the child.

"She was aware of the assaults against the child and she did nothing to prevent it —- and it resulted in the child's death," Meadows said. "That makes her an accomplice."

Amiya's death has drawn broad scrutiny from the child welfare community. The Fulton County DFCS office has been criticized for years over several high-profile deaths of children. Agency officials say the office has improved, but the handling of Amiya's case has raised new concerns.

Fulton County DFCS director Dannette Smith was unavailable for comment Monday. She said Friday that she was disappointed with the handling of Amiya's case. In particular, she said no caseworker visited the family in the nine days between her initial injuries and her death.

Rawlings is appointed by the governor as an advocate for children under the watch of DFCS and as an agency watchdog. He said he has discussed the case with the Fulton DFCS director and that both his office and DFCS have opened investigations into the child's death. He said Smith was "clearly not satisfied" with the handling of the case.

He also said DFCS is reviewing all cases handled by Amiya's caseworker and her unit.

When Brown brought Amiya to the hospital with fractures to her arm and leg on May 19, the mother told the caseworker Amiya had been in the care of the child's grandmother when the injuries occurred, Rawlings said.

The mother said that neither she nor the grandmother knew the cause of the injuries, he added.

"When nobody claims to know what happened," a caseworker must be extra careful before returning a child home, Rawlings said.

Police later interviewed the grandmother, who said the toddler was not with her at that time. Meadows, the police commander, said the young couple continues to lie about the details of the case.

If the mother opens up with details, he said, that could result in leniency from the justice system.