A 22-month-old baby girl drowned -- but her sister survived -- after they were left alone last week in the bathtub of a Redford Township home, authorities said Saturday.

The apparent negligence that caused the death of Caylin McCreary prompted the state's child welfare agency to file a petition in Wayne County Family Court to terminate the parental rights of the mother, Cierra McCreary, to Caylin's twin.

McCreary, 20, of Redford Township and the baby's putative father, D'Andre Mays, 23, of Detroit appeared in the juvenile division of Family Court Saturday for a preliminary hearing and received a copy of the petition filed by the Child Protective Services unit of the Wayne County Department of Human Services.

The DHS placed Caylin's twin with the maternal grandmother, who brought the baby with her to the hearing Saturday in a courtroom at the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility.

The hearing will be continued on May 18.

The parents declined to comment Saturday, but the mother's court-assigned attorney Deborah Trent said, "This was a tragic accident and it can only be compounded by the petition for permanent custody."

According to the petition, Redford Township police were called to McCreary's home on Pembroke at about 10 p.m. Wednesday. Police and paramedics found the mother trying to resuscitate Caylin.

The baby was rushed to Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, where she was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m.

An autopsy listed the cause of death as accidental drowning.

McCreary told police that one twin was in the bathtub full of water by herself and that Caylin was secured into a baby seat that was attached to the edge of the tub. She said she left the bathroom and went down the hall to her bedroom for a few minutes, then went back to check on the children again.

They were fine, McCreary said. But then she left to get a towel and was gone about "a minute." When she returned, Caylin was floating facedown in the water and her sister had climbed out of the tub, the mother told police.

Parents should never leave small children alone in the bathtub, said Dr. Marcus DeGraw, director of the child protection team at Detroit's St. John Hospital. "Even a couple of inches can be deadly," DeGraw said. "It doesn't have to be a full tub of water."

Police detectives involved could not be reached Saturday, but no criminal charges have been filed.

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