The Department of Children and Families closed out its investigations of Caylee's death, noting Anthony failed to protect Caylee by not reporting her disappearance in 2008 for more than a month, and that failure interfered with the law enforcement investigation and efforts to find the child.
The agency also concluded that Caylee died as a result of abuse or neglect, but the report said the agency was unable to substantiate that the toddler had died from asphyxiation.
"The inactions by the mother were clearly failure to protect. As the child was found dead, obviously the failure to protect led to the death," DCF spokesman Joe Follick said.
A jury last month acquitted Anthony in Caylee's death. She was released from jail and has dropped from public sight. A judge last week ordered her to return to Florida to serve probation on unrelated check fraud charges, but her lawyers appealed and another judge is expected to rule this week whether Anthony must follow that order.
The child welfare agency's investigation was independent of the criminal investigation and the agency made no determination of who killed Caylee.
The agency investigates every child death when there are allegations of abuse or neglect. The report is also on record in case families come back in the system.
The child protective investigator who interviewed Anthony and her mother, Cindy, after Caylee's disappearance said Anthony blamed the sheriff's office for spending "more time trying to find me guilty without any evidence than trying to find Caylee," according to the report.
When asked why she didn't report Caylee missing sooner, Anthony told the child investigator she made "some bad decisions," the report states.
