INDIANAPOLIS — The head of a state team investigating child deaths has resigned because she says issues within the Department of Child Services make it impossible to do her job.

The Indianapolis Star reports forensic pediatrician and IU School of Medicine professor Antoinette Laskey submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Mitch Daniels dated Tuesday.

Laskey is especially critical in the letter of the state's new legislation to set up centralized locations for abuse hotlines and a recent report touting just 25 child deaths in Indiana in 2010. She says that number is misleading because it doesn't include preventable deaths DCS doesn't investigate.

DCS Director James Payne says he was surprised by the tone of the letter and that it may be a good time for Laskey to resign.