Carpentersville foster mom pleads guilty to child battery

A Carpentersville woman admitted in court Friday to battering a foster child.

Dorothy A. Hamilton, 48, of the 5600 block of Heartland Court, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery to a child and was sentenced to 24 months probation at a hearing in Kane County.

Assistant State's Attorney Lori Schmidt said the victim was an 11- or 12-year-old foster daughter who accused Hamilton of sexually abusing her for at least a year leading up to August 2009.

Schmidt said multiple foster children were removed from Hamilton's home, and Hamilton was stripped of her license to care for them, after the allegations came to light last summer.

"There also was a history of allegations of physical abuse," she said.

Hamilton did not make a statement in court Friday.

As a result of her plea, more serious charges, including predatory criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony, were dismissed.

Schmidt said Hamilton is not required to register as a sex offender, but she cannot have unsupervised contact with minors as a result of her conviction. She had no prior criminal history.

"Based on what the victim would have faced with the pressures of coming to court, we felt this was the best resolution," Schmidt said.