In Law and Order: SVU Season 17 Episode 4, the SVU team takes on the Department of Child Protective Services after a severely neglected child dies of malnutrition. SVU is called in when a little boy, Bruno, wanders out of his house and to a convenience store by himself. Bruno's mother is missing and the child won't talk. It takes Benson a while to get him to say his name. CPS won't help because they don't have a full name.

After getting some info from some other people living in the neighborhood, the SVU team figures out who Bruno's mother is. They talk to a caseworker at CPS who says both kids were fine two weeks ago and discover Bruno has an eight-year-old half sister. They go to the apartment and find the little girl locked in a cage, barely responsive. Soon after, the mother is found strung out on drugs and arrested.

When the little girl, Keisha, dies the next morning, Benson wants CPS to share the blame. 1 Police Plaza has other ideas, though, and implies Benson won't get her promotion to Lieutenant if she doesn't drop the case. Barba decides to prosecute anyway and the caseworker and his supervisors are arrested.

Will the CPS workers be held accountable for Keisha's death? Will Benson get her promotion? Find out when you watch Law and Order: SVU Season 17 Episode 4 online.