Chris Cejas Network To End Child Abuse

Prevent Child Abuse to hold events next month

2010-03-26T09:50:00.003-04:00

By Crystal Tatum, newtoncitizen.com, March 24, 2010

COVINGTON — April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and a local organization dedicated to that cause year-round is making an extra push to raise awareness.

Prevent Child Abuse Newton will place 932 pinwheels — representing each case of child abuse or neglect reported in 2009 — at several locations Wednesday, such as the downtown square, Newton Federal Bank, the Department of Family and Children Services and the Church at Covington. In addition, a giant pinwheel will be placed at each school in the county.

The pinwheels are meant to serve as a reminder that child abuse exists in the community. But the good news is the number of cases in Newton County is decreasing, said Prevent Child Abuse Director Sheena Berry. Reported cases of child abuse and neglect have been as high as 1,400; in 2008, the number had dropped to 1,179. This year, the number decreased by nearly 250, to 932.

“I definitely give credit to the community, to all the organizations that work with the families, and I’d like to put Prevent Child Abuse Newton in there,” Berry said. “We’ve worked with hundreds of families over the last five years, and I’d like to believe we’ve been a part of helping to educate and give parents other resources that have, in turn, helped to reduce some of those cases.”

To further those efforts, Prevent Child Abuse Newton is hosting a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. April 1 at Eastside High School with a focus on positive parenting.

Parents will be able to ask questions of a panel of eight experts in various fields, such as public safety members who will address gangs and other issues, counselors and prevent child abuse specialists.

“Any parent and all parents,” are invited to attend, Berry said, “whether you’re having problems, whether you’re a grandparent or educator or day care worker or anyone that comes in contact with children and you have questions about what to look for with child abuse and neglect and how to handle different discipline situations, or even how to work with difficult parents as a professional.”

The event is free. The doors will open at 6 p.m. for attendees to peruse information that will be provided by various local nonprofit organizations.

On April 17, Prevent Child Abuse Newton is holding a motorcycle ride and family festival. The motorcycle ride will begin at 10 a.m. at the old Wal-Mart on U.S. Highway 278 and will take an hour-long route through the county.

The cost is $20 per rider and $10 for passengers. Funds raised will help pay for Prevent Child Abuse Newton operation costs. To register, call Prevent Child Abuse Newton at 678-342-4004.

Afterward, a family festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Church at Covington on Ga. Highway 142 in Oxford. The festival will include music, dramatic performances, food and games, as well as information booths from Prevent Child Abuse and other local organizations.

“Every year it gets a little bigger and a little more informative, I think,” Berry said. “We’re putting information out there that child abuse and neglect are everyone’s issues. Protecting our children is everyone’s issue, not just DFCS, Juvenile Court and the police department. We all have to play a part.”

For more information on Prevent Child Abuse Newton, visit www.pcanewton.org.

Reporter's Email Address: crystal.tatum@newtoncitizen.com

Blue ribbon ceremony to raise awareness for child abuse

2010-03-26T09:45:00.003-04:00

By Special to the E-E, Examiner-Enterprise.com, March 24, 2010

Child abuse prevention advocates at 11 a.m. Saturday in Earl Sears Park at Adams and Cherokee will dedicate a tree featuring 115 blue ribbons to symbolize the number of abused children in Washington County served by Ray of Hope Advocacy Center in 2009.

Sen. John Ford and State Reps. Steve Martin and Earl Sears will be in attendance in support of child abuse prevention and advocacy.

Mayor Ron Nikkel will declare a city proclamation on April 5 recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention month for the city of Bartlesville

“Oklahoma has more than its share of child abuse and neglect cases,” said Rhonda Hudson, director of Ray of Hope Advocacy Center. “By educating our community, we hope to change those statistics.”

Child abuse crosses ethnic, socioeconomic and religious lines, according to Hudson.

“Child abuse statistics show 65 percent of children growing up in the United States and Puerto Rico have been victims of child abuse,” Hudson said. “Child abuse statistics state four children in the U.S. die every day as a result of child abuse. Three out of four were under the age of 4. Child abuse statistics also indicate a report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.”

Hudson said that according to a recent Geography Matters: Child Well-Being in the States report, from the Every Child Matters Education Fund, Oklahoma ranks 48 on the list and its children are 6.7 times more likely to die from abuse and neglect. In comparison, Oklahoma’s children are 13 times more likely to die from child abuse or neglect than children in Maine, she said.

To help raise awareness of child abuse prevention and promote family togetherness, Ray of Hope Advocacy Center will host its annual “h’ART of a Child” event from noon to 4 p.m. on April 18, from at the Richard Kane YMCA in Bartlesville. The free event consists of a variety of age-appropriate art stations including shoebox art, self portraits, decorative bowls, origami hats and a yummy ice cream and cookie decoration station, Hudson said. In addition to the art stations, there will be a silent auction with handmade jewelry, paintings, family entertainment baskets and kids’ art baskets.

Hudson said Ray of Hope Advocacy Center’s mission is to minimize the trauma to child victims during the investigation and prosecution of cases, and to improve the system’s response to child abuse and neglect by uniting the efforts of public agencies and enlisting community support. For more information, visit www.rayofhopeac.org.

To comment on this story, go to www.examiner-enterprise.com.

CAC gears up for child abuse prevention

2010-03-26T09:32:00.001-04:00

By Jaine Treadwell, Troy Messenger, March 23, 2010

The Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center opened in May 2005. On Monday, March 22, 2010, the CAC opened its 933rd alleged child abuse case.

That number alone is staggering but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Mona Watson, CAC director, said there is no way to know how many incidents of child abuse are never reported or never acknowledged.

“But the numbers are being greatly reduced because the word is out that child abusers are not getting away with it,” Watson said. “Children are learning that it’s all right to tell and they are telling. And, adults are not getting away with abusing children. They are being punished.”

The Pike Regional CAC has programs in place to make children aware of child abuse.

“We go into the schools with our ‘Good Touch Bad Touch’ program for the second, fifth and seventh grades,” Watson said. “We also have a program for ‘at risk’ students who display social or emotional problems or need some form of anger management. We have a program for young parents designed to help them be good parents. These programs help head off problems before they start.”

Watson said the key to stopping child abuse before it happens is awareness.

“By bringing awareness to child abuse, we can prevent it,” she said. “And that’s what we are working so hard to do. Right now, we are gearing up for Child Abuse Prevention Month. April is considered child abuse prevention month and, all across the United States, people are joining hands against child abuse.”

Raising awareness also means raising funds because the Pike Regional CAC receives no funding for prevention.

“The Pike Regional CAC is a non-profit organization,” Watson said. “There are some funds available for intervention but non for prevention. So fundraising is huge.”

Child Abuse Prevention Month is a prime time for awareness activities and fundraisers.

April 5 has been designated Proclamation Day. The mayors of the four county municipalities will join together in encouraging the Pike County community to participate in activities that raise awareness about the horrible problems associated with the abuse of children.

The Pike Regional CAC has several fundraisers planned for the month. The blue ribbons that are being displayed at area businesses and private homes are visible signs of the community’s support of Child Abuse Prevention Month.

“We have a few blue ribbons still available for a donation of $10,” Watson said. “We also have available our ‘It Should Not Hurt to be a Child’ yellow tee shirts with the blue PRCAC logo. The tee shirts are also $10 each.”

The ribbons and tee shirts may be purchased by calling the Pike Regional CAC at 670-0487.

“This year, we are also having a Boston butt/rib sale and the response so far has been really good,” Watson said. “The Boston butts are $20 each and a smoked rack of ribs is $15. Both must be preordered by April 1 for pickup on April 8 and 9.”

The school children of Pike County have an opportunity to participate in the fundraising efforts of the CAC.

“We place coin collection canisters in the Pike County and Troy City schools and the classes that donate the most money are treated with a pizza party,” Watson said. “We also have a poster contest for the school children and the winners receive a basket of goodies. All of this is geared toward raising awareness about child abuse and preventing it before it happens. With all of us working together, we can stop child abuse because it really shouldn’t hurt to be a child.”

For more information or to have someone speak to a club or organization about the Pike Regional CAC, contact Mona Watson at 670-0487.

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Cries for help to DCF hot line go unheeded by design

2009-11-30T12:39:00.003-05:00

Thousands of abuse reports to a DCF hot line go unheeded every month because of a new screening process intended to keep the strained system functioning.
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER, MiamiHerald.com, Nov. 28, 2009

Sept. 16, 2:02 p.m.: A Broward sheriff's deputy calls the Florida child-abuse hot line to report that a 4-year-old had been molested by a babysitter as the sitter's boyfriend videotaped the assault. A hot-line counselor declines to forward the report to an investigator.

Oct. 6, 10:15 a.m.: A school guidance counselor reports a mother who had repeatedly missed doctor's appointments for her daughter, whose sickle-cell disease is so severe she is losing her hearing and needs a new liver. The report is rejected.

Nov. 16, time unknown: A father is attempting to break into his estranged wife's home. He says he will kill his children. That call, too, is not accepted for investigation.

These decisions, and thousands more, are the result of a little-known -- but potentially dangerous -- practice by the Department of Children & Families: Beginning last year, DCF dramatically increased the number of abuse calls considered unworthy of investigation.

In an effort to reduce workload -- and the system-wide stress that high case loads generate -- intake workers at the Tallahassee-based hot line have been screening out tens of thousands of calls.

Among the screened-out allegations: reports of kidnapping, rape, aggravated child abuse, medical neglect, malnutrition, kids roaming the streets unsupervised and domestic violence that threatens to harm the children.

Among the callers being turned away: school counselors, grandparents, circuit court judges, hospital social workers, day-care workers and juvenile-justice staffers.

The hot line rejected a call from one of the agency's own child-abuse investigators: On Oct. 15, a state child protective investigator filed a report on behalf of an infant whose babysitters' own 4-month-old suffered ``significant head injuries.''

Details of the screenings have come to light as part of a review of procedures by child-welfare managers in Broward County.

DCF administrators say the policy is a necessary triage that allows investigators to concentrate their energies on children who are most at risk.

Last year, DCF Secretary George Sheldon complained at a meeting of an avalanche of frivolous complaints, including a report from a teacher that a child came to school in mismatched sneakers and a report from another teacher about a boy whose underwear was on backward.

``I think this is still a work in progress,'' Sheldon told The Miami Herald last week. ``I think we've got to continue to refine our risk assesment, both at the hot line and in the field.''

``I think we have started this ship turning. But it ain't there yet.''

BEHIND THE SCENES

In Florida, hot-line counselors come from all walks of life. Before being allowed to answer calls -- which number about 190,000 each year -- counselors are given seven weeks of training followed by a two-week supervised ``practicum,'' said Edward Cotton, a child-welfare consultant who is helping the state revise the program.

Counselors screen calls based on detailed definitions of abuse, neglect and abandonment as spelled out in Florida statutes and a host of internal policies and procedures.

In the past year, records show, DCF has been accepting fewer child-abuse calls to the hot line for investigation.

In January 2009, DCF accepted 14,930 child-abuse reports, down from 17,999 the previous year. In February 2009, DCF accepted 14,724 reports, down from 18,427 in 2008. In September 2009, DCF accepted 14,553 reports, down from 17,709 the year before. And in October 2009, the agency generated 13,188 investigations, down from 17,345 in 2008.

Children are not the only Floridians who may be left in harm's way. The hot line is also screening reports about disabled adults and elders, including an Oct. 12 complaint that a disabled woman had been raped by another resident at a home for people with disabilities.

A source with knowledge of the new policies says DCF has revised internal guidelines on what constitutes abuse, including a new protocol to reject complaints about children who have suffered bruises or welts from beatings -- unless such beatings result in a trip to the doctor or hospital, or ``permanent disfigurement.''

And a December 2008 DCF report shows the agency is considering revising the definition of ``inadequate supervision'' so narrowly that, for example, the hot line would screen out calls where ``a parent allows [a] 3-year-old to play with a loaded gun while they are in the room supervising them.

``The hot line would only accept an intake if the 3-year-old shot themselves with the loaded gun the parent allowed them to play with,'' says the report, part of a review of several potential policy changes.

DCF's top child welfare administrator, Alan Abramowitz, said the state will not implement that particular protocol. ``It's not going to happen,'' Abramowitz said. ``I don't even think the NRA would agree with that.''

Mark Riordan, a DCF spokesman, said the agency's senior management had not yet reviewed the proposed revisions and that it is unlikely some of the new definitions will be approved.

Cotton, the consultant, who worked two decades in the Illinois child-protection system and was director of New Jersey's Department of Youth and Family Services, said Florida does not appear to screen out a higher percentage of calls than other states, though differing hot-line designs make comparisons difficult.

``There is really no national standard for what is screened and what is not,'' Cotton said.

As a safety value, Sheldon and Abramowitz said, the agency has asked its ``quality assurance'' team to randomly review thousands of screened-out calls to ensure proper decision-making.

Child advocates say stepped-up screening is a dangerous shortcut that will claim children's lives. And, in fact, it may already have.

In July, 1-year-old Bryce Barros was beaten to death after a Broward County domestic violence judge, Eileen O'Connor, sent three faxes to the hot line requesting an investigation into Bryce's safety in the wake of ongoing family violence by his parents.

``The court is deeply concerned about the welfare of the minor child,'' O'Connor wrote in the three faxes she titled ``court orders.''

O'Connor's appeals were ignored.

``Hot-line calls are cries for help on behalf of a child,'' said Howard Talenfeld, the Fort Lauderdale-based chairman of Florida's Children First, an advocacy group. ``Any call that is screened out is a cry that falls on deaf ears.''

This fall, the head of the Broward Sheriff's Office's child-protection unit teamed with a DCF administrator to study about three months' worth of reports that were rejected by the hot line but then referred to a prevention program in Broward administered by BSO.

About one in four of the screened calls result in such prevention referrals in Broward. In each case, parents are sent form letters suggesting they seek help. No one follows up with the families to determine whether the services were accepted.

A finding of the joint review: About 46 percent of the cases studied by the two administrators -- BSO's James Walker and DCF's Kimberly Welles -- ultimately were phoned back to the hot line by BSO investigators who concluded the children remained at risk, said Riordan, a DCF spokesman in Broward.

Statewide, Abramowitz said, about 6 percent of prevention referrals are phoned back to the hot line.

Among the screened calls: On Oct. 21, someone alleged that a woman and her five children were living in a car because her husband kicked her out and changed the locks.

Two of the kids were disabled: an autistic 3-year-old and a 6-year-old sibling who is developmentally disabled, failing to thrive, and required 24-hour nursing care to maintain a feeding tube. Local homeless shelters refused to help the family because they wouldn't accept disabled children.

But DCF turned her away, too.

``So, a child requiring a feeding tube, along with an autistic child, was forced out of the home by the father -- thereby . . . forcing his [children] with handicaps into the streets. Isn't that harm?'' Walker wrote in his review of the Broward prevention referrals.

The push to reduce the number of full-fledged investigations began in June 2008, well into the economic downturn. ``The Child Protective System is experiencing significant stress due to the high number of reports that [the agency has] been receiving since Oct. 2006,'' Sheldon wrote in a June 10, 2008 e-mail, when he was still assistant secretary.

From fall 2007 to fall 2008, the hot line was receiving about 1,320 more calls per month, Steve Holmes, a strategic planning director, wrote nine days later.

``The more reports a child protective investigator receives,'' he wrote, ``the less time he or she has to conduct a thorough investigation.

``Less time spent on investigations may place an increased risk to the safety of children,'' Holmes added. Adding to the strain: For budget year 2008, Florida lawmakers reduced funding to the four sheriff's departments, including Broward, that conduct abuse investigations under contract with DCF by $2.9 million, or almost 6 percent.

STRAIN ON SYSTEM

Sheldon said he had been told by so-called ``professional reporters'' -- educators, coaches, ministers, pediatricians and judges -- that a 1998 law setting penalties for failing to report suspected maltreatment left them little choice but to phone the hot line even with frivolous complaints.

From 2006 through 2008, reports from school professionals, for example, jumped 132 percent while reports from social workers increased 51 percent, a DCF report says.

``I don't believe it's abuse, but my sergeant told me I should report it,'' was a common refrain from frustrated police officers, Sheldon said.

At about the same time DCF administrators ramped up their screening of hot-line calls, they also expanded a program that allows caseworkers to offer an array of services -- such as subsidized child care, rent and utilities assistance, parenting classes, and domestic-violence intervention -- to struggling families that are not under investigation.

Abramowitz called the ``prevention referrals'' a safety net for parents whose troubles do not require a full investigation but who might benefit from a helping hand.

``We created a mechanism to review screened-out calls,'' Abramowitz said. ``It's a safeguard. . . . We want to make sure we have engaged families so that we make sure we help them.''

But some child-welfare experts question whether the prevention program can take the place of a quality investigation.

Consultant Norma Harris, who directs the Social Research Institute at the University of Utah and has reviewed Miami's foster-care system, said children remain at risk if caseworkers don't ensure that parents accept the services that are offered. Simply sending letters or brochures does not protect children, she said.

And Cheleene B. Schembera, a 27-year DCF child-welfare administrator and inspector general who now works as a consultant, said she has never approved of screening out hot-line calls, because even fairly innocuous allegations, once investigated, can uncover serious threats to children.

``That isn't child protection,'' Schembera said.

cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com

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Group Says More Support For NC Families Is Needed In Light Of Homicide Numbers

2009-10-15T20:51:00.003-04:00

witn.com, Oct. 7, 2009

The N.C. Child Fatality Prevention Team has released new numbers about child homicides. The Prevent Child Abuse organization says the numbers show the need for family support.

The N.C. Child Fatality Prevention Team has released new numbers about child homicides.

Statistics show in 2008, 33 North Carolina children died at the hand of a parent or caregiver.

The Prevent Child Abuse organization says the newly released numbers "illustrate the need for North Carolina communities to continue providing broad-based support for families through increasingly stressful times."

“We know from research that when families in our communities face greater stress – including our increasingly difficult economic times, military deployments, lack of access to mental and physical health services and fewer community supports – children are at a greater risk of being abused,” said Prevent Child Abuse CEO and President Rosemarie “Rosie” Allen. “Add these stressors to the everyday work of parenting, and children are likely to suffer.”

The abuse prevention organization says high levels of stress in the home affect both children and parents, and stress can change the way that parents interact with their children, making them more likely to lash out in frustration.

The organization reports "new scientific research shows that high levels of stress – called toxic stress – cause children to have lifelong physical and mental health problems. While some stress is good and helps a child grow and learn, toxic levels of stress damage the architecture of a child’s developing brain leading to problems like mental illness, obesity, social and behavioral problems. Toxic stress can be caused by abuse and neglect as well as by exposure to conditions like extreme economic hardship."

“Child abuse is absolutely preventable,” says Allen. “By making sure that our communities are equipped to support families – especially in hard times – we can save children from serious injury and from the lifelong scars of abuse.”

The National Library of Medicine's authoritative and current database of information on child abuse

2009-08-21T16:17:00.007-04:00

MedlinePlus
A service of the U.S. Library Of Medicine & the National Institutes Of Health

Child abuse is doing something or failing to do something that results in harm to a child or puts a child at risk of harm. Child abuse can be physical, sexual or emotional. Neglect, or not providing for a child's needs, is also a form of abuse.

Most abused children suffer greater emotional than physical damage. An abused child may become depressed. He or she may withdraw, think of suicide or become violent. An older child may use drugs or alcohol, try to run away or abuse others.

Child abuse is a serious problem. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, call the police or your local child welfare agency.

Click here to go to the MedlinePlus website on Child Abuse & access their wealth of information

SC man charged with killing 5-month-old daughter

2009-08-21T16:05:00.002-04:00

AP, newsday.com, Aug. 21, 2009

SENECA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man has been arrested in the death of his 5-month-old daughter earlier this week.

Multiple media outlets reported that 22-year-old Matthew Taylor Hinton of Seneca was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with homicide by child abuse.

Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis says Brianna R. Bright of Seneca died Tuesday afternoon at a Greenville hospital from a head injury.

Emergency personnel were called when the girl was found unresponsive Sunday. She was treated at Oconee Medical Center and transferred to Greenville Memorial Hospital.

It was unclear if Hinton had a lawyer.

The maximum penalty for homicide by child abuse is life in prison.

Art Affair Aims to End Child Abuse

2009-08-20T21:47:00.001-04:00

By Kathrine Nero, Channel 9 WCPO.com, Aug. 20, 2009

An Elsmere man is in jail for the death of his 7-month old son.

A Boone Co. man awaits trial for the murder of his 2-month old daughter.

A 3 1/2 month old boy is dead after police say his mother's boyfriend broke several of his bones and caused retinal hemmorhages.

It's these types of incidents No. Ky's Family Nurturing Center is intent on ending. And much of the money the agency will use to prevent such tragedies will be raised Friday, Aug. 28 at the annual Art Affair in Covington.

Held this year at The Grand on Madison, the Art Affair is the FNC's largest fundraiser of the year. It combines art, music, food and dance in this year's theme: Fiesta Artistica. Flamenco dancers, an opera singer, strolling musicians and a flowing sangria bar will welcome guests, but it's the art auction that takes center stage.

More than 100 pieces of art from both local and nationally known artists will be auctioned, with proceeds benefitting the FNC's programs that teach healthy family relationships, parenting skills and ending the cycle of child abuse.

Tickets are $60 and are still available.

Related link:

FNC's Art Affair

Local doctor behind new child-abuse pediatrics subspecialty

2009-08-20T20:35:00.002-04:00

By KIM ARCHER, Tulsa World, Aug. 19, 2009

The creation of a new child-abuse pediatrics subspecialty that has its roots in Tulsa is expected to improve treatment for abused children across the country.

Dr. Robert Block, chairman of the pediatrics department at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, led the effort to get the subspecialty recognized by the American Board of Pediatrics. In November, about 200 physicians will sit for the first board examination in the field. By January, the U.S. will see its first diplomates of child-abuse pediatrics. Eventually, Block said, he expects to see three-year fellowships in the field.

"There is a whole epidemic of child abuse and neglect," he said.

Last year, Block estimated the annual cost of child abuse and neglect in Oklahoma at more than $270 million, which includes foster care, hospitalization and mental- and chronic-health services for about 13,000 children. By making child-abuse pediatrics a medical subspecialty, more organized clinical research in the field will be conducted to support pediatricians and others who testify in court during child-abuse cases.

"We're hoping to bring a higher level of correct science in the judicial system," Block said.

Block is nationally renowned for his work to stop child abuse and neglect. He is chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on child abuse and neglect and is Oklahoma's chief child-abuse examiner. He serves on the state Child Death Review Board and the Board of Child Abuse Examination and founded the Tulsa Children's Justice Center, a multidisciplinary child-abuse evaluation center.

The program also is aimed at providing support to pediatricians and emergency room physicians who typically make the first contact with abused children, Block said.

He said the research will provide information to these front-line physicians that will help them more easily determine "what might look like abuse but may not be."

In the U.S., some 3.2 million reports of child abuse are made each year, typically involving nearly 6 million children, according to ChildHelp, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children who have been abused or neglected.

Children who are abused and neglected are nearly 60 percent more likely to be arrested as juveniles and about 30 percent more likely to be arrested as adults.

Thirty percent of them are more likely to commit a violent crime, the group reports.

More knowledge about child abuse can spur greater advocacy for the nation's children and justice for those who perpetrate crimes against them, Block said.

"We want this to translate into public policy to get the proper focus on prevention," he said. "These kids suffer lifelong health problems because of abuse and violence, believe me."

Child-abuse statistics

* Nearly five U.S. children die from child abuse each day. At least 75 percent are younger than 4.

* An estimated 60 percent to 85 percent of child deaths resulting from maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates.

* A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.

* Some 90 percent of child sexual-abuse victims know the perpetrator; 68 percent are abused by family members.

* Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.

* More than 30 percent of women in prison in the U.S. were abused as children.

* More than 60 percent of people in drug rehabilitation centers report having been abused or neglected as children.

* About 30 percent of abused and neglected children are predicted to abuse their own children.

* About 80 percent of 21-year-olds who were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.

Source: ChildHelp

New specialty spurs hopes for helping abused kids

2009-08-20T11:09:00.003-04:00

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, AP, wtop.com, Aug. 18, 2009

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - It appeared to be a clear-cut case of child abuse: An infant hospitalized with bleeding in his brain, his father behind bars suspected of shaking the baby.

Only after the boy died without his father at his bedside did doctors realize the bleeding was brought on by a vitamin K deficiency - not abuse.

Dr. Jim Anderst, who diagnosed the deficiency about 18 months ago while working at a San Antonio hospital, tells the story to doctors-in-training he teaches at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and says it underscores why the subspecialty of child abuse pediatrics is necessary.

The field involves not only treating suspected abuse victims but coordinating with police and welfare workers and testifying in court hearings. It will reach a milestone in November, when about 200 doctors sit for a board examination offered for the first time by the American Board of Pediatrics in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Its recognition as a subspecialty also is expected to lead to a formal system of accreditation for some of the roughly 25 child abuse pediatrics fellowship programs across the country for which there is currently no formal oversight.

Anderst, who leads one of the fellowship programs, said his findings sometimes force children from their homes. Other times, like with the boy who died after failing to receive a vitamin K shot typically given to newborns, they free parents from jail.

"It stuck with me because it made me realize the impact you can have if you try to go about it appropriately and find out what actually happened to these kids," said Anderst, who said that without the second look the boy's father would likely still be jailed today.

"Certainly, there are many cases where it is obvious. There can be multiple fractures and injuries. There are all sorts of things that can happen to kids that could be abuse but might not be, and we have to try to determine the truth."

Studies have repeatedly shown that many doctors lack the expertise to handle these difficult cases. Practitioners hope the changes result in more experts who can teach in medical schools, conduct research and serve as a resource for general pediatricians.

A survey released this year in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found current levels of child abuse training are inadequate. Many residents reported concerns about handing sexual abuse cases and most had difficulty identifying certain genital parts. The report notes concern regarding the lack of knowledge of female genitalia among medical professionals is not new.

Desmond Runyan, professor of social medicine and pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the lack of training makes some doctors reluctant to handle child abuse cases.

"I've found in my own experience kids are still kids, and it's not unpleasant to deal with kids," he said. "It's sometimes difficult work and sometimes unpleasant, but I can't imagine that telling people they have cancer or some other fatal disease is any easier."

Practitioners also hope greater recognition of the subspecialty will lead to higher payments from insurance companies and government health care programs - a relief for hospitals that typically lose money on their child abuse teams because of the time involved in the cases.

Runyan said a clinic he helped found in Durham, N.C., had to stop providing medical examinations for suspected child abuse victims in 2006 because the effort was losing about $400,000 a year.

But others fear the subspecialty will make it more difficult for pediatricians who lack the board certification to testify in court. They note that general pediatricians will continue to handle most of the estimated 3.2 million cases of child abuse reported each year.

How many of those cases are misdiagnosed is unclear, although only 794,000 were substantiated in 2007, the latest year for which federal information is available.

Dr. Rachel P. Berger, a pediatrician in the Child Advocacy Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said she worries the shift might lead to difficulties in areas with nobody certified if defense attorneys challenge the credentials of regular doctors.

"Who is going to testify on behalf of those children?" she asked. "Are you going to fly in a child abuse expert for every one of these cases? Clearly not. So I think we've created a big problem for being able to testify."

Other say the risk is worth it.

Dr. Robert W. Block, a professor at the University of Oklahoma of Community Medicine in Tulsa, led efforts to create the subspecialty. He said the designation is a critical development in a field that has evolved rapidly since a 1962 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that urged doctors to consider the possibility of child abuse.

Gradually, doctors gravitated to the field and conducted research on broken bones, burns and sexual abuse.

"There are children, their siblings and families in great pain and stress," he said. "This is an area where you can do a whole lot of good."

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=1742377

Boy's death shows weaknesses of L.A. County's child welfare system

2009-08-20T11:00:00.002-04:00

Records show that Yolanda Tijerina exhibited signs of mental illness months before she decapitated her son Lars Sanchez, 4. But the risk was not deemed sufficient to remove him from her care.
By Garrett Therolf, latimes.com, Aug. 18, 2009

Nine months before the mother of a 4-year-old decapitated him with a Ginsu knife, the principal of a Highland Park preschool phoned Los Angeles County's child abuse hotline to report that the woman was screaming and shouting outside the building.

Yolanda Tijerina's tirade, which seemed directed at no one in particular, drew a crowd of neighbors and staffers at Meridian Children's Center.

"I think you killed my son!" shouted Tijerina, whose 4-year-old boy, Lars Sanchez, attended the school. "I think you killed my son. I have panic attacks."

Principal Elizabeth Blackwell's call led to an investigation by mental health and child welfare officials, according to county documents recently obtained by The Times. The boy's grandmother told officials that the mother had "episodes," and his adult sister told them she believed the boy was in danger.

The documents, released by the county Department of Children and Family Services under a 2008 disclosure law, show in chilling detail how even dramatic evidence of a mother's illness was not considered sufficient grounds for removing a child from her care.

The department closed the case in a matter of days, saying that allegations of emotional abuse against Lars could not be substantiated. The home was considered "stabilized."

On July 18, shortly after daybreak, Lars' grandmother found him dead in the bedroom he shared with his mother. Tijerina was on the floor next to the bed, her left wrist slashed to the bone. A knife lay next to her.

Supervisor Gloria Molina, publicly condemned the county's handling of the case as "a big mistake." As is routine, the social workers involved were assigned to desk duty pending a review.

The brutal death of Lars Sanchez underscored a significant weakness of the child welfare system: gauging the risks of a caregiver's mental illness.

Mental illness in itself does not disqualify one from raising a child.

Child welfare officials must consider whether the person is under effective treatment, whether the child's care is overseen by other stable adults, and whether the illness results in abuse or neglect of the child. These are determinations that can be a challenge even for psychiatric experts.

"Social workers are not necessarily trained to assess a parent's mental health," said Charles Sophy, medical director with the Department of Children and Family Services.

Nor are they necessarily privy to key information about the parent or other caregiver. For instance, they can't access mental health treatment records without the patient's permission. Without that, the decision may be largely based on a one-on-one interview.

"Mental illness is easy to hide sometimes," Sophy said. "You can put on a smiling face when I knock on your door, and I will never know that you tried to kill yourself last week."

Nevertheless, social workers confront and decide the issue frequently.

Almost a fifth of the 4,468 children removed from their homes by the family services agency last year were removed primarily because of a parent's mental illness.

Lars' death has already prompted some changes.

The department has sped up its plans for an internal hotline allowing social workers to consult with Sophy or his medical staff when mental illness is at issue, Sophy said.

But social workers in Lars' case were not acting entirely on their own, interviews suggest. According to two sources with knowledge of the case, the social workers called in evaluators from the county Department of Mental Health to do an assessment of the mother, and the findings persuaded them that she was not a threat.

That exam failed to diagnose the gravity of Tijerina's illness and did not reveal the fact that a private hospital had once placed her under an involuntary psychiatric hold, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because mental health records are confidential.

Such a hold allows a qualified peace officer or clinician to confine a person if the mental disorder makes her a danger to herself or others, or if it interferes with the person's ability to meet her own basic needs.

"One of the things that concerns me," Molina said, "is that no one checks to see if someone has children when they place a person" under a such a hold.

"They need to be checking that and alerting" the children's services agency.

In the end, the social workers found that Tijerina often spoke nonsensically. They found that her "emotional stability, developmental status or cognitive deficiency impairs her current ability to supervise, protect or care for the child."

But they said this risk could be addressed through three months of informal monitoring by a neighborhood resource center and observation by family members and neighbors, according to county documents.

(Neighbors said the boy's grandmother was seen frequently around the house, but it was unclear whether she lived there.)

Also counting in favor of the mother was the fact that she had been cooperative during the child-abuse investigation.

Department of Children and Family Services Director Trish Ploehn said confidentiality laws prohibited her from speaking about the case.

Dr. Roderick Shaner, medical director of the Mental Health department, said he also was constrained by confidentiality restrictions.

But he noted that records of an involuntary psychiatric hold at a private hospital would not necessarily come to light without the patient's explicit consent to search for the record.

Shaner said such mental health evaluations were "not geared to make determinations or predictions of what might happen."

Children and Family Services social workers "should be aware of the limited sources of information we have," Shaner said.

garrett.therolf@latimes.com

Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske contributed to this report.

Author: Education, not punishment, is solution for bullying

2009-08-20T08:50:00.002-04:00

Program offers advice at schools
By Jennifer Micale, pressconnects.com, Aug. 11, 2009

"The bullies never remember, but the outcasts never forget," author Jodee Blanco writes in her memoir, "Please Stop Laughing at Me."

Blanco, who lives in the Chicago area, was visiting Greater Binghamton earlier this week as part of her consulting business. She's visited central New York before, giving a presentation in October 2007 at Lansing Middle School.

Schools have various ways to address the age-old problem of peer harassment. Earlier this school year, Vestal High School student groups launched "No Name-Calling Week." In 2003, the state trained school bus drivers to spot and respond to bullying as part of an initiative called "Not On Our Buses." Many schools have character education programs to instill compassion and other values.

But the problem persists. Recently, a Binghamton couple filed a notice of claim against the city school district on behalf of their daughter, who was allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted while attending sixth grade; the district and police are investigating. In 2003, a 10-year-old Syracuse boy brought an unloaded revolver to school to scare students who were bullying him.

While "cyber-bullying" - using the Internet to torment victims - has received media attention in recent years, the practice of tormenting the outsider hasn't changed, only the mechanism, Blanco said. Despite appearances, bullying isn't about cruelty; rather, it's a "bonding ritual," Blanco said.

"The bully and the victim are motivated by a desperate need to fit in run amuck," she said.

Blanco has brought an anti-bullying program called "It's NOT Just Joking Around!" to schools around the country. The day-long program involves students in the morning, teachers in the afternoon and parents in the evening.

She's not an academic, however; a victim of severe bullying from the fifth through 12th grades, she has become an advocate for the underdog, publishing two books on the topic. Within 48 hours of publication, her memoir was on the New York Times best-seller list, showing how important the issue is to people.

Students need to learn that bullying isn't joking around; it can damage the victims for life, Blanco said. It doesn't only consist of overt cruelty, either.

"It's all the nice things you never do," Blanco explained, noting that social exclusion is also a form of bullying.

Childhood bullying can scar victims well into adulthood, affecting their family, marital and work lives, Blanco said. As an adult, Blanco was herself diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the bullying she faced, she said.

According to Blanco, there are two major obstacles to eliminating bullying: adults who cling to the belief that "kids will be kids," and a disciplinary system that punishes children rather than teaching them empathy and compassion, Blanco said.

Instead, Blanco believes in "compassionate discipline," which entails teaching empathy. Rather than detention, for example, students could be required to document random acts of kindness they've performed, help the homeless or volunteer at a hospital.

"The bottom line: If we want our kids to be more compassionate, we can't punish them," she said. Instead, take measures to teach them "the joys and rewards (of being) kind."

jmicale@gannett.com

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200908110240/NEWS01/908110371

Bad boyfriends often abuse children of partners

2009-08-20T08:40:00.003-04:00

By DAVID CRARY, AP, Sun Journal, Nov 18, 2007

NEW YORK - An ever-increasing share of America's children grow up in homes without both biological parents, leaving them nearly 50 times as likely to die of child abuse, according to research.

In many cases, the alleged or convicted perpetrator is the boyfriend of the child's mother - men thrust into father-like roles which they tragically fail to embrace.

Many scholars and front-line caseworkers interviewed by The Associated Press see the abusive-boyfriend syndrome as part of a broader trend that deeply worries them, particularly as an ever-increasing share of America's children grow up in homes without both biological parents.

"This is the dark underbelly of cohabitation," said Brad Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia. "Cohabitation has become quite common, and most people think, 'What's the harm?' The harm is we're increasing a pattern of relationships that's not good for children."

There are many other studies that, taken together, reinforce the concerns. Among the findings:

• Children living in households with unrelated adults are nearly 50 times as likely to die of inflicted injuries as children living with two biological parents, according to a study of Missouri abuse reports published in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2005.

• Children living in stepfamilies or with single parents are at higher risk of physical or sexual assault than children living with two biological or adoptive parents, according to several studies co-authored by David Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center.

• Girls whose parents divorce are at significantly higher risk of sexual assault, whether they live with their mother or their father, according to research by Robin Wilson, a family law professor at Washington and Lee University.

"All the emphasis on family autonomy and privacy shields the families from investigators, so we don't respond until it's too late," Wilson said. "I hate the fact that something dangerous for children doesn't get responded to because we're afraid of judging someone's lifestyle."

Census data leaves no doubt that family patterns have changed dramatically in recent decades as cohabitation and single-parenthood became common. Thirty years ago, nearly 80 percent of America's children lived with both parents. Now, only two-thirds of them do. Of all families with children, nearly 29 percent are now one-parent families, up from 17 percent in 1977.

The net result is a sharp increase in households with a potential for instability, and the likelihood that adults and children will reside in them who have no biological tie to each other.

"I've seen many cases of physical and sexual abuse that come up with boyfriends, stepparents," said Eliana Gil, clinical director for the national abuse-prevention group Childhelp.

"It comes down to the fact they don't have a relationship established with these kids," she said. "Their primary interest is really the adult partner, and they may find themselves more irritated when there's a problem with the children."

That was the case with Jayden Cangro.

In July 2006, his mother's boyfriend, Phillip Guymon, hurled the 2-year-old nine feet across a room in Murray, Utah, because he balked at going to bed. The child died from his injuries.

Jayden's mother, Carly Moore, has undergone therapy since the killing. Yet she continues to second-guess herself about her two-year relationship with Guymon.

"There's so much guilt," she said in a telephone interview. "I never saw him hit my kids, ever. But he was gruff in his manner - there were signs that he wasn't most pleasant person for kids to be around."

Guymon has been sentenced to five years in prison for second-degree felony child abuse homicide. Moore thinks the penalty is far too light.

"It's a hard thing," she said, recalling Jayden's death. "You go off to work, you say, 'See you later,' and then everything's completely shattered in a split second."

Some women can't see the trouble even when it's right in front of them.

Jennifer Harvey of Springfield, Mo., acknowledged in court last summer that she continued to date a man for two months after becoming suspicious that he had killed her 18-month-old son, Gavin.

"I was in denial," said Harvey, who was placed on five years' probation for not acting on her suspicions. The boyfriend, Joseph Haslett, was sentenced to life in prison for suffocating the toddler with a headlock.

The slaying of toddler Devon Shackleford in 2004 was premeditated.

Derek Chappell, who was sentenced to death this month, considered Devon an obstacle to an on-again, off-again relationship with the boy's mother, and drowned him in an apartment complex's swimming pool in Mesa, Ariz.

The mother, Kristal Frank, has created a Web site in memory of her son, full of reminiscences and snapshots. Chappell is referred to only as "that inhumane thing."

Such cases trigger a visceral reaction, but there are no simple solutions. Some of the worst cases of child abuse involve biological parents, and examples abound of children thriving in nontraditional households

"There's no going back to the past," said Washington and Lee's Robin Wilson. "We don't tell people who they can cohabit with. We don't tell them they can't have children out of wedlock."

There are, of course, some initiatives aimed at reducing the percentage of children raised by single parents. That's one of the goals of the Bush administration's Healthy Marriage Initiative.

"The risk (of abuse) to children outside a two-parent household is greater," said Susan Orr, one of the top child-welfare specialists in the Department of Health and Human Services. "Does that mean all single parents abuse their children? Of course not. But the risk is certainly there, and it's useful to know that."

As with many local programs, the federal effort encourages single parents to at least consider marriage, while other programs focus on broadening the support network for single parents. One long-standing initiative, the Nurse-Family Partnership, has lowered abuse rates by arranging for nurses to visit low-income, first-time mothers throughout their pregnancy and after their child is born.

Many social workers say the emphasis should be on nurturing healthy relationships, whether or not the parent is married.

"The primary thing is to have adults around who care about these kids, whatever shape it takes," said Zeinab Chahine, who was a New York City child-protection caseworker and administrator for 22 years before taking a high-level job in July with Casey Family Programs.

Chahine said caseworkers need to learn as much as possible, in a nonconfrontational manner, about the personal dynamics in at-risk households. Is there an unmarried partner who spends time there, or a newly arrived stepparent? Does that person care about the children, or consider them a nuisance? Is a criminal background check warranted?

"We start from perspective that the mom is as concerned about her kids as we are," Chahine said. "We can try to help her see the need for us to look into the situation."

Judith Schagrin, a Baltimore-based social worker engaged in child welfare for 24 years, said live-in boyfriends can be valuable resources for a single mother and her children. Some even have been awarded custody of children as an alternative to foster care while the mother is in jail.

"We look at the relationship the kid has with whomever is around - is it supportive or destructive?" Schagrin said. "Does the mother have a long-term, stable relationship with this individual, or does she have rotating list of partners coming in and out?"

In the real world, however, learning crucial details about a potentially fragile family is not easy.

"The field struggles with the balance between intrusion in private matters and awareness of significant risks to the child," said Fred Wulczyn, a research fellow at the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Center for Children.

"With a social worker who's in the house on a once-a-month basis, how good do we expect our diagnostics to be?" Wulczyn asked. "Achieving the right balance, so you never have to ponder 'What if?' - that's hard to do."

The sensitivity of probing into private lives is one of many problems underlying the lack of definitive national data that correlates child abuse with parents' marital status and household makeup. Some conservative commentators say "political correctness" is partly to blame - namely a reluctance to press for data that might reflect negatively on single motherhood.

Another problem is lack of thoroughness and consistency among the states as they forward abuse reports to federal agencies. Differing definitions of "household" and varying efforts to ascertain marital status result in a statistical "hodgepodge," according to Elliott Smith, who oversees a national archive of child-abuse research at Cornell University.

Among child-welfare specialists, there is hope that the statistical gaps will be filled by a comprehensive federal survey, the National Incidence Study, that will be completed next year.

The previous version of the study, released in 1996, concluded that children of single parents had a 77 percent greater risk of being harmed by physical abuse than children living with both parents. But the new version will delve much deeper into the specifics of family structure and cohabitation, according to project director Andrea Sedlak.

"We can ask the questions," Sedlak said. "But it's hard to look at cohabiting. It could well be there will be too much missing data to make definitive statements."

Long term, many child-welfare advocates say economic and social changes are needed, so day-care options improve and young men in poor communities have job prospects that make marriage seem more feasible. There's also agreement that many adults in high-risk households need better parenting skills - whether it's the harried young mothers often guilty of harmful neglect or the boyfriends and stepfathers often responsible for physical abuse.

"These boyfriends increasingly have been raised without fathers and been abused themselves," said Patrick Fagan, a family-policy specialist with the conservative Family Research Council. "Among the inner-city poor, the turnover of male partners is high. Where's a boy getting the model of what a father is like?"

Oscar Jimenez Jr., the San Jose, Calif., boy found buried under cement and fertilizer, did have a biological father who was devoted to him. But the father, Oscar Sr., separated from Oscar Jr.'s mother in 2002 and was prevented from seeing his son in the weeks before the boy's death in February, allegedly from a beating by live-in boyfriend and ex-convict Samuel Corona.

The mother, Kathyrn Jimenez, says she, like her son, was abused by Corona, yet she has pleaded guilty to three felony charges for assisting him - driving with him from San Jose to Phoenix to hide her son's remains, then keeping quiet about the killing for months.

Kathryn Jimenez was in custody when Oscar Jr.'s funeral took place Sept. 29. She didn't hear the plea of a longtime family friend.

"Listen carefully to the message," Olessia Silva said at the service. "To all the mothers in this world who may find themselves in a difficult situation or harmful relationship: know that there is always, always someone willing to help if you would just reach out."

http://www.sunjournal.com/node/102311

Family outraged with lowered bond: Judge says bond for alleged child abuse case was in line with similar charges

2009-08-20T08:17:00.003-04:00

By ASHLEY TOMPKINS, The Sealy News Online

Family of the 14-month old boy who was allegedly abused earlier this month by his mother’s boyfriend are outraged at an Austin County judge who let the 19-year-old go with what the grandfather calls a “slap on the wrist.”

Mark Trim, maternal grandfather to the 14-month-old toddler who was allegedly squeezed until he threw up and head-butted by his mother’s boyfriend, said the child was abused twice, once by Bellville resident David Harris, and a second time by Austin County Court at Law Judge Dan Leedy when the judge reduced Harris’ bond from $100,000 to $30,000.

Harris was arrested Aug. 2 by Austin County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) investigators following complaints that he injured his girlfriend’s 14-month-old son, sending the child to the hospital for medical care.

“It appeared David squeezed the baby and caused him to vomit,” ACSO investigator Charles R. Holmes said. “Then…he took the baby, (Harris) was standing up, and he dropped the baby on the floor. Then he took the baby and held him up and head-butted him…and busted his nose.”

The child also had multiple bruises on the right side of his face, behind his ears and on his stomach, Holmes said.

Harris posted $3,000, or 10 percent, of the $30,000 bond on Aug. 3 and was released on personal recognizance from the Austin County Jail. His initial bond was set at $100,000 by Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Cheryl Kollatschny, but was reduced by Leedy.

Trim called Leedy’s actions a “disgrace to the robe”, and while Leedy is sympathetic, the judge said the bond Harris was released on is the norm for similar charges and cases.

“I understand that the victims of crime have a very emotional reaction any time a family member is victimized…their reaction is perfectly normal,” Leedy said. “A bond is supposed to be made to guarantee that someone will show back up in court. I found that Mr. Harris lives and works in Austin County and had no prior felonies…for someone in those circumstances, $30,000 is about the standard bond for that charge and someone in those circumstances.”

Leedy said had Harris lived in Harris County or had any prior felonies, the bond would probably have stayed at $100,000 because there would have been a higher risk Harris would not show up for his next court date.

Leedy would not directly respond to claims by Trim that he “abused” Trim’s 14-month-old grandson a second time by lowering the bond, thus allowing Harris to post $3,000, or 10 percent, of the bond and be released.

The judge again stated that the $30,000 bond was acceptable for a charge and situation like that of Harris. He also wouldn’t comment on claims of abuse of power.

With the severity of the alleged abuse, Holmes, who also said he was disappointed with the reduced bond, said there is a chance the second-degree felony injury to a child charge could be upgraded to a first-degree felony charge of serious bodily injury if and when the case is taken before Austin County grand jurors.

“If it had been a first-degree felony, rather than a second, the bond would have been higher,” Leedy said. “The higher the charge, the higher the bond.”

Still, Trim is not satisfied.

“David Harris didn’t spend 24 hours in jail, yet my grandchild is still black and blue,” Trim said.

Trim’s grandson spent roughly 24 hours in a Katy hospital, according to investigators, before being released.

“The judge let an abuser walk. I was told, ‘that’s just the way the way the system works.’ That’s bull. They put on a robe and swear an oath to protect us, and he lets him go without any restriction,” Trim said.

“My grandson had no chance against that 270-pound boy. I was not there to protect him,” Trim continued, breaking down. “I couldn’t do anything. My heart is breaking. We have to make sure that this never, ever happens to another child again. They have to keep these animals in jail. That’s from a broken-hearted poppa.”

Trim said the alleged abuse stemmed from his grandson wanting a French fry Harris was eating. Harris allegedly, according to investigators, abused the toddler two nights in a row. The 14-month-old’s mother, who attempted to intervene and protect her son, Holmes said, was also abused.

Trim said he’s looking at having kidnapping charges added against Harris, and said his daughter told him Harris kept her and her son, against their wishes, overnight on July 28 at his Bellville home.

“I feel like we’ve now been abused by the legal system,” Trim said. “To have law enforcement officers stand behind you and say they’re going to catch this guy, and then they do…and then the judge just lets him go.

“I still look at my grandson and his head is yellow and green…there are still handprints on his body. It breaks my heart.”

Trim said he wants an answer from Leedy as to why he reduced Harris’ bond from $100,000 to $30,000.

“I don’t care if it’s a kid that did it…you don’t let that animal out of jail,” he said. “I don’t care if he’s 19 or if it’s the first time he’s done something like this. This should happen to no one’s child. I’m afraid that the legal system is going to let (Harris) walk.”

Austin County will hold the bond Harris posted until his case is disposed of, Leedy said.

http://www.sealynews.com/articles/2009/08/11/news/news02.txt

Campaigns

2009-08-11T05:38:00.000-04:00

This section will be updated soon.

We are launching a campaign to amend the NC Child Fatality Law to allow disclosure of DSS files. This will enable any problems encountered and/or mistakes made by DSS to be identified in order to prevent these tragedies from reoccurring.

Man found guilty of beating son to death

2006-04-22T06:21:00.000-04:00

The boy, 12, was handcuffed, starved, whipped with belts and pounded with a golf club.
By Ramon Coronado, Sacramento Bee, April 22, 2006

A Sacramento Superior Court jury on Friday convicted Andrew Anthony Cejas of beating to death his 12-year-old boy because he thought his son was overweight.

The jury found the 38-year-old registered sex offender guilty of first-degree murder, but found that he didn't torture the boy, a contention that carried a life term with no parole.

Cejas faces 75 years to life at sentencing May 18 before Judge Gary S. Mullen.

Christopher Cejas of North Carolina, who lost 35 pounds over a four-month stay with his father and stepmother, was kept from eating by being handcuffed to doorknobs and an entryway post in their Watt Avenue apartment.

When he was found Aug. 21, 2002, he had more than 74 wounds, including a severed liver, torn kidney and bleeding in the brain.

Trial evidence showed that over four days the boy was whipped with belts and pounded with a golf club. A videocamera poised near his bed recorded his every move at night.

Evidence revealed that an upstairs neighbor could hear the boy crying out in pain and called authorities, but never told them the boy's name or where they could find him.

The 33-year-old stepmother, Kathryn Elizabeth Potter, who was sentenced on April 7 to 15 years to life, stood by and watched as the elder Cejas carried out the relentless whippings because she hated and was disgusted by the boy, court records show.

Potter, who had 8-year-old twin girls from a previous relationship and a 3-year-old boy fathered by Cejas, had been contacted by Child Protective Services and warned to never leave her husband alone with the children because he was a registered sex offender, according to trial evidence.

Although his jury was never was told, Cejas was convicted in 1993 of two counts of sexually molesting the 9-year-old sister of his former wife.

Deputy District Attorney Robin Shakely, who argued that the boy was tortured, told jurors that Potter started starving the boy by keeping food from him and locking the bathroom at night. The stepmother didn't like the boy's eating habits and thought he was overweight, the prosecutor alleged.

The stepmother also chronicled the boy's misbehavior in journals she kept for Cejas, who would carry out the beatings, prosecution evidence showed.

Cejas' lawyer, Alan Whisenand, said Cejas never drank alcohol or took drugs and was away from home much of the time due to his home-improvement business.

The public defender didn't dispute the boy was murdered, but blamed the slaying on the stepmother, who he said was insanely jealous and feared Cejas would reunite with the boy's mother.

The day the boy was found dead on the floor of his bedroom, Potter claims to have covered his body with a blanket before leaving with her children to meet in Redding with her father, a retired police officer.

In Redding, Potter told authorities how she left the boy. They, in turn, contacted Sacramento County deputies, who found the body.

Cejas left home that morning for a sheriff's work project picking up trash for failing to register his address as sex offender. He was arrested when he returned home.

The Bee's Ramon Coronado can be reached at (916) 321-1191 or rcoronado@sacbee.com.

Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/courts_legal/story/14246612p-15064436c.html

Stepmother sentenced in starving boy's murder

2006-04-08T06:15:00.000-04:00

She gets 15 years to life for role in abuses that led to his death.
By Ramon Coronado, Sacramento Bee, April 8, 2006

For four days, Christopher Cejas, 12, was slowly starved and then savagely beaten to death because he was overweight.

The boy was the victim of "relentless whippings" at the hands of his father while his stepmother watched, according to a probation report for Kathryn Elizabeth Potter, who was sentenced Friday for second-degree murder for her role in the boy's death.

"All she had to do was to feed him. All she had to do was to call 911," Deputy District Attorney Robin Shakely said in court Friday.

The 33-year-old mother of three of her own children was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Andrew Anthony Cejas, the boy's 38-year-old father, is on trial for murder in a separate proceeding that opened earlier this week.

Potter was convicted of the lesser charge of second-degree murder in December.

"She left him to die with no human comfort. He died in incredible pain. He died while his father snored in the next room," Shakely said.

The boy, who lost 35 pounds over a four-month period while living with his father and stepmother, was handcuffed to doorknobs and an entryway post in their Watt Avenue apartment. When he was found Aug. 21, 2002, he had more than 74 wounds, including a severed liver, torn kidney and bleeding in the brain.

One day Potter left the boy handcuffed to a hallway door and left to rent a video. When she returned she watched the movie while the boy remained handcuffed, unable to see the movie, the probation report said.

The father's public defender told jurors this week that Potter is to blame for the boy's death. But Potter's lawyer, James R. Greiner, said Potter was the victim of battered women's syndrome.

The father not only abused Potter, but was the one who inflicted the beatings on the boy, Greiner said. She had black eyes and strangulation marks on her neck, he said.

Judge Gary S. Mullen said he believed a domestic violence expert who testified that Potter was held captive in a web of domestic violence.

But, the judge said, "I do believe Ms. Potter had numerous opportunities to act."

The boy's grandmother, Patricia Dazis of North Carolina, was not convinced that Potter deserved any mercy.

"I am baffled that you let this happen, for even today I would step in front of a bus to save one of your children because that is what life is all about," the grandmother wrote in a letter that was read in court.

"You married a monster and became a monster yourself. Coast to coast there are people whose lives changed when they heard the words, 'Chris is dead,'" Dazis wrote.

Many in the family are on antidepressant medications. Two months after the death, Patricia Dazis' husband, the boy's grandfather, was admitted into a hospital and told he would be on psychological medication for the rest of his life, the probation report said.

The boy's mother, Alex Chirino, 39, was institutionalized. Chirino, who raised the boy, allowed her son to come to Sacramento to get to know her biological father. What was to be a stay for a couple of weeks turned into several months.

On Wednesday, Chirino was in Sacramento to testify against the father.

"The thought of describing what it is like to lose her only son is too painful for her to contemplate, let alone describe in words," Shakely said after the sentencing.

"Some emotions are so dark that words can't be found to describe them," Shakely said.

Trial begins for father in starving boy's death

2006-04-06T06:04:00.000-04:00

By Ramon Coronado, Sacramento Bee, April 5, 2006

Twelve-year-old Christopher Cejas didn't have a chance.

A neighbor could hear the boy crying out in pain and called authorities, but she never told them the boy's name or where they could find him.

The boy was slowly being starved to death and had lost 35 pounds. He was handcuffed, and a video camera next to his bed recorded his every move.

When he was found dead he had more than 74 wounds, a severed liver, a torn kidney and bleeding in the brain.

"Sometimes marriage brings out the worst in a couple," Deputy District Attorney Robin Shakely said in opening statements in the murder trial of the boy's father, Andrew Anthony Cejas, 38.

The boy's stepmother, Kathryn Elizabeth Potter, 33, has been found guilty of second-degree murder and is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Though the mother "had more issues than you can imagine," it was the father who used a golf club and belts to pound the life out of the little boy, Shakely told jurors in Sacramento Superior Court.

In his opening remarks, Assistant Public Defender Alan Whisenand said the father loved his son and wanted to give him "the gift of a new life."

It was the stepmother who was "filled with anger" and carried out "cruel, barbaric forms of discipline and unspeakable acts," Whisenand said.

"She treated Chris in vile ways. Andrew didn't know she was on the verge of exploding," the defense attorney told jurors.

"Chris was murdered, but not by his father," Whisenand said of his client.

Andrew Cejas is on trial in connection with the Aug. 21, 2002, murder of his son with a special circumstance of carrying out the killing through torture.

He faces life in prison with no parole if convicted.

Christopher Cejas was having behavioral problems in school in North Carolina and moved in with his father and his new wife in the summer of 2002.

Sacramento County sheriff's deputies found the lifeless body of the boy lying on its side under a blanket on the bedroom floor of their Watt Avenue apartment. Andrew Cejas was arrested that afternoon.

Potter, who worked as a dog trainer, had left home earlier in the day with her 8-year-old twin daughters and 3-year-old son. She had arranged to meet her father in Redding, where he accompanied his daughter to the Redding Police Department. After investigators interviewed her, Sacramento County sheriff's deputies were asked to check on Christopher.

In court testimony, Fran Frank said she baby-sat for Potter and said she would see Potter punishing Christopher by making him stand with his nose against the wall of a corner.

One time, Frank said, the couple took the boy to a home for children who don't listen to their parents.

When they returned Christopher was "very scared," Frank testified.

Potter told her she "hated" Christopher and that he was an "ugly and mischief child" who was too much for her to take care of, Frank said.

Darren Smith, a longtime friend of Andrew Cejas, testified the two worked together for a home improvement company and would be out of town for long periods of time.

Smith said Potter and Cejas were "volatile" and often had fights that he would have to break up.

"Andrew was the head of the house," Smith said.

But under cross-examination, the defense attorney attempted to show that Potter ran the family, sometimes with violence.

Potter would throw things at her husband and once slapped him in the face, Smith said.

Testimony resumes this morning before Judge Gary S. Mullen.

About the writer:

The Bee's Ramon Coronado can be reached at (916) 321-1191 or rcoronado@sacbee.com.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14239065p-15059289c.html

Father's criminal history a shock

2002-08-30T05:57:00.001-04:00

Dead boy's maternal relatives say he was happy about staying with his dad.
By Silvina Martínez, Sacramento Bee, Aug. 30, 2002

Christopher Cejas came to Sacramento for the summer, eager to get to know his father.
At home in North Carolina, school was hard and kids in his fifth-grade class were picking on him. Time with dad might help.

His mother, Alex Cejas, expected her son to return to her in the fall, ready to start sixth grade.

Instead, the 12-year-old boy's body arrives in Charlotte today to be escorted from the airport by his uncle and his uncle's motorcycle club friends, the way his family thought Christopher would have loved.

Last week in Sacramento, Christopher was found beaten to death. His father, Andrew Cejas, 43, a registered sex offender, is in the Sacramento County jail on suspicion of murder.

Christopher was Alex Cejas' only child. She can't talk about her son's death, only about how the two played and collected Pokémon cards together.

"He was my best bud," the 36-year-old woman said Thursday.

At Chris' home, family and friends wore buttons with the boy's picture and prepared for funeral services scheduled for this weekend.

Nobody in the family knew Andrew Cejas' criminal history, said the boy's aunt, Dee Clayton.

Christopher was only 6 months old when his father left and moved to California. He grew up with his mother and his grandparents in a quiet, close-knit neighborhood in Charlotte. He played basketball, swam and loved watergun fights.

But lately Christopher had started to ask more questions about his father. And Andrew Cejas, who had kept in touch with the boy's mother throughout the years, agreed to have his son in Sacramento for the summer.

Christopher came to stay with his father in April and everything seemed to go well. He complained just about two things: The little kids -- his stepmother's three children -- were kind of aggravating, and the food was not great.

Otherwise, Christopher seemed happy every time he called his mother in Charlotte. He and his dad, he told her, were lifting weights together and doing fine.

Sacramento sheriff's detectives said Christopher was probably beaten for more than an hour before he was found dead in his father's apartment on Watt Avenue on Aug. 26. They found evidence that the boy was tortured, that he died at his father's hands.

"This man," Clayton said about Cejas, "we don't know."

During his marriage to Christopher's mother, Clayton said, "He never displayed this type of personality. Not to us. He never even raised his voice to my sister."

But Sacramento County court records show Cejas, a self-employed construction worker, is a registered sex offender with a criminal history of violence.

In 1993, he was arrested on three felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14; one count was dropped and he pleaded no contest to the other two. In 1999 he was arrested on a charge of striking his current wife with a beer bottle and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.

Earlier this year, Cejas was arrested after he failed to maintain his registration as a sex offender and was sentenced to 180 days in the county work program.

"We are finding out things," Clayton said. Cejas once called his ex-wife in Charlotte and told her he had been maliciously accused of something he hadn't done. "We searched the Internet to check on him and found nothing," Clayton said.

Cejas had children with two other women after he divorced Christopher's mother.

His current wife fled the apartment with her three kids the day Christopher was beaten to death. She was afraid and called authorities. Police didn't release her name, saying she is a victim of domestic violence.

Clayton doesn't remember Andrew Cejas being violent.

"He never did anything physical to my sister," she said. "He just broke her heart."

When Christopher was born, she said, he was young and couldn't deal with it. So he left.

Years later, his son really wanted to know about him. "He was excited to meet his father," said Clayton. "He was curious to find out that part of his life."

About the Writer
---------------------------

The Bee's Silvina Martínez can be reached at (916) 321-1159 or smartinez@sacbee.com.

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Man Accused of Killing Son is Being Held in Jail's Psychiatric Ward

2002-08-24T05:50:00.000-04:00

News10.net, Aug. 24, 2002

Arraignment was postponed today for a Sacramento man arrested in the death of his son. His arraignment was rescheduled for Monday.

Andrew Cejas, 34, is being held in the Sacramento County Jail's psychiatric ward with special clothing and bedding so he doesn't harm himself. Jail officials say he exhibited behavior since his arrest on Wednesday that led doctors to believe he might be a danger to himself.

Cejas was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of the beating death of 12-year-old Christopher Cejas.

Sheriff's units were dispatched to the Arden Palms Apartments at Alta Arden and Watt Avenue in Sacramento in response to a report of a possible murder. The initial call came from the Redding Police Department, which had received a call from the stepmother of the victim, who had fled the apartment earlier in the day.

Neighbors told News10 they'd previously heard sounds of violence inside the apartment. They describe Cejas as a hothead whom people took pains to avoid.

According to authorities, Cejas is a registered sex offender who was serving in a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department work release program for a misdemeanor conviction.

Cejas and his wife had two of their children briefly taken by Child Protective Services about two years ago.

Cejas has been booked in the Sacramento County Main Jail on an one count of homicide.

Donate to Chris Cejas Network To End Child Abuse

2002-08-21T20:45:00.001-04:00

Support our work to prevent, detect, & end child abuse.

Send donations to:

Chris Cejas Network To End Child Abuse
7100 Mapleridge Dr
Charlotte, NC 28210

Donations are not tax-deductible as much of our work involves lobbying elected officials to enact laws or amend existing laws.

About Chris Cejas Network To End Child Abuse

2002-08-21T05:01:00.001-04:00

The Chris Cejas Network To End Child Abuse is dedicated to preventing and ending child abuse.

The Network was started by members of Chris' family to honor his memory & to save children from being abused & killed the way that Chris was.

In Memory Of Chris Photo

2002-08-21T04:36:00.000-04:00