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
Friday, August 21, 2009
The National Library of Medicine's authoritative and current database of information on child abuse
SC man charged with killing 5-month-old daughter
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.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Art Affair Aims to End Child Abuse
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
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.
Source: ChildHelp
* 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.
New specialty spurs hopes for helping abused kids
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
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
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
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
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
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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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.
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