Died December 2001

He said this inevitably raised questions about the CYFS handling of the case.

Saliel and Olympia were murdered in their beds by step-father Bruce Howse, following a note written by Olympia in her diary just a week before her death that "my father is going to kill me". An inquiry by the Commissioner for Children unearthed a litany of failures on the part of CYF. Established procedures and practices were not followed, new notifications were not entered, the practice manager was not consulted, and allegations of sexual abuse, despite being recanted, were not investigated. The social worker involved was over-familiar with the family and was desensitised to the level of violence and neglect that was occurring. No single agency was aware of all of the facts of the case, and the interests of the adults became the focus at the expense of those of the children.

The Chair of the Family Law Section (which represents family lawyers), David Burns, said today that the deaths of 12-year-old Saliel Aplin and her 11-year-old sister Olympia Jetson were two more in what was becoming a long list of deaths of children who have in common a long history with the Child Youth and Family Services and, apparently, other agencies.

He said this inevitably raised questions about the CYFS handling of the case.

"The Section recognises that there are resource issues but these should not be confused with issues relating to competent social work. We note that the CYFS review of the case, which it started in April, was suspended at the request of the Crown solicitor while the court action proceeded. "

Mr Burns said from the details that have come out in the criminal case it seemed likely that there were areas where CYFS management of the case was lacking.

"The Section is saddened that yet more children have died in circumstances where it was clear to many that the girls had been at risk for some time. The Section reserves its comments on the reasons for this and where responsibility lies until the CYFS review is complete. The Section notes with approval that the Commissioner for Children Roger McClay is conducting his own investigation.

"Our community needs to make protection of children a very high priority," he said.

Released by Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society.

Masterton man Bruce Howse was today jailed for 28 years for the murder of his two stepdaughters - the country's longest imposed sentence since the abolition of the death penalty.

Howse, 40, was found guilty a fortnight ago of stabbing half sisters Saliel Aplin, 12, and Olympia Jetson, 11, to death in their Masterton home in the early hours of December 4 last year.

At the High Court in Wellington today, Justice Lowell Goddard sentenced Howse to life for the murders of Saliel and Olympia, with a non-parole period of 28 years.

She said Howse's vindictive viciousness and inability to admit remorse for the crimes were reasons for the long sentence.

"There are no mitigating factors whatsover in your case.

"You should never be released back into the community."

She said she had considered a recent appeal extending double murderer Mark Lundy's non-parole period from 17 to 21 years in deciding the sentence of this case.

Previously the longest fixed-term sentence imposed was on Lundy whose non-parole sentence was increased to 20 years by the Court of Appeal.

Lundy was found guilty of killing his wife Christine and daughter Amber at their Palmerston North home in August 2000.


Justice Goddard said to lie about the girls' mother Charlene Aplin's involvement in the murders was the most terrible thing about the incident.

"It was the most cruel of all....Anyone who had to sit through your trial and had to hear the evidence against you which was overwhelming could have no doubt whatsoever about your guilt."

She said she unequivocally accepted Howse was molesting the girls and that was his motive for the killings.

Howse was found guilty of the murder of the girls on December 4.

The verdict came exactly a year after the sisters were stabbed to death in their beds, in the sleepout of their Masterton home.

In her summing up to the jury then, Justice Goddard said they had to decide which of the two parents killed the girls.

She said the incident arose out of the domestic family dynamics of the household.

She said the crown maintained Howse killed the girls and the defence claimed it was their mother Charlene Aplin.

The judge said that if there was a reasonable possibility that Ms Aplin had done it, the jury had to acquit.

Because the jury could not get into the minds of Ms Aplin or Howse to see their intentions they had to look at the surrounding evidence, she said.

Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said Howse was trying to avoid moral responsibility for the girls' deaths.

He said that during the confession Howse had made to police he described exact detail that no one else could have known unless they had killed the girls.

He warned the jury that they were not setting out to prove that Howse sexually abused the girls, but it was something to consider as part of the background leading up to the killings; that Howse had known about allegations Olympia had made.

Mr Burston said a note by Olympia said it all: "My dad is going to kill me".

The allegation that Ms Aplin had done it was rubbish, "a pack of lies constructed to avoid the moral responsibility of these killings".

Howse had made up stories, wild goose chases for the police, voices in his head for the doctor and when they did not work he came up with shifting the blame to Ms Aplin, Mr Burston said.

Defence lawyer Val Nisbet told the jury the police had picked out Howse as the prime suspect too early and gathered evidence that led to him without considering the overall picture.

He said it had to be a possibility that Ms Aplin had killed the girls.

Mr Nisbet said it did not make sense to say that Howse's killing of the girls solved his problems.

"Howse was not an angel and nor is Charlene," he said.

Justice Goddard said Howse had waited while Olympia suffered an horrendous death to make sure she would not live to talk.

His probation report showed he had no guilt, no remorse, he was unmotivated to change and was anti-social.

"You are concerned only for yourself and self is your only preoccupation," she said.

Afterwards, Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Oxnam said he was delighted with the sentence. Howse was a cruel, evil and wicked man, he said.

Mr Oxnam said Ms Aplin was a good and kind mother, whose life had been forever changed by Howse's actions.

"There was no evidence that Charlene was in any way involved in the killing of the sisters."

Howse showed no emotion at the sentence.

Defence lawyer Ken Daniels said there had not yet been a decision on whether to appeal the sentence.

Howse would have to live with the choices he had made, he said.

- NZPA

____________________________

Died July 29,2007

Robbie, of course, had no voice to speak for himself - and no one prepared to take up his cause. He was repeatedly failed by those paid to protect him.

The death of a 13-month-old boy has highlighted the cases of 22,000 abused children failed by a government child protection agency. Robbie Gillett was still in the womb when he was failed by the NSW Department of Community Services (DOCS) for the first time. After his mother, Rebecca Mann, presented at Campbelltown Hospital with an alarming pregnancy complication, she was offered support from DOCS. But despite advice that her growing baby could be at risk because she was leaking amniotic fluid, she refused point blank.

Robbie, of course, had no voice to speak for himself - and no one prepared to take up his cause. Like an estimated 22,000 children in NSW each year, he was known to authorities as being at risk of serious harm, but was repeatedly failed by those paid to protect him. Before he finally gave up the battle to live, the tiny blond boy with the haunted eyes endured trauma that has left even seasoned child-abuse investigators shellshocked.

While the cause of Robbie's death is yet to be confirmed, The Australian understands an initial examination of the one-year-old's body revealed internal injuries consistent with violent force inflicted by a blunt object. In the hours before he was discovered dead by his mother in the family's home in Claymore, in Sydney's southwest, on July 31, Robbie's bowel, liver, one kidney and an adrenal gland had been perforated, and his heart sac damaged.

Yesterday, the boy's maternal grandfather, Stephen Mann, joined detectives to plead for anyone with information about how the baby spent his days to come forward. "Robbie was a beautiful baby boy who brought so much joy and happiness to our lives," Mr Mann said. "This shocking event will haunt our family forever."

Alarm bells should have been tolling for Robbie Gillett long before this catastrophic ending. Within months of his birth the infant suffered a skull fracture - but investigating DOCS caseworkers deemed no further intervention was needed. Six months later, another DOCS notification was issued when Robbie suffered unusual damage to his testicles. His parents insisted one of his two older brothers had stepped on the baby during a nappy change. That excuse was apparently plausible: Robbie's DOCS case file was closed soon after, within weeks of his death.

But it was not just welfare workers who failed the little boy. The Australian has learned at least two family doctors, in Claymore and Campbelltown, are likely to face disciplinary action for ignoring mandatory reporting obligations that require health workers in NSW to report suspected child abuse. The doctors had separately examined Robbie in the months before his death and referred him to hospital for treatment of a number of injuries, including extensive bruising and what has since been confirmed as two fractured ribs.

But tragically, Robbie's case is not unique. If anything, his story is just the latest illustration of how beleaguered and dysfunctional the NSW Department of Community Services has become despite a $1.2billion funding boost in 2003. Calculations based on the department's annual statistics, released without fanfare in May for 2004-05, show almost half of all initial assessments deemed by DOCS Helpline workers to be worthy of further investigation were never followed up.

Notifications to DOCS have jumped dramatically in recent years - driven mainly by increased mandatory reporting obligations placed on health workers, teachers and police - to 216,386 in 2004-05. About 65 per cent of those notifications were referred to caseworkers or Joint Investigation Response teams made up of DOCS staff, police and health workers, for investigation of potential physical, sexual or psychological abuse, or cases of severe neglect. But roughly half of those recommendations for further assessment - or 65,975 individual reports - had no outcome recorded in 2004-05. The DOCS report gives no explanation as to why, but distinguishes them from cases where the investigation is continuing. With DOCS estimating it receives two reports for every child referred to the service, these figures suggest almost 33,000 at-risk children never received the department's recommended follow-up. But about two-thirds of all cases that did receive secondary assessment in 2004-05 confirmed actual harm to a child.

CPS ordered to pay $1.5 million to mother in death of her son

Salma ElSharkawy begged social services: "I wanna go home"

Brianna Pope Died After Repeated Abuse

Pope's death was one of the cases that prompted a state task force to investigate Nebraska's child welfare system. Last year, that task force proposed a list of changes to the governor.

Omaha, NB - A Douglas County district judge said during Leonard Burk's sentencing Wednesday that it's probably the worst case of child abuse he's ever seen.

Burks was sentenced for killing his 3-year-old stepdaughter, Brianna Pope. Pope died of injuries suffered from repeated beatings by Burks in May 2003.

Burks apologized to the families involved and asked the court for mercy. He hung his head as he left the courtroom.

The state recommended he get 30 to 50 years in prison. Judge Robert Burkhard said he didn't think that was enough, and sentenced Burks to 50 to 60 years.

Mr. Burks, you're going away for a long time. At least, you're alive. She isn't," Burkhard said.

"I'm glad to see he gave him more than what the state recommended, but it still doesn't fix the system," said Pope's grandfather, Dennis Huggin. "The cries for help were there. They were comin' from all over the place -- the church, from us, from everyone."

Pope's death was one of the cases that prompted a state task force to investigate Nebraska's child welfare system. Last year, that task force proposed a list of changes to the governor.

OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha stepfather was arrested Saturday in connection with his 3-year-old stepdaughter's death.Paramedics were called to a house at 2230 N. 39th St. around noon on Saturday.

Rescue workers said Brianna Pope, 3, was not breathing when they found her. She died at Creighton University Medical Center.

A short time later, police arrested Leonard Burks, 24, for felony child abuse resulting in death.

Brianna's grandparents have custody of her older brother, but said they couldn't get Brianna in time."My heart hurts so bad I can't hardly think straight," Brianna's grandmother Carol Huggins said.

The county coroner contacted the Police Department Monday to say that the autopsy on Pope was inconclusive. Officials said the cause of death would not be determined until further tests were performed.

Bond has been set at $250,000 for Burks.

Mata had been a suspect in the 1995 murder of a 17-year-old Scottsbluff boy, but a grand jury decided it did not have enough evidence to issue an indictment !!!!

January 19, 2004 -The 15-year-old girl,who was a ward of the court....

Dead girl's mother testifies at suspect's trial

SANTA ANA - Cheryl D. Ramirez last saw her teenage daughter in a Georgia courtroom, promising a judge she would never run away from a group home again.

But like before, Hanna Montessori broke her word. The 15-year-old girl,who was a ward of the court, fled and ended up as a prostitute in Orange County, where she was killed in January 2004 after being picked up on Harbor Boulevard.

"I knew she was going to run away," said Ramirez, in her first interview about Hanna's death. "Mothers know their daughters . I told prosecutors and case workers she would do it, but they didn't believe me."

Ramirez flew to Orange County from her hometown of Atlanta to testify Tuesday in the trial of a car salesman accused of her daughter's death, Jonathan Phong Khanh Tran, 22, of Garden Grove.

The trial, which began Thursday, highlights the dangers of child prostitution. Harbor Boulevard is a popular spot for young prostitutes, many of whom are routinely picked up by police and put in juvenile hall. Hanna wasn't so lucky.

Deputy District Attorney Cameron Talley alleges she died after jumping out of Tran's moving truck on Jan. 19, 2004, to escape being raped. Tran also is charged with sexually assaulting three other prostitutes in Santa Ana. In one instance he allegedly masqueraded as a police officer.

During her brief testimony, the mother explained Hanna was a descendant of the founder of the Montessori teaching method. Ramirez divorced from the girl's father in 1999, and has since remarried.

Ramirez said Hanna became "unruly, uncontrollable." The mother decided in April 2003 that the girl should live with her father in Maine. But three months later, Hanna was sent back.

Ramirez cried as she told jurors about her last conversation with her daughter more than five months before she was killed. At the time, Hanna was living at the Georgia group home.

"She ran away," Ramirez said. "I never talked to her again." The mother added that she posted fliers with her daughter's photo in an unsuccessful attempt to find her.

Ramirez talked more about her daughter during a break in the trial. She smiled as she showed a photo of Hanna striking a pose. She liked to be the center of attention, Ramirez said.

"She had dreams," the mother said. "She wanted to be a nurse, then a photographer. She had a lot of ideas for her life. She even wanted to be an actress."

The mother and daughter argued. Ramirez thought her daughter was too rebellious. She forbade the girl from dating certain people, Ramirez said.

Hanna called police in August 2003 and said her mother had hit her, and that she was sexually abused by her mother's then-boyfriend. Ramirez on Tuesday called those claims false. Yet they resulted in Hanna becoming a ward of the state of Georgia. She was sent to a group home before running away in late 2003.

Besides posting fliers, Ramirez looked at almost every girl she came upon, hoping she was Hanna. She pulled over to look in ditches, in the event her daughter's body had been dumped there.

In April 2004, Ramirez's son found a photo of Hanna, identified as a "Jane Doe," on the Internet. The posting said the girl was dead.

On Tuesday, Ramirez averted her face as jurors were shown a photo of Hanna's body. She couldn't believe her daughter was a prostitute, and died in such a way.

"Someone must have forced her into prostitution," she said. "She was just trying to survive . I like to think she would eventually have come home."

Contact the writer: 714-834-3773 or rsrisavasdi@ocregister.com

Losing Hanna -This is the first installment in a two-part series.

Missed opportunity to nab slaying suspect called "sickening"

Pierce County sheriff's deputies missed an opportunity 3 ½ years ago to apprehend child-slaying suspect Terapon Adhahn after he was accused of raping an underage girl.

In January 2004, Child Protective Services (CPS) received a report that Adhahn was having sex with a 15-year-old girl who was living with him, according to CPS. Heavily redacted documents, released this week to The Seattle Times under a public-disclosure request, show that an informant called CPS twice within a week, claiming to have firsthand knowledge of the illegal relationship.

A CPS screener did not accept the complaint for investigation, but did forward the report to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, said Dawn Cooper, a CPS supervisor. When the informant called back a second time with Adhahn's address, that information was also sent to the Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said a detective went to the address provided by CPS, but when he discovered Adhahn was no longer living there he closed the referral. Because it was a "third party" complaint that could not be verified, the detective did not file a police report, Troyer said.

Adhahn was charged last month in the abduction and slaying of Zina Linnik, 12, of Tacoma.

"Obviously, knowing then what we know now, it's a bit sickening," Troyer said Wednesday of the January 2004 complaint. "But when you have a thirdhand report, and it doesn't check out, we don't have the resources to check up on all those things. We find a lot of third-party reports aren't true."

The revelation comes amid growing criticism over the lack of coordination between CPS and law enforcement, triggered by a CPS decision in June to put a 12-year-old Pierce County boy allegedly abused by his grandparents back into their care.

On Wednesday, Gov. Christine Gregoire gave the state Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees CPS, 30 days to come up with a plan for clearer lines of communication with police. CPS didn't investigate the January 2004 complaint because Adhahn was not the girl's parent or guardian, Cooper said. The agency investigates allegations of abuse only when it involves a child's parent or legal guardian.

But Cooper said CPS should have investigated the 15 year-old's mother for failing to protect her daughter. Such an investigation would have prompted CPS to go to the home to speak with the girl and Adhahn.

"In retrospect, I would have screened it in, with the mom as the subject of the referral," Cooper said.

CPS has since changed its procedures to require that a supervisor oversee decisions to accept or reject ? or "screen out" ? complaints.

Adhahn, 42, was charged last month with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape in connection with the July 4 abduction and slaying of Zina. In addition, he is facing numerous other chargers stemming from attacks on two different girls and is considered a person of interest in the December 2005 abduction and slaying of 10-year-old Adre'Anna Jackson of Tillicum, Pierce County.

The charges against Adhahn include seven counts of first-, second- and third-degree rape in connection with the repeated sexual assault of a teen who lived with him between 2001 and 2005. Presumably, the girl was the subject of the call made to CPS in 2004.

The teen is now 19 and living in Wichita, Kan. The girl's mother told The Times last month she allowed her daughter to move from Texas to Pierce County with Adhahn six years ago because she thought it was the best option for the then-rebellious 12-year-old.

Pierce County Prosecutor Gerry Horne said he did not know about the 2004 CPS complaint involving Adhahn until he was called by a reporter on Wednesday. He said he couldn't comment on whether it would aid the prosecution of Adhahn, but he added: "I'm very interested in the information. Certainly we'd like to know what took place on it, and we'd like to know the nature of the original complaint."

CPS documents released to The Times also show that the agency received a second telephone complaint about Adhahn on July 16 of this year, after he was under arrest in connection with Zina's death. The caller said two children had lived with Adhahn in his home for four months in 2005.

The social worker who took the call, after consulting with her supervisors, sent the tip to the Tacoma police, who are leading the investigation into Zina's slaying. Cooper said the complaint was not accepted for investigation by CPS because it involved incidents that were long past.

Cooper said it does not appear that Adhahn's name was checked against the state's sex-offender registry in response to either complaint. Although CPS has access to the registry, complaint screeners do not routinely check subjects against the registry unless a complaint specifically alleges that a subject is a registered sex offender.

Adhahn was required to register as a sex offender after a 1990 conviction for incest in connection with a violent attack on a family member. He was registered as recently as 2004, but he later moved and failed to register.

Troyer said he didn't know if the report submitted to the Sheriff's Department by CPS included Adhahn's name for comparison against the sex-offender registry.

Troyer has been critical of CPS, saying it's difficult to get information about suspects from the agency. "We call them and ask and they say they can't get it," he said.

Earlier this week, Troyer assailed the agency's decision to return the 12-year-old Pierce County boy to the home of the grandparents accused of abusing him, allowing him to live in a trailer in the backyard. After learning of the decision, sheriff's deputies stepped in and removed the boy.

Troyer suggested people who suspect children are being abused are better off calling police rather than CPS.

Public outcry over the case prompted the head of DSHS, Robin Arnold-Williams, to call for a full review of the case.

On Wednesday, Gregoire cited the boy's case in calling on DSHS to develop a better plan for working with law enforcement whenever a child is being returned to a home where abuse was alleged. She also plans to ask prosecutors to look at the state's sex-abuse laws to see if improvements are needed in light of the slaying of Zina.

"You know what the tragedy of all this is? No one can honestly ever guarantee, in this system, that no child will be victimized," Gregoire said at a news conference. "You just can't. We are a part of a human-behavior system where there are terrible people out there that are doing terrible things to their children."

Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times staff reporter Andrew Garber contributed to this report.

From happiness to hell

August 13, 2007

Baby Hailey taken off life support.

A Staten Island baby who was allegedly shaken and thrown by her mother's boyfriend and then left to suffer for five hours was taken off life support this morning, law enforcement officials said.

The 21-month-old baby, Hailey Gonzalez, was taken to Richmond University Medical Center last Tuesday after Edwin Garcia allegedly shook her and then threw her in a crib that was filled with hard, plastic toys.

The tiny tot's mother, Marlene Medina, 24, didn't call 911 for five hours after the incident, as her daughter twitched and foamed at the mouth at the couple's New Brighton home, cops said. The city's child welfare agency had knowledge of the family but did not remove Hailey from her home, a law enforcement source said.

The baby's biological father, Manuel Gonzalez, is behind bars for abusing the child in a prior incident, said William Smith, a spokesman for Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan. The couple was jailed at Riker's Island on assault and endagerment charges, but will be rearrested on more serious charges today, Smith said.

"They are going to be rearrested today on charges related to the death of the girl," Smith said. Doctors declared the baby brain dead on Friday and removed her from life support at 8 a.m. today, a law enforcement source said. tmoore@nydailynews.com

I would have taken Hailey

Grandma outraged that ACS never contacted her after tot was beaten

Died September 6, 2005

Agency alters hotline policy after child's death in motel

Kai Gadison was found dead Monday after her mother called 911 to report the child wasn't breathing. She died of blunt force trauma to the head, an autopsy report said. The mother, 27-year-old Kenya Hill, is being held on six counts of child abuse and violation of probation.

Sheriff's deputies found dirty diapers and spoiled food littering the motel room, urine-soaked mattresses and baby bottles containing moldy milk and what may have been maggots.

Hill's probation officer from a 2002 case of alleged child abuse had visited the motel on Dec. 2, noted the "suspect" conditions and later called a state Department of Children & Families abuse hot line.

The agency replied that no law "prohibited a person from living in a one-room motel with their six children" and no further investigation was required, according to a Department of Corrections probation violation report.

Hill and her husband, Nathan Gadison, pleaded no contest in 2002 to charges stemming from his use of a belt to beat at least two children, including the girl who died this week, officials said Tuesday.

The child welfare agency briefly removed the two from the parents' custody but ended its supervision more than a year ago.

A sheriff's spokeswoman has said the husband is not considered a suspect in the child's death and may have been away from the motel at the time.

Gadison served nearly six months in jail in the 2002 case. Hill was sentenced to four months probation and for a time lost custody of Kai and a second child. It was unclear when Hill regained custody.

The Florida Department of Children & Families has been under fire for a series of cases in which it lost track of children. In September, officials acknowledged that confidential records for nearly 4,000 abused and neglected children had been available for months on the Internet.

Died August 9, 2007 -It was an tragic accident ...but Child Protective Services asking for more tragedy!!

Hand over your children!

ACS tried to take my other kids, sez mom burying son

"How are they going to come and do this while I'm burying my baby?" cried Jacqueline Lopez, a mother of six, whose son Carlos Joel died last week in a fire. "This is disgusting, this is horrible. Couldn't they have waited a couple of days?"

Carlos was burned to death last Thursday in a fire accidentally ignited by his 6-year-old brother, Isaiah, who was playing with his mother's pink cigarette lighter in their Sunnyside apartment.

Isaiah and Lopez's 1-year-old twins were rescued from the blaze by their grandmother Carmen Ospina. Lopez, 29, was not home, officials said.

Lopez said social workers from the Children's Aid Society - which had placed Lopez's oldest child, a 13-year-old girl, in foster care several years ago - told the mom yesterday that workers from the city Administration for Children's Services were coming to the funeral to take her other kids.

"She told me they're coming to the cemetery to pick them up," said Lopez after the service at St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Sunnyside. "It was so disrespectful to my baby."

A friend of Lopez's called City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens), who requested that the ACS not take action on the day of the funeral.

"Unless there's imminent danger to a child's safety, disturbing a funeral is outrageous behavior," Gioia said. "It's inexplicable."

The ACS would not confirm whether or not it was investigating the Lopez family. But a pair of ACS caseworkers were seen interviewing Lopez and Ospina last night.

Lopez, who is being housed in a motel by the Red Cross, said investigators told her they got an anonymous tip citing parental negligence from someone who had attended Carlos' wake.

"I'm trying to be strong for my kids; I don't want them to see me cry," said Lopez, who wept into the shoulder of her husband, Edwin Mendez, 45. "And now they want to put us through another pain by removing my kids. How dare they do that?"

"Once they take [kids] away from you, it's so hard to get them back," she said. "I can't live without my babies. I lost Carlos Joel and now they're trying to take my other ones from me."

jlemire@nydailynews.com

BY JOHN LAUINGER and JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Thursday, August 16th 2007

___________

Erica Cesare, an investigator with the Department of Children & Families said:"Not my problem."

Authorities advised mother at the time to better supervise the girl.

Mother, 31, arrested after daughter drowns in pool. Deputies say the mother often let her daughter roam the neighborhood unsupervised. She is accused of child neglect.

 ZEPHYRHILLS - Pasco County sheriff's deputies on Wednesday arrested the mother of a 4-year-old girl who wandered from her house last week and drowned in a neighborhood pool.

Stephanie Armstrong, 31, remained in jail Wednesday night in lieu of $5,000 bail. She faces a charge of child neglect. Her two other children are in temporary custody elsewhere, sheriff's officials said.

The arrest came after at least eight neighbors in the Sandalwood Mobile Home Park told investigators that they had often seen Armstrong's daughter, Christina, wandering the neighborhood alone.

Christina died April 4 after she climbed a chain link fence and drowned in the community pool near her 36131 Begonia Ave. home.

But neighbors said she has been found trying to get into the pool for nearly a year.

They said the homeowners association put locks on the pool gates after Christina was found trying to get in the pool on July 10, 2001.

Other neighbors said they often saw the child roaming the neighborhood on her tricycle. Sometimes she was in a diaper; other times she was naked. But almost always she was unsupervised, according to a sheriff's report.

Numerous neighbors said they had confronted Armstrong about keeping better watch over the child. They said she didn't listen.

One neighbor even told deputies that Armstrong once blamed neighbors when confronted about leaving her daughter alone: "It is the fault of the people living at the park because they don't help watch the child," she said, according to the report.

Reports also state that in October 2001 someone reported an abuse case against Armstrong to a Sheriff's Office hotline. The complaint stated that Christina was walking unsupervised on nearby Ryals Road at 9 p.m.

Authorities advised Armstrong at the time to better supervise the girl.

Deputies on Wednesday said Armstrong admitted that Christina often wandered off because she was unsupervised. Armstrong told deputies she often failed to lock the front door of the house, and in some instances would leave the front door open.

At the time of Christina's death, Armstrong told deputies that she had fed her 1-month-old daughter in another room and returned to the living room, where Christina was watching television.

Seconds later, the baby began to cry, and Armstrong returned to the bedroom to change her diaper. When she returned, Christina had disappeared, she said.

Armstrong searched and found her daughter at the bottom of the shallow end of the pool. She climbed the fence, pulled Christina from the pool and began CPR. Neighbors heard Armstrong's cries for help and called paramedics.

Rescue workers took Christina to East Pasco Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead just before 1 p.m.

By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 11, 2002

Died August 10, 2007

"You're talking about a 22-month-old child with nobody there to protect [him]."

Died August 14, 2007

Social services left little girl to die 'at hands of mother'

A disturbed young woman is thought to have killed her two-year-old daughter before brutally stabbing herself just days after a mental health assessment declared her fit to be a parent.

Ntsimbi Galacia, 23, had been reported to police several times in recent weeks after neighbours became concerned about her increasingly erratic behaviour.

She was arrested by police last week for harassing a shopkeeper with deranged claims that he was the father of her daughter, Balthous.

Officers referred her to a mental health team who concluded last Thursday that she was not suffering from a mental health disorder and took no further action.

Police were called to her flat in Barking, Essex, shortly after midnight on Tuesday after a neighbour heard screams.

They found Balthous knifed to death and her mother suffering serious stabbed wounds.

Miss Galtricia was taken to hospital where her condition is described as serious but not life-threatening. North East London Mental Health Trust, which carried out her assessment, have now begun an investigation.

A multi-agency serious case review also been launched.

Barking and Dagenham Council said Balthous had not been on the child protection register and was not in care. Social services were not involved with the case.

Locals said that Miss Galtricia, a Congolese national, had behaved strangely since she moved to the area with her daughter eight months ago.

Huseyin Alacayir, 26, who works in an off licence nearby, said he called police several times after being constantly harassed by her.

He said: "I have had to bar her from my shop. She kept telling me I was her husband, that we lived together for three years and that I was the father of her girl.

"This was just complete nonsense. I had no idea who she was and she would make similar claims to other shop owners round here.

"I felt very sorry for her little girl because despite everything she was so happy and she loved playing with the other children outside."

Another resident, Kay James, 37, said Miss Galtricia allowed her daughter to run into the road and at one point made the girl cry by roughly picking her up by the arm and dropping her onto the pavement.

Mr James said: "I said to the police officer that they should take the kid off the mother because she was clearly not very well.

"I am disgusted that no one has done anything to keep the little girl safe. This seems to me as if it was completely preventable if they had taken action sooner."

Mother given OK before 'killing daughter'

By Ben Farmer

A mother suspected of stabbing her two-year-old daughter to death before turning the weapon on herself had been declared a fit parent by mental health workers five days earlier.

Ntsimbi Galtricia, 23, was found in a high-rise council flat with the body of her daughter, Balthous, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Council officials began a review of the case last night after they confirmed that Miss Galtricia, whose injuries are not thought to be life threatening, had been seen by a mental health team last week.

They concluded that the child was not at risk.

Scotland Yard detectives had not made any arrests yesterday, but are not believed to be looking for anyone else in connection with the death.

Miss Galtricia, who spoke French and had little English, had lived in the flat in Barking, east London, for about a year.

Residents said the African woman was well known for her erratic behaviour and had been barred from shops for causing trouble and falsely accusing men of fathering her child.

Miss Galtricia was arrested last Wednesday for harassing an off-licence worker.

She was checked by a police doctor followed by council mental health workers.

They found she was not suffering from mental illness and released her on bail.

However, officers were called again to a similar disturbance on Saturday at a barber shop.

One neighbour said he had pleaded with police to take the child into care.

Police said they had talked to Miss Galtricia and referred the case to social services.

A spokesman for Barking and Dagenham council said: "This is a tragic incident and our sympathy and concern goes to the mother and her family."

He said information received from the police did not lead them to fear for the safety of the child.

A spokesman for North East London Mental Health Trust said it would conduct its own investigation.

He said the mother was seen promptly after a request for an assessment.

"There were no grounds for concern for child welfare or safety at that point," he said.

Kay James, 37, who knew Miss Galtricia, said he had asked police on Saturday to take the child away after the second disturbance.

He said: "I said all I care about is take the baby off her."

Huseyin Alacayir, 26, said he had barred her from his off-licence.

"At first she was acting like a normal person.

"But the lady wasn't happy because she was looking sad when she came in.

"She was telling me I was her husband and I needed to go home because the kid needed me. She was shouting," he said.

"I feel very sad. We told police that something was going to happen to the kid at the end of the day."

John Penhaligon, 36, a greengrocer in the area, said: "She was well dressed, well fed, a bubbly little girl skipping along beside her mum."

Child's road to a lonely, brutal death -

James died in Easter 1999, after being beaten by his stepfather, Benny Haerewa, using his fists, a jug cord, a vacuum cleaner hose and a small hammer. The Commissioner for Children's report on this case found that poor interagency communication characterised the contact with James and his family. Despite approximately 40 visits to health professionals, agencies successively failed to recognise the signs of abuse, or assumed that other parts of the system would protect James. CYF simply failed to follow established procedures (for example, they did not hold a Family Group Conference to ensure that all members of the extended family knew there was a serious problem).

The story of James Whakaruru, who was beaten to death by his stepfather, will be told at an international child abuse conference in South Africa next week.

Four-year-old James died in April last year, in Hawkes Bay, after being pummelled by his stepfather, Benny Haerewa.

Commissioner for Children advocate Trish Grant will tell the annual international child abuse conference, in Durban, how New Zealand's system failed James.

Ms Grant said it was a dire warning of how child abuse could be hard to detect if state agencies failed to communicate. The international message was that the onus was on governments to provide care and protection for children.

In James' case, many indicators were never put together, she said. "It's that picture of risk, that whole jigsaw puzzle put together."

James died after one or more assaults from Haerewa, who had already been convicted of assaulting the boy.

The report found agencies worked without reference to each other, and ended their involvement assuming other parts of the system would protect James.

His mother, Te Rangi Whakaruru, had attempted suicide 10 days before his birth, when she was aged 15, but her midwife did not tell Plunket. After nine unsuccessful attempts to make contact, Plunket gave up without advising the listed GP or anyone else.

James was admitted to hospital several times before Haerewa was arrested and convicted, but released on bail. Police did not tell Child, Youth and Family Services that Haerewa was associating with the family in breach of bail conditions.

CYFS failed to investigate the case or refer James for a family group conference.

Later, after James was taken to hospital with further injuries, doctors did not check his medical records, or alert CYFS. Probation officers did not check on Haerewa after his release, even though he failed to report regularly.

James died shortly after being taken to hospital with severe internal injuries.

Died August 5, 2002

CYF intervening with the family on four occasions prior to her death.

Died November 1992

New Zealanders reacted in horror, haunted by the lost promise in Craig's school picture, which shows a boy with a winning smile and sparkling eyes.

Craig was removed from a school disco by his father and kicked to death while his mother turned up the radio to drown out the noise. The Commissioner for Children's inquiry found that the over-familiarity of the CYF social worker working with the family led to an inability to make an objective decisions regarding Craig's safety.

March 24 2001

Quincey Simmons, 3, Omaha, died March 24 of blunt force trauma to head. Foster mother is serving 6-15 years in prison after pleading no contest to manslaughter in a plea agreement.

DSS says dead baby's mother not suspect

Says child abused by someone else

Died August 13, 2003

Mom blames CPS for son's death

Died August 10,2007

CPS had closed case of slain boy

FORT WORTH - When 1-year-old Jacob Rodriguez suffered a black eye in April 2006, Child Protective Services suspected Luis Sosa Jr. -- Jacob's mother's live-in boyfriend -- was to blame.

Jacob's mother voluntarily placed him and his siblings with relatives. She and Sosa underwent parenting classes, individual and couple counseling, and drug treatment, including random testing. Sosa even completed an anger management course.

"They were very successful at completing everything," said Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokeswoman. "They were very cooperative and very successful and got very good recommendations from all of their service providers."

The children returned home that November. Bi-weekly visits by CPS seemed to show that everything was fine and in January, the case was closed.

Now, Sosa is behind bars, accused of fatally beating Jacob, who would have turned 3 in November. Four other children in the home have been placed in foster care.

"It illustrates for us again how you can never totally eliminate risk," Gonzales said. "We work as hard as we can to minimize that risk to a child by working with parents, continually making sure they're completing all the things they need to complete. But there's no way to completely remove a risk to a child, not even by removing them and placing them in foster care."

Jacob was pronounced dead at Cook Children's Medical Center on Friday night, soon after being taken to the hospital by his mother and Sosa.

"It was originally reported by them that the child had gotten tangled up in a chain holding the family's dog in the back yard and that he fell and struck his head on the ground," said homicide Sgt. J.D. Thornton. "The investigation has revealed, however, that the injuries are more numerous and more extensive than those which would have been caused by that scenario."

Sosa, 21, was arrested on a capital murder warrant at the family's house in the 3900 block of East Fourth Street on Sunday. He remained in the Mansfield Jail on Monday with bail set at $500,000.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the boy's mother told investigators that Jacob had complained of his head hurting after he fell in the back yard about 12:30 p.m. Friday while the family was feeding their dogs. The boy's mother told police that she felt a soft spot on his head but that Jacob acted normal over the next several hours and even ate a whole dinner of tacos and rice that night.

Jacob, who was being potty-trained, was left alone on the toilet to use the restroom after dinner. Sosa told investigators that he went to check on the boy and found him lying on the floor. He said he carried the boy to the living room, where he and the mother attempted to perform CPR on the boy before driving him to the hospital, the affidavit stated.

Jacob's mother said that bruises and bite marks found on his body had come from fights with his siblings.

But an autopsy by the Tarrant County medical examiner's office determined that the boy's injuries were consistent with someone slamming his head into something. The boy had also suffered blunt trauma to the abdomen so severe that it lacerated his abdominal aorta. The doctor noted that both injuries would have caused Jacob's death within minutes, the affidavit stated.

The affidavit stated that an interview by CPS with one of Jacob's brothers indicated that he had previously seen "Big Luis" -- described by police as 6 feet tall and 185 pounds -- striking Jacob's body and head with his fists.

Gonzales said CPS removed Jacob's three brothers -- ages 5, 4 and an infant -- and Sosa's 6-year-old daughter, Johanna, from the home Friday.

Johanna had gone to live with her father after her mother, Cristina Cigala, was murdered in December 2003 when someone opened fire from a passing car as she and others rode home from a club. The 18-year-old mother died on the sidewalk in front of her home as her mother, siblings and Johanna looked on. Two men were later sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

A relative who answered the phone at the Cigala residence Monday said that Johanna's maternal grandmother will seek custody of Johanna.

Gonzales said it is too soon to know whether the agency will seek to terminate parental rights in connection with the case.

"That certainly is an option that we're willing to explore along with looking at family members to care for the children," she said.

Gonzales said CPS officials had last seen the family in March, when someone said that the children had not been taken for a checkup at the doctor. The statement was ruled unfounded after documentation was provided to show that the children had gone to the doctor, Gonzales said.

"They were doing well at the time," Gonzales said.

With Jacob's death, Gonzales said, a routine review will be done on the agency's previous dealings with the family to determine whether anything could have been done differently and whether anything can be learned from the case.

"It's very sad and it's very difficult for everybody," Gonzales said.

Died May 10,2007

Dymond was reported as a runaway by her foster mother

Died August 13,2007

DSS was monitoring New Bedford family in shaken baby fatality

Josiah Pacheco died Monday after he was taken to the hospital with injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

The Department of Social Services was actively monitoring the family of a 10-month-old New Bedford boy who authorities allege was shaken to death by his mother's boyfriend.

"They are known to us and they are clients," Denise Monteiro, a DSS spokeswoman, said today by telephone. "It's an open case."

Bristol County authorities have charged Manuel Antonio Torres Lopez, 28, with assault and battery of Josiah Pacheco. Prosecutors are expected to bring additional charges after the state medical examiner's office completes an autopsy of the boy, who was born Sept. 12, according to Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter.

It appears that Josiah died from shaken baby syndrome, said Miliote, who identified the child's mother as Jennifer Serrano.

Serrano also has a 4-year-old girl, who DSS took into temporary custody while officials review DSS involvement with the family, Monteiro said. Child welfare officials, including DSS Commissioner Angelo McClain, are reviewing the agency's handling of the family's case.

New Bedford police were called to Serrano's home on Deane Street Saturday afternoon and found Josiah unresponsive. He was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital and then transferred to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Rhode Island, where he was placed on life support. The child was removed from life support at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Miliote said.

Lopez was interviewed by police Monday, arrested, and charged with assault and battery on a household member and assault and battery on a child causing serious injury. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday in New Bedford Superior Court and was ordered held without bail. Lopez also had his bail revoked on an outstanding cocaine trafficking charges filed in June, Miliote said.

Pacheco's death is the second time this year that DSS has come under fire in New Bedford. In May, a 3-year-old girl allegedly had her lower lip bitten off by her mother's boyfriend after months of physical abuse. McClain launched an internal investigation into that case but has not made the findings public.

John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com

Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk, Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Her small casket was shrouded in black and surrounded by pink flowers and family.

FORT MYERS - In an hour-long ceremony that was said in both English and Hebrew, Coralrose's family and friends remembered the North Port first-grader who loved wearing dresses, and playing in mud puddles even more.

"She was truly an angel here on earth, and she went home," said Ellen-Beth Fullwood, her mother.

About 150 people attended the service, including North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis, two detectives, a uniformed officer and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigator. They sat at the back of the room.

Police who have been investigating her death for a week said Monday they were chasing about 40 leads. They have interviewed many of the nearby neighbors several times and searched the city's canals near where Coralrose was found.

Coralrose's body was found two blocks from her home Sept. 17, five hours after her parents reported her missing. Her father, Dale Fullwood, last saw her at 2 a.m. when he returned home from his bartending job in north Fort Myers.

Preliminary autopsy reports show the Toledo Blade Elementary School student died of "homicidal violence," and suffered "severe trauma." Reports also said she was not sexually abused.

Police Chief Lewis has declined to name any suspects in the case, but says he is confident detectives will catch Coralrose's killer.

September 26, 2006

By HEATHER ALLEN and ERIN BRYCE
staff writers
heraldtribune.com

Rules against Fullwoods on visitations

SARASOTA -- A judge on Thursday ruled against allowing Coralrose Fullwood's parents to have unsupervised visits with their children.

In denying Dale and Ellen-Beth Fullwood's request, Judge Rick De Furia said they haven't been cleared in the death of Coralrose, 6. The judge also cited the ongoing investigation into the deplorable conditions in the Fullwoods' North Port home.

"I'm not trying to imply the parents are responsible for the death," De Furia said in upholding his previous order that gave custody of the Fullwoods' four children to their grandparents, and requiring that the grandparents be there for all parental visits.

Coralrose was found dead two blocks from her North Port home on Sept. 17. The state took the remaining Fullwood children from their parents after child protective workers said the home was so filthy it posed a hazard to the children.

In an initial report, state child protective workers also said Coralrose's death was "suspicious for abuse or neglect." Police say her cause of death was "homicidal violence."

Testimony at an hour-long hearing showed the Department of Children & Families, or DCF, made a mistake handling the case.

And more than a week after the judge gave custody of the children to the grandparents, the agency wasn't prepared to answer De Furia's questions about the safety of the grandparents' home.

An attorney for the Fullwoods complained at the hearing that DCF's requests for access to the children were arbitrary and repetitive, including a second request for a study of the Doreen and Saul VanderWoude's home. Saul VanderWoude is a retired police officer.

"What was wrong with the first home study?" Fort Myers-based attorney John Coleman said. Lutheran Services in Charlotte County had notified the grandparents that a home study was needed.

But it turned out that was a mistake by Lutheran Services, which had been contacted by the YMCA in Sarasota to go to the home for grief counseling for Coralrose's siblings.

When the Lutheran Services workers didn't see the home study on their computer system, they scheduled it and notified Coralrose's grandparents, a YMCA employee testified.

De Furia responded by changing a previous ruling, in which he had ordered the grandparents to make the children available to law enforcement and DCF at all times.

He changed it to all "lawful and reasonable" requests, also ordering the attorneys to work these issues out without involving the court.

But De Furia also used stern language with caseworkers when they couldn't answer the most basic of questions about the children's placement: Were background checks completed on the residents of the children's new home, and what were the results?

De Furia wanted to know, since he placed the children in the grandparents' home and ordered expedited background checks on everyone in the house.

But the caseworker who did the home study was not there because she had called in sick, a DCF attorney said. Also, DCF did not anticipate that De Furia would ask the question.

"A child's been murdered, these are answers you should have had on the tip of your tongue, frankly," De Furia said.

Finally, a caseworker who was listening to the hearing by way of teleconference, checked records and said the background checks had come back clean.

September 29, 2006

By TODD RUGER
heraldtribune.com

Died December 15, 2005

The foster mother slept on the first floor.

A 15-year-old girl, who murdered a three-year-old boy who was under foster care at a Welland home in 2005, continues to have problems controlling her anger, a court heard on Tuesday in St. Catharines.

There have been four reported acts of violence at the youth facility where the accused is currently being detained, said Stefanie Goyert, a case coordinator at the Arrell Youth Centre in Hamilton."She doesn't like to hear the word ?No' and at times would still do what she wanted," said Goyert. The accused has made threats to staff and other peers who are at the facility.

During one incident, she had to be physically restrained so that she could not hurt herself or others.

The accused, who has a mental capacity of someone under 10 years of age, has already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the death of Matthew Reid who died on Dec. 15, 2005.

The accused arrived at a new foster home in Welland on Dec. 14, and was given a bedroom on the second floor, across the hall from Matthew. The foster mother slept on the first floor.

At some point during the night, the girl lifted Matthew from the bed and placed him on the floor. She took a pillow from the bed and put it over Matthew's face. The boy struggled as he was being suffocated, but the accused held the pillow until he stopped moving.

The sentencing hearing resumed on Tuesday in the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines front of Judge Ann Watson.

It is being held to determine whether the accused should be sentenced as an adult.

TONY RICCIUTO
Local News - Tuesday, August 07, 2007 Updated @ 7:52:55 PM

Died August 3, 2007

17-month-old boy who is understood to have been on the at-risk register in Haringey, north London.

Died December 2001

"Letting two children live their lives in an almost neverending stream of violence and emotional abuse is not about love or about putting children first."

Mr Speaker,

The case of the two girls, Saliel Aplin and Olympia Jetson, who were murdered by Bruce Howse in December 2001, hangs like a grim backdrop to the more recent loss of 6 year old Coral Burrows.

Today we've seen the release of the two long awaited reports from the Chief Social Worker of CYFS and the Commissioner for Children, outlining the details of what went wrong from a Government perspective, and making a series of recommendations for change.

I know some of my fellow MPs will have read these reports by now, and like me, you'll be sharing the feelings of both sadness and disbelief that yet again a whole community could somehow fail these two young girls, despite all the overt talk in most parts of New Zealand society about how our children must come first, and how much we love them.

Letting two children live their lives in an almost neverending stream of violence and emotional abuse is not about love or about putting children first.

It is about the New Zealand underbelly, a place where beating up and abusing women and children is such an everyday matter that is accepted by family, neighbours, community groups, police, CYFS and other adults as OK. It is about a New Zealand where adults, even when they are police, teachers or social workers, appear to prefer to listen to and believe adults rather than to listen to and believe children.

I think these two reports are not just a harrowing indictment of some of the state agencies involved with Olympia and Saliel - they also provide a chilling insight into the reality around New Zealanders' tolerance of violence against children.

The reports reveal a whole range of issues which I don't have time to go into properly here, but first of all it is quite apparent that there were a number of critical failures in CYFS social work practice.

This included social workers who were so familiar with the family that they seemed not to comprehend the serious nature of what they were dealing with, and the fact that one of them wrote a letter to the children's mother which was intercepted by the killer and almost certainly helped precipitate the childrens' deaths. There is more of a direct causal relationship between the action of a CYFS social worker and the deaths of children in this case than I have seen in any other similar reports.

I would have thought that common sense alone, much less years of social work training and experience, would suggest that sending a letter talking about possible abuse by a stepfather into the home where he lived might actually create a dangerous situation for the abused people living there. But no, this social worker obviously didn't give this factor any consideration when he or she wrote that letter.

I'm not here to denigrate social workers. They have one of the most thankless and difficult jobs in our community, especially those who work for statutory agencies like CYFS. However, when social workers are working with one of the most disempowered and vulnerable groups in our community, abused and neglected children, surely higher standards must be expected at every point in that social worker's professional life than those exposed by this report.

The Brown Report and the Baseline Review have both clearly demonstrated CYFS systemic failures on a number of fronts. These latest reports are actually a case study of what goes wrong when a department is poorly managed, has chronic failures in its information systems, and doesn't train, supervise or support its social workers properly.

One thing that needs to happen if the Government is serious about reforming CYFS is that the Chief Social Worker needs to be enabled to play a much more significant role as part of the leadership team of the organisation - not just as someone in a minor position off to the side as appears to have been the case up until now.

The key role of care and protection - the statutory function of CYFS - is played by social workers. Best practice needs to be lead from the top and not diverted by dodgy management systems which are focused on maintaining the status quo and making the numbers look good, rather than on ensuring the Department has enough social workers who are experienced, well trained, and supported enough in their work not to make the kind of fundamental mistakes which have surfaced here.

I am pleased that Minister Steve Maharey earlier on in the House this afternoon indicated that the Government has some sympathy for the position that the Chief Social Worker should play a bigger role at the top of the organisation.

A second key issue arising from these two reports is the seeming inability or unwillingness of adults to listen to what children are telling them and to prefer to hear the evidence and statements of adults. There is a need for adults, whether they are social workers, teachers, mental health workers or police, to be prepared to spend time with children and listen to what they are actually saying. If the New Zealand Government is to support UNCROC (the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) which we are about to pass into law though the Commissioner for Children Bill, we should expect public servants to be willing and able to listen to children and not just ignore them in favour of what they are hearing from other adults.

Thirdly, it is apparent from these reports that there is a seeming acceptance in many parts of our society that domestic violence is OK, and really just a minor matter, and that somehow sexual abuse is a lot worse and that domestic violence is somewhere much further down the scale. The adults around this family seem to have accepted that the domestic violence in their home was just a fact of life that rarely needed any action taken. This is very peculiar, especially given all the training and focus that has gone in recent years in trying to ensure that the police take domestic violence seriously. Again, the needs of the children involved seem to have been of minor importance.

In another part of the Children's Commissioner's report, social workers were found to have used a lack of resources as an excuse to ?disguise poor practice'. This is simply unacceptable at any level. The care and protection of children should come first, and I commend the writers of both the CYFS and Commissioner's reports for not trying to hide behind a lack of resources as some excuse for what happened.

This Government is pouring more resources into CYFS. I hope that the Government, CYFS, Police, the Ministry of Education and all sectors mentioned in the report will take the recommendations of the report seriously in how they deal with children who report or who are visibly victims of abuse in future.

One aspect of the report in relation to schools particularly disturbed me. One of the girls was suspended for a month from school because of her poor behaviour. The school knew something of her home background and I find it incomprehensible that her problems were dealt with as misbehaviour on her part rather than as the consequence of an almost unimaginable home life. How is it that schools, when dealing with children in a situation like this, react by suspending the child and put the child back into the home, rather than keep the child at school where they might be safe at least some of the time. It appears to be a matter of punishing the child and listening to the adults, rather than the other way round, as it should be.

I hope the education sector is paying as much attention to this report as CYFS is.

The Green Party supports the push by the Commissioner for Children for a return to community child protection teams to protect abused children. These teams did exist until they were abolished, foolishly, by Labour in 1989. It seems from these reports, and all those that preceded them, that the ability to work between agencies cooperatively is a critical factor that we need to have integrated back into social work practice again.

The Commissioner for Children's report also highlights the inadequacies and gaps in the provision of mental health care for children and adolescents. I again renew my call to Government to act more urgently to bring resourcing of child and adolescent mental health services up to a more reasonable proportion of the Blueprint guidelines. Again, it is children who miss out because these services are the least well funded, proportionately, of all mental health services.

I commend the Commissioner for Children and the Chief Social Worker Shannon Pakura for the honesty and lucidity of their reports into this most difficult case. I just hope all this isn't yet another wasted report - or reports - to be used as a parliamentary door stop or filed in the rubbish bin.

Finally, it is important to note that the Commissioner for Children's report does make considerable mention of the way in which the media dealt with children in the family, outside the family, and with the victims themselves in the aftermath of the killings. Some of it makes most distasteful reading and I hope that the Press Council, schools of journalism, journalists, and editors themselves will pay some attention to the Commissioner's findings and recommendations in this area.

But in the end, all of us are accountable. I hope that this sad occasion might be an opportunity when New Zealanders think again, and a little more deeply, about our fundamental attitudes to the children in our care. The serious way in which all colleagues in the House have talked about this matter this afternoon reflects, I think, the way in which we all feel about it. We all want to change what has happened, and why it happened, for the better. I hope that this determination can be reflected at every level of the New Zealand community, now.

_____________________________

Sue Bradford MP, Green Party Social Services Spokesperson

Speech in Parliament - General Debate, 12th November 2003

Died June 19,1987

Why did it take so long to catch him, and why didn't the police take more notice of him at the time?

Jules Mikus, who raped and killed Napier schoolgirl Teresa Cormack, had a long record of sexual offences against children. Despite being aware of his record, which extended well into the 1990s, CYF allowed Mikus to continue living with children until he was arrested for Teresa's murder in 2002.

Died  April 2002

Died May 24, 2002

Died Sept. 4, 2002

Report on girl's death shows how system failed

Sherry Charlie's vulnerable brother was left with her violent killer, and a coroner ignored a pathologist's autopsy suspicions

At the time, four years ago, officials didn't know for sure that three-year-old Jamie Charlie's uncle had killed the boy's sister, Sherry, but they suspected she had met with foul play and were in possession of many clues that she had died a gruesome death in the home where her brother was still living.

The report from the province's Child and Youth Officer is yet another suggestion of an alarming breakdown of B.C.'s social safety net to protect the neediest children in a period of deep cuts by the Liberal government, which was eager to reduce the provincial deficit by cutting social programs.

Three year-old Jamie Charlie was the brother of 19-month-old Sherry Charlie, who was beaten to death by her uncle on Sept. 4, 2002. Her death, along with the death of foster child Savannah Hall in a separate case, has triggered major changes, and an infusion of more than $400 million into B.C.'s system for safeguarding about 10,000 children under government care.

Hall, a Prince George toddler, died under "suspicious circumstances" in 2001 after paramedics found her at home choking in a crib where her foster parents often tied her down with leather restraints.

The report, by Child and Youth Officer Jane Morley, suggests that even though social workers suspected within days of Sherry Charlie's death that she had been beaten, Sherry's brother and three other children were left for months in the same home with Sherry's killer. It also said government officials seemed paralyzed by a quagmire of bureaucratic rules and legal concerns.

Neither Sherry's brother, Jamie, nor the other three children were hurt by the boy's uncle, Ryan Dexter George, who was later convicted of manslaughter in Sherry's death. But Morley makes it clear that may have been due more to luck than anything approaching good social work or vigilance by the government's guardians of needy children.

"Fortunately, the worst potential outcomes of leaving the brother and the caregivers' children in the home after the child's death did not materialize," said Morley's report. "Nevertheless, a risk was taken that should not have been taken."

The nearly 175-page report shows that in one instance a local coroner in the death investigation was warned unequivocally by a pathologist on Dec. 6, 2002 that the the young girl's death was "not accidental or natural."

In fact, the report shows the coroner was given gruesome details of how the young girl may have died. "Mechanism of death" may be "pillow over the face!," warned the pathologist. " Sitting on chest or abdomen! ... Too many injuries to say accidental."

Sherry's uncle, who was suspected by the police in the toddler's killing while the autopsy's were under way, later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2004.

Yet the coroner, with his lawyer in tow as he gave his side of the story to Morley, said that while that pathologist's warning "was confirming of the suspiciousness of the child's death" the "Coroner's view was that passing on the pathologist's Dec. 6 information to social workers would have been inappropriate" until the final autopsy was available. That autopsy was only made available some 40 days later.

In her report, Morley found it "disconcerting" that the Coroners Service seemed to be fixated on the dead not the living." She suggests the BC Coroners Service attitude "reflects a mindset or organizational culture that will not easily be changed, but which needs to be changed if the value of protecting living children is to be given the prominence that it deserves."

Yet she also refused to pin blame or name names of anyone at fault. She said despite the mistakes, everyone acted "in good faith."

But there were also clearly some major political battles and legal manoeuvers at play behind the scenes. In her report's first two pages, Morley writes in a letter to Attorney-General Wally Oppal that she met with resistance from the Coroners Service.

"... the Coroners Service and the local coroner have argued that my report may not include commentary or suggestions that evaluate the efficacy of the actions of the Coroners Service or the Coroner ... or reflect adversely on the Coroner's competence or compliance with" the law that makes it a duty of a coroner to report any suspected child abuse immediately.

Children's Minister Tom Christensen welcomed the report and said such cases are rare among the 38,000 calls the government gets each year warning them about children in potential danger.

He said the government has implemented measures to insure that any such cases in the future trigger an immediate response by senior officials in his ministry.

But NDP Leader Carole James said the report shows a pattern of negligence and chaos within the government. She said Morley's single recommendation for teams to be set up to investigate children who die unexpectedly in government care was insufficient to prevent future tragedies.

"I expected there would be a lot of recommendations," she said." I'm disappointed."

mcernetig@png.canwest.com

Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun

Published: Saturday, October 21, 2006

April 27, 2002

restraint-related death-"compression asphyxia" -- suffocation caused by squeezing or pressure on the chest.

Mom Settles Suit Over Son's Restraint Death
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 27, 2004

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA--The program that served 13-year-old Darvell Gulley has settled a lawsuit with the boy's mother over his restraint-related death, the Lincoln Journal Star reported Friday.

Gulley, who had developmental disabilities, died on April 27, 2002 from what an autopsy report described as "compression asphyxia" -- suffocation caused by squeezing or pressure on the chest.

Police said Gulley "got out of control" and had to be restrained by staff members at his home operated by the private, non-profit Developmental Services of Nebraska. At some point during the restraint, the staff discovered that the boy had stopped breathing.

Family settles suit over boy's death

The mother of a 13-year-old developmentally disabled boy who died while being restrained at a Lincoln group home has settled a civil lawsuit against the home.

Darvell Gulley died on April 27, 2002, after employees restrained him. Doctors concluded he died of "compression asphyxia" - suffocation caused by squeezing or pressure.A grand jury determined there was no criminal wrongdoing. His mother, Vivian Gulley, filed the civil lawsuit against Developmental Services of Nebraska and employees Jake Murray and Truphosa Otianga.
The suit, filed in August 2002 in Lancaster County District Court, alleged that the group home did not properly train its employees, that employees applied unreasonable pressure to Darvell's chest and that they failed to recognize they had applied the pressure with such force that he couldn't breathe.

On Aug. 4, the case was dismissed by agreement of both sides.

Attorneys for both sides said they could not comment on terms of the settlement.

Terry Sibbernsen, the attorney representing the Gulleys, said the family had been through a lot and decided a settlement was the best option."They're glad it's over with," he said.

JournalStar.com

Grandmother's loss could bolster others' rights

Access to toddler denied after she noticed bruises

WAGONER ? Two years later, Edwina Rice's tears still turn to sobs when she talks about her grandson C.J.

On Christmas Eve 2004, a smiling, loving little C.J. Alexander had opened and enjoyed his gifts, especially a plush set of SpongeBob SquarePants house shoes and a matching comforter. Rice still has a picture of him all wrapped up in the comforter.

Those are the images of C.J. that Rice tries to keep in her mind, not the way he looked the last time she saw him alive.

Less than two months later, C.J., who was nearing his second birthday, lay motionless in an Oklahoma City hospital ? the suspected victim of child abuse.

Now, the only comfort Rice can find in the toddler's death is a bill passed during the last legislative session that gives grandparents rights in cases such as hers. The new law takes effect Nov. 1.

Rice's son and C.J.'s mother had divorced earlier and Rice's ex-daughter-in-law was given custody. The ex-daughter-in-law allowed Rice to take C.J. for weekend visits.

On that Christmas Eve, Rice had noticed some bruises and a small gash in his left ear and when she returned C.J. to his mother, Rice inquired about the injuries.

"When I said ?why is this baby so bruised up?' she said ?oh, he's just clumsy and has this and that happen,'" the mother replied, Rice said.

C.J.'s mother then told Rice "don't worry about it, because you won't see him again."

Rice called the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to report suspected child abuse Dec. 27. They told her they would look into her complaint.

Over the next several weeks, Rice begged and pleaded and even offered the mother money to let her see C.J. again.

It didn't happen.

Rice went to an attorney to have her grandparental rights enforced by the court. She found out there was no such thing in Oklahoma and hadn't been in 10 years.

"They (the courts) had ruled it was unconstitutional to tell a parent who they let see their children," Rice said.

She well remembers the exact moment she next heard from the former daughter-in-law.

It was at 5:20 p.m. Feb. 8, 2005.

"You need to come to Oklahoma City, C.J. has been hurt,'" the little boy's mother told Rice.

She also remembers every detail of what she saw when she walked into his room.

"His head was four times larger that it was supposed to be. He had a tube down in his head. They told us he had no brain function," she said.

"I have to work real hard to remember what he looked like before," Rice said, adding that she has stared for hours at his last portrait, trying to replace the memory of how he looked in the hospital with the image of the C.J. she knew and loved so much.

Doctors told the family that even if he lived, C.J. would never be the same ? "he probably will never run, never jump, never play or smile for us."

She remembers holding C.J. and rocking him after his death.

"The hardest thing I've ever had to do was to have to hug him and he was dead in my arms. I can't explain what that did to me," she said.

C.J.'s mother's live-in boyfriend, Bradley Eric Fabinski, who was just short of his 22nd birthday told police the toddler had been injured as they came down the stairs at their apartment. C.J., Fabinski said, let go of his finger and tumbled down the stairs.

Hospital officials and law officers didn't believe C.J.'s injuries were consistent with Fabinski's account.

Rice's ex-daughter-in-law had left C.J. with Fabinski while she went to work.

Rice said she doesn't blame the child's mother for the injuries, that she actually feels sorry for her because she will always have the guilt of having left C.J. alone with Fabinski.

Fabinski was charged about two months after C.J.'s death with first-degree murder and has pleaded innocent to the charges. He is scheduled to face a jury trial Nov. 26 in Oklahoma County District Court.

Rice said she wants to be there for the verdict, but cannot stand the thought of hearing all of the details of what happened to C.J.

Recovering from C.J.'s death has been an ordeal for both Rice and her husband, David. When they had custody of him, he came with them to work at the Son's Charburgers restaurant, usually occupying one of the booths closest to the cash register and giving everyone who came in a big smile, a hug and a pat on the shoulder.

One older woman tried to time her visits to the restaurant when she thought C.J. was there.

There are some days when Rice doesn't cry about C.J. And then there are the days like one recently where she found those little SpongeBob SquarePants house shoes stuck back with some other shoes.

One grandparent told Rice that the incident would have made her want to "just lay down and die."

"I wanted to just lay down and die, but I had a son who had just lost his son," she said. "I had no choice but to keep going."

Not only was Rice surprised to learn that she had no grandparent rights, but so were hundreds of other grandparents with whom she later visited. And so was her childhood friend, a state representative.

Wade Rousselot, D-Okay, sponsored House Bill 1682. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Earl Garrison, D-Muskogee.

The Rices were on hand when Gov. Brad Henry signed the legislation into law.

The new law is of some consolation to Rice because it could help other grandparents and it was something she could do in C.J.'s memory.

"No one should be shut out of grandparents' rights, because no one should get that call at 5:20 and be told that their grandbaby is on life support," Rice said.

By Liz McMahan
Phoenix Staff Writer

Reach Liz McMahan at 918-684-2926 or Click Here to Send Email

Died August 3,2007

Died June 13,2006

The Kahui twins: Murder - and the cover-up

Kahui twins' parents put burgers before babies

The parents of murdered twins Chris and Cru Kahui ignored doctors' orders to seek urgent hospital treatment for the twins' injuries - and instead went to McDonald's for lunch.

As the police investigation into the double murders enters its 12th week, the Herald on Sunday has new details about the events leading up to the death of the three-month-old Mangere twins.

The twins' parents, Sonny Chris Kahui and Macsyna King, took the twins to their family GP on Tuesday, June 13. King had returned to Kahui's Mangere home that morning after being gone for 11 hours and had noticed extensive bruising on the boys.

She was told that during the night CPR had been performed on the twins by their grandfather William "Banjo" Kahui. Police would not say yesterday who else was in the house when CPR was administered, but confirmed "there was more than one person there".

However, despite obvious fears for the twins' wellbeing, no one in the house sought medical treatment. It was only at King's insistence that it was agreed the twins should be seen by the family GP.

Police said the babies had been bashed on their heads or their heads had been smashed against something solid. They had broken ribs inflicted before the injuries which killed them, and one had a broken thigh bone.

After a 20-minute consultation with their GP, King and Chris Kahui were told the injuries were so horrific the boys needed urgent hospitalisation. An ambulance was not called as Middlemore Hospital was only 10 minutes away and the GP thought it was quicker for King and Kahui to go themselves. But instead of going straight to Middlemore, King and Kahui went to McDonald's for lunch.

They then returned home for several hours where it is understood King and Kahui had an argument over the twins, which led to Kahui storming off.

Eventually King took the twins to hospital by herself and was joined that evening by Kahui. Five days later the babies died in Starship Hospital.

Inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant John Tims would not comment on the events leading to the twins' hospitalisation, but did confirm they had reduced the list of potential suspects "dramatically".

He refused to comment on suggestions that Chris Kahui had been officially upgraded from a "person of interest" to a suspect in the double murders. All he would confirm was that police last spoke to Chris Kahui and King about a fortnight ago.

He also denied claims that police were going to make an arrest three weeks ago.

"We are making really good progress. It is not as quick as some people would like, but we need to be patient - and all I can really say is that I am confident of a result in the near future.

Tims said family members were no longer "stonewalling" efforts to find the twins' killer or killers - but for police there was still work to do to establish a prima facie case.

Chris Kahui, William Kahui and King were still living in Auckland and police were able to see and question them any time, he said.

So far police have interviewed all of the "tight 12" and at least a further 20 members of the immediate and extended families and another 90 non-family witnesses.

Tims said he was aware of calls for police to prosecute every member of the "tight 12" for perverting the course of justice, but the most important thing was finding Chris and Cru's killer.

"We cannot just drag people in, lock them up and think that hopefully that will give them a fright and they will tell all. If we get sidetracked with perhaps minor offences we are losing the direction and focus we need to have."

Kahui family spokeswoman Ani Hawke said she believed it was only a matter of time before an arrest.

She had spoken to Chris Kahui about the twins and did not believe he had inflicted the injuries.

She said she knew who was responsible, but did not believe now was the right time to name them. Chris Kahui's lawyer, Lorraine Smith would not comment.

By Stephen Cook  and Jared Savage 

October 23 , 2003   

Died June 24, 2007

She was everyone's flower.

Roanna enjoyed being in front of her computer, four-wheeling, having pillow fights and dancing. She loved being with her friends and working out with her friend Mary Lynn. Roanna liked to dress up fashionable and wanted her own beauty salon. She excelled in school and was moving to Winnipeg to be closer to her mom. Roanna especially loved to be with her sister Raquel, making her friends laugh and show who she really was to everyone. She was everyone's flower.

January 06, 1993 - June 24, 2007 -Suicide

Mother Faces Manslaughter Charge in Infant Drowning

Woman has history of drinking, passing out, leaving child unattended, court documents say

BENTONVILLE -- A 7-month-old baby is dead after drowning in the bathtub and her mother is in jail on a charge of manslaughter. The woman has a history of drinking, passing out and leaving a child unattended, according to court documents.

Melanie Cummings, 30, of 10650 Short Road was arrested Wednesday following the death of her daughter, Brooklynn. A bond hearing is planned this morning.

Mother and daughter were bathing together Tuesday night, police said.

Brooklynn's father discovered her face down in the water about 9 p.m. Her mother was next to her in the tub, unresponsive, police said.

The baby's father, Joseph Cummings, 35, got a protection order against the mother three years ago in Benton County Circuit Court. He said Melanie Cummings passed out from drinking alcohol and left their first child, then age 3 months, unattended. She had a problem with depression, he said, according to court records.

A dependency and neglect case was opened against the mother, but was closed after she "achieved the goals in her case," said Julie Munsell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services.But a relative said Wednesday she and friends of the family have fought for years to get help for the children because of Cummings' continued substance abuse.

Repeated calls were placed to the Department of Health and Human Services, including after Brooklynn was born prematurely last year, Vincent said.

"People in our area need to know, children aren't getting the help they need," said Amy Vincent, Melanie's niece. "The department that deals with our children is the most important part (of government), but it's also the most inconsistent."

Vincent said Cummings tested positive for substance abuse about six weeks ago. Munsell said department policy prevents her from confirming this -- or any details of the case.

According to a news release from the Benton County Sheriff's Office, mother and baby got in the bath Tuesday evening. Joseph Cummings was on the telephone, but checked on his wife after 8:30 p.m. All was well, he later told police.

Fifteen minutes later, he couldn't get any response at the bathroom door, forced it open -- and found his wife unresponsive and the baby face down in the water, the release said.

Joseph Cummings called police and a dispatcher explained how to perform infant CPR. Paramedics transported the baby to Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville, where she was pronounced dead.

After an interview at the sheriff's office, Melanie Cummings was arrested on one charge of manslaughter, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Court records show Joseph Cummings sought an order of protection against Melanie Cummings, who went by the name of Melanie Short, in early June 2004. The order was granted by Circuit Judge John Scott.

Joseph Cummings said Melanie Cummings had been arrested for domestic battery, driving while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of their child. One evening, he said, he came home from work and their baby was unattended. He spent 15 minutes trying to wake his wife, who was drunk. Later that month, he asked to drop the order of protection, saying he felt comfortable with Cummings seeing their child as long as she was in counseling and not drinking, court documents state.

Investigators will serve a search warrant on the Cummings residence to collect additional evidence, said Deputy Doug Gay, public information officer for the Sheriff's Office. He confirmed police have received calls regarding the Cummings residence in the past, but said he didn't know the circumstances.

An autopsy will probably be ordered, he said.

This article was published on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:22 PM CDT in News

By Robin Mero & Melissa Sherman
THE MORNING NEWS

This week's candidate for mother of the year: Tina Lynn Tatum.

When we last saw Tatum in May 2005, she was in court charged with child abuse, sobbing to a judge how it wasn't her fault that her boyfriend killed her baby -Anthony Nieves  3-month-old-. This, even though she knew he'd been shaking the infant and had admitted to smacking her older son around herself.

"I've been through hell since this happened," she tearfully told the judge. "I know that nothing is ever going to bring my son back and I have to live with it the rest of my life. I shouldn't have to suffer any more."These days, Tatum's out of jail and apparently suffering still. Her latest bout of misery came Sunday when police say she beat her surviving son bloody in a Mesa Wal-Mart and then dragged him off in front of horrified customers.

So how could this happen, you ask? How could someone with her past even have a son to use as a punching bag?

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas was so outraged by the matter he called a press conference.

"It is very disturbing that a person who was involved in the violent death of one child apparently was given unmonitored custody of a second child," Thomas said. "The current system for protecting children from violence and live-in adults is not working."

So says the man whose own office offered a deal to the woman two years ago, reducing her role in the baby's death to attempted child abuse.

In 2003, Tatum was living with Pedro Peralta and her two sons by other boyfriends, a 5-year-old and 3-month-old Anthony Nieves.

On the night the baby died, Peralta admitted that he had shaken Anthony, but Tatum appeared more concerned with her beloved than her dead baby.

"What am I supposed to do without you?" she told Peralta, in an exchange taped by Phoenix police. "You mean (expletive) everything to me. And I can't (expletive) do without you."

Tatum refused to cooperate with police and no charges were brought at the time. It took 10 months and another dead child - by then Peralta had moved in with another woman and smothered her son - before the pair was prosecuted: Peralta for murder and Tatum for child abuse for failing to protect her infant son.

In 2005, Thomas' office offered Tatum a deal: Plead guilty to attempted child abuse and we'll stipulate a year in jail and lifetime probation. The plea also required that she get counseling for domestic violence and have no "victim" contact without a probation officer's approval - though, given that the victim was dead, such contact seemed highly unlikely.

Tatum took the deal. Meanwhile, Child Protective Services turned the surviving son over to her father and closed the case. The agency says it never again got a report of a problem.

When Tatum got out of jail in spring 2006, she went to live with her father and son. Her probation officer notified the court, saying she could find no orders from the judge barring such contact. "Therefore," she wrote, "this officer will allow her to remain in her father's residence with this son unless the court opposes this arrangement."

It didn't.

Mike Goss, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department, said they had no reason to believe she would abuse the boy.

"No information was presented to the court from either CPS or the pre-sentence investigation that she was a danger to the child as a perpetrator," he told me. "The danger was that she failed to protect him from this other guy."

Court records indicate, meanwhile, that Peralta told police in 2003 that Tatum had drawn blood when hitting her older son in the face. Tatum denied it, saying she only smacks the boy. "I don't ever close my fist to my kids," she said.

Tatum, 29, was arrested Sunday after Wal-Mart customers say she closed her fist and repeatedly slugged her now 10-year-old son, bloodying his nose then dragging him off. This, reportedly because of an argument over a T-shirt.

Tatum, by the way, had just completed 51 of 52 court-mandated counseling sessions for domestic violence.

"They begged me to keep them the day they were adopted," -"All I could do was hold them and cry."

State Was Paying Paddock Family -Biological family outraged -Social workers investigated Lynn Paddock months before Sean Ford's adoption - The adoption of Sean and his older brother and sister went through anyway.

Sean Paddock, who died last weekend, was laid to rest Thursday at a private funeral. Eyewitness News confirmed that none of the boy's biological family was allowed to attend.

Child's death turns up heat on China's police - China police leave child to starve

HONG KONG - Now that SARS is yesterday's news, a new domestic issue is quickly garnering nationwide attention in China. The controversy surrounds the unnecessary death of Li Siyi, a three-year-old girl who was the daughter of a heroin-addicted mother in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province. The issue has replaced severe acute respiratory syndrome as the hottest chatroom topic in the country, with the majority of opinion-holders extremely angry and disappointed - but not with the girl's mother.

The driving force behind public anger is the perception of Chinese police as abusers of authority who care little for the people they are supposed to protect. This perception had already been fueled by the March death of Sun Zhigang, a 27-year-old graphic designer at Guangzhou Daqi Garment Co in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province. He was killed on March 20 after being detained three days before because of not carrying valid identification. Although his employer provided the relevant document within hours of his arrest, Sun was not released from detention by police and ended up getting beaten to death by his cellmates.

According to the Chengdu Shangbao newspaper last Sunday, the more recent of the two events took place in the Qingbaijiang district of Chengdu. On June 4, Li Guifang, a heroin-addicted mother of one, locked her three-year-old daughter at home and disappeared. It was not until the evening of June 21, when the woman's neighbor smelled an unpleasant odor and called police, that the incident was brought to light. When police officers broke through the door and entered the house, the toddler had starved to death in the apartment's bedroom.

Initially it seemed an open-and-shut case of a negligent parent. However, when Chengdu Shangbao reporters investigated the case further on Monday, the day after breaking the story, they discovered a new and disturbing element.

Li had left her daughter locked up at home on June 4 and went to Jintang county, 10 kilometers outside her residential district, where she aimed to steal anything she could that was of value in order to support her heroin habit. She was caught by police and sent to a rehabilitation center on theft and drug charges.

Upon her arrest, Li knelt and pleaded with police to allow her to return home to release her daughter to her relatives before being taken to the detention center. The police officers did not agree, nor did they take measures to verify her repeated claim that her toddler was home alone. They would not call the local police station on Li's street or notify any of her relatives (she has two sisters and one brother). Her daughter was therefore left at home, where she starved and died alone.

According to the Procedures for Compulsory Drug Addiction Rehabilitation issued by the State Council on 1995, drug takers must be rehabilitated. A compulsory rehabilitation decision shall be given to an addict before he/she joins any rehabilitation center. The law also stipulates that within three days after the decision being made, the addict's family, employer and local police station must be notified. However, these regulations were ignored by the police officers involved in this case.

The case has stirred widespread anger. A typical Internet posting said: "I'm also a mother. I believe that even if a mother is scourged by drugs, addiction aside, she is still a nice mother with a conscience. She knelt and begged for help to rescue her child after being arrested, which means that she's a qualified mother." Another person commented: "After reading the article, my heart was broken and tears ran down my cheeks. Public servants, what a joke. Where's their humanity? Are they humans? I'm so angry."

This incident followed the conclusion of the Sun Zhigang case. Amid public pressure, a total of 12 people were found guilty of beating Sun to death, receiving death penalties or terms of imprisonment ranging from three years to life. Another positive result from the case is that the central government has annulled the decades-old "Measures for Internment and Deportation of Urban Vagrants and Beggars" and promulgated new regulations on aid to the homeless and beggars.

Police officials in Chengdu have obviously drawn lessons from the Sun Zhigang case in Guangzhou when handling the Li issue. With one hand they quickly arrested those associated with Li Siyi's death and with the other blocked all follow-up reports by media.

According to the local government on Wednesday, investigations found that police stations in the outskirts of Jintang county and the United Village of Qingbaijiang District in Chengdu had made calls to families of Li Guifang but nobody answered the phone. Police officers therefore ignored her begging and didn't attach any importance to it. Officers from the two police stations that imposed compulsory rehabilitation on Li Guifang have been determined to be responsible for the death of little Li Siyi.

Chengdu police are refusing access to information regarding the case for all local media, but the reporter who broke the story for the Chengdu Shangbao has disseminated her story via the Internet on online bulletin boards such as bbs.people.com and forum.xinhuanet.com. While attempts have been made to suppress postings related to the story, the size and speed of the Internet and its huge popularity in China have rendered such efforts futile.

The woman, who was detained for theft, asked police officers to contact a relative to look after the child, but they failed to do so.

Media reports of the case, in the south-western city of Chengdu, have prompted public outrage.

The incident follows a similar outcry over the case of a man who was beaten to death while mistakenly detained by the authorities in the southern city of Guangzhou in March.

According to local media, two deputy directors of the Jintang county Chengjiao police station asked officers to contact the child's aunt, and when the officers failed to reach her, they in turn asked a police station in Tuanjie village, where the child lived, to help.

That station reportedly assigned the task to a police cadet, but the cadet also failed to get in touch with the aunt, and forgot to inform the police station.

Li Siyi, who was left alone for two weeks, died of hunger and dehydration.

No-one realised she was dead until neighbours smelled her decomposing body.

Chengdu's prosecutors have detained the two police station deputy directors, and put the director and another deputy director on mandatory leave, according to the China News Service (CNS).

The director of Tuanjie village has been sacked and the cadet expelled from his police academy, CNS said.

The BBC's Francis Markus says the girl's fate has added to a growing chorus of discussion in China's media and internet chat rooms about police misconduct.

"It's too terrible, but how many more such incidences have not been exposed?" one person wrote on the Sohu.com portal's chatroom, according to the French news agency AFP.

"Some things are even more frightening than Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)," another reportedly wrote.

Media role

Similar outrage followed the beating to death earlier this year of Sun Zhigang, a graduate who was detained in a holding centre for illegal migrants because he did not have the right papers on him.

This week the government published new rules covering the management and control of detention centres.

Analysts say the media are playing an increasing role in highlighting such abuses.

But our correspondent says the trend toward greater openness is also counter-balanced by regular sackings of journalists who are seen to be going too far, and the suppression of publications which venture into sensitive political territory.

Many of the comments in the internet chat rooms regarding Li Siyi's death were reportedly deleted a few hours after they were posted.

By Miao Ye

Reference Material: The CCP's "Show of Sympathy"

By Yu Jie

Published: Tuesday 9th September 2003