24 June 2012

Here We Go Again...

A ten-year-old is locked in a closet, sitting in her own waste.  She weighs only 32 pounds (!!) and now they want to investigate whether the kid ever went to school.  That's really important; find out how much reading the kid can do and her mathematics grade level.  First thing to think of, right???   I hope they're not investigating this so that they can use it as a political wedge to advocate for tougher homeschooling laws. 

The fact of the matter is, there were plenty of other people who could have said something about this abuse but didn't.  Like the children's hospital little "LP" visited in 2006 when she was five.  She was only 26 pounds then.  26.  Hello, my eight-month-olds were about that size.  Don't even say she's small for her age... 26 pounds?  Means starvation or chemo.  You pick.  

Why didn't they call?

And another question.  Yes, I'm going there.  Bet you this family was on Medicaid.  No problem for the kid not to see the doctor for years?  No checkups?  I mean, I'm paying taxes for people like this to see the doctor, so does no one look ever over those papers and say, "This kid hasn't seen a physician according to our records in five years?"  Really?  "Go to the doctor once a year" is not too much to ask, is it?

And the neighbours interviewed on other websites look like normal people who had NO CLUE this girl was in the apartment.  I don't know what to make of it all.  How could it happen?

The article goes on and on about how if you even sorta kinda maybe maybe maybe think there is abuse going on, just go ahead and call the social worker pitbulls in and you could save a life!  This message brought to you by the brilliant people in Jackson County, where this-all took place.  Of course.  Because usually Jackson County is a really swanky area and it doesn't have enough serious child abuse cases to deal with.  They need to start investigating the "I sorta think somebody might be abused because I just have a bad feeling" variety of reports now for kicks. 

I'm sorry.  How about we just report the OBVIOUS child abuse cases?  Huh?  And what is wrong with the lady's "boyfriend" that some kid is in a closet for maybe days on end and he doesn't report that?  Or he just thinks she's confined to her room because she's in trouble?  What, for days or weeks? 

And the kids.  Come on, eight-year-olds can talk.  They have at least some common sense.  By now they have to realize "Mom locks my sister in a closet like a rabid animal" is not so normal.  No report?

SO who reported this chick?  HOW did "anonymous" find out there was a child trapped in the closet?  And seriously, why didn't they try to do something THAT MINUTE?  Because if I were a repairguy or something, I'd be opening the closet with one hand and calling the cops with the other.  No way I'd wait around and give a "tip."  Crazy people.

Can you imagine a child that old at 32 pounds at ten years old, what they did to her?  It gets me angry to think on.  I have a ten-year-old myself.  He now weighs 103 pounds and that's the low end of normal.  Emperor grew out of his 4Ts when he was something around 12 months old.  Normal year-old babies are about 32 pounds, not ten-year-olds.

One way or another, this kid is likely messed up for life. I'm thinking of all the things my ten-year-old can do, all the places he's been, all the friends he has and... I just can't imagine what life was like for this little girl.  Somebody's butt should be on a platter, and this has zero to do with homeschooling, or not homeschooling, or much of anything except maybe (and I'm conjecturing here) meth.  Yeah.  Look at this.  And then look at the mugshot of the mom and tell me what you think.

12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Just reading the story gets me more angry than sad. That other people could do nothing. But yeah. :(

      Delete
  2. This story actually upset my four boys--and in particular my 22 year old. When I pointed out to my youngest that this child weighed as much as his small-to medium sized dog, he was horrified.

    I just hate it when they start trying to make it about whether the child's parents claimed they were homeschooled. Like there have never been any children who attended public school who weren't abused. (We had a story in our small town a few years ago that people still talk about. Everyone, including all his teachers and his grandparents, knew the kid was abused, but they couldn't get family services to act . . . But, you know, the fact that he went to public school didn't come up, because, after all, he could read and write . . . ) Makes me just furious and sad at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I hope they do not make it about that. But certainly IF this girl went to school recently, I should HOPE someone from the school (a lot of someones!) called the hotline.

      Delete
  3. Just a couple of things; many people don't get a yearly medical checkup, including kids, so maybe this was considered normal. Maybe no doctor saw any reason to question why. I never saw a doctor as a child and my kids didn't get yearly checkups either. They had baby clinic checks at six weeks, 3 months and then a final visit at one year. I skipped all the others in between, just didn't think it was necessary. I took them to the doctor if they were sick, which was pretty rare. They were/are all normal, and perfectly healthy, yet none of them weighed as much as 32 pounds as one year babies. My oldest weighed 20 pounds on her first birthday and the boys each weighed 24 pounds. I don't remember the weight of the second girl. Perhaps height has something to do with this as well. My husband and I were on the small side, he was 5'6", I'm 5' nothing. All the kids are now taller than me.
    Having said all that, I agree it's a very sad case of abuse that should never have been allowed to progress to this stage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True, plenty of folks do not get checkups, but money shouldn't stop people on Medicaid from doing so. I think they should be required to since we taxpayers are the ones who pay $$$ if they go to the hospital with something treatable with an antibiotic or, in this case, a few peanut butter sandwiches every now and then.

      Also first birthday babies at 24 pounds... still there is a range of normal and bet you they were way bigger than 26 pounds at FIVE years of age.

      :) We agree this chick is horrid at least!

      Delete
  4. I wondered if her idiot mother should be locked in the same closet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, unfortunately it wouldn't hold the same terror as doing it to a CHILD would. I'm just astounded that she can care for the other kids pretty well but not this one?

      Delete
  5. The mother should be skinned alive and then liberally sprinkled with maggots.

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh my goodness...how terribly tragic.
    hurt people hurt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is, Annmarie. It's angering and mean and just a waste of human life.

      Delete

Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...