Haleigh Poutre Update
The blood family of child abuse victim Haleigh Poutre wants justice for the near dehydration of Haleigh--who doctors said was in a PVS, but who can apparently now talk. There are complications about the family that I don't want to get into, e.g., the mother lost her parental rights after which Haleigh was adopted to the family who almost killed her. But it is a matter of crucial public concern to learn why an abused little girl came within a hair's breadth of being dehydrated to death. Protecting her "privacy" should not be a way of covering up a near egregious human rights abuse.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 10:08 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
It looks like part of the suit is not for the dehydration attempt but for not protecting her from the beatings. That may also be a legitimate complaint. One problem with DSS all over the country is that they are not permitted to distinguish credible from non-credible complaints and are required to open a case on the basis of anonymous tips. This leads to a lot of wasted time, the harassment of a lot of innocent people (any neighbor who dislikes or has a grudage against a parent for any reason can make a malicious false child-abuse tip as a form of harassment and not be subject to penalties for libel), and the confusion and gumming up of the entire system. DSS workers are taught to treat all parents as potential abusers. Paradoxically, this makes it harder, not easier, to catch real abusers.
I re-read your original article. What was the deal with the doctors' saying she was "virtually brain-dead" (which has no medical meaning--you either are brain-dead or you aren't) when she was conscious? Were they just lying, or did she wake up between their statement and Spence's visit?
Lydia: This is why this case needs a public airing. We don't know what happened and why the decision was made within only a week or two to remove life support.
This is a whole new level of wrong right here. Who's the child's advocate? If I didn't read this blog I'd never hear anything about it. This needs serious publicity, people, what are we going to do about it?
Wesley - Suggestions? How do we wake people up? What should we do first?
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