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Texas, Four Feet Under: Hidden stories of child abuse: a child diedevery three weeks in Texas in 2005.



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 17th 07, 07:46 AM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
fx
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,848
Default Texas, Four Feet Under: Hidden stories of child abuse: a child diedevery three weeks in Texas in 2005.

Four Feet Under: Hidden stories of child abuse

Web Posted: 07/15/2007 01:30 AM CDT

Nancy Martinez
Express-News

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met....66e2d27c.html

The morticians did their best with the tiny lifeless infant. Two hours
they spent trying to mask baby David's injuries. They disguised the
chunk missing from his leg with plastic and special cream. They covered
his bruised face with makeup.

Still, family members at David Lee Graves IV's funeral whispered to each
other that the infant in the tiny velvet-lined casket didn't look
anything like David.

Only five months earlier, David had been brought into the world to
replace another child, one the mother lost to Child Protective Services
because of a drug habit. He weighed 11 pounds when he was beaten to
death in December 2005. Somebody bludgeoned his head and smashed his
jaw. Someone bit his thigh and bruised his arm.

A list of his injuries filled two pages of the medical examiner's report
and informed the mortician's notes.

"Baby in bad shape," the undertaker wrote.


When they buried David 4 feet under, a common depth for a child's
grave, on the Friday before Christmas, his mother wasn't there. Devon
Arlene Vega, who was 25 then and had a cocaine habit, was locked in the
Bexar County Jail, accused of beating David to death less than two weeks
after CPS had begun investigating her for a second time on allegations
of neglect.

Last month, at the age of 26, she pleaded guilty to murdering David and
was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

David's was a death foretold, an indictment of a system that repeatedly
fails to protect children, often with brutal consequences and lasting
collateral damage. But if such cases make you think child abuse is a big
problem, you don't know the half of it.

Even now, as more kids than ever are dying of abuse or neglect,
high-profile deaths continue to be the exception. Some children die
without ever making the news. Indeed, some aren't classified as abuse or
neglect, despite cold, hard evidence that suggests they should be — like
the bullets a young mother named Lani Carr fired into the heads of her
children, Jamila and Arthur. Such arbitrariness throws into doubt the
accuracy of the statistics CPS releases — and statistics are all that
the agency can make public under the law.

Because CPS records are confidential, it's almost impossible even to
ascertain the names of the children who die, even though public scrutiny
can be helpful, having spurred meaningful reforms elsewhere. Add to that
the initial uncertainties about cause of death, so common in such cases,
and it makes for something strange and surprising: a serial killer that
wants for publicity.

For every Sariyah Garcia or Sebastian Lopez, whose bodies were found
under a house in March, stirring public outrage, there are at least as
many other children who die without a ripple on the public
consciousness. Despite attempts to reform CPS, the death rate is rising,
and many kids are dying on the state's watch. Last year was the
deadliest ever in Texas.

In Bexar County, the deadliest 12-month period was the state fiscal year
ending Aug. 31, 2005. Eighteen children died. That's a child every three
weeks. Many of those children lived and died without the public's
bearing witness.

Though CPS most often gets blamed for child deaths, the tragedy of
Sariyah and Sebastian also brought police under scrutiny. Police
officials were criticized because an officer did not remove them from
their mother Valerie Lopez's home after seeing a cell phone video Nov.
10 that showed a wide red bruise on Sariyah's face. (The officer
referred the case to CPS, which was unable to locate Lopez or her
children despite what the agency claimed were repeated attempts between
November and March.)

Police Chief William McManus announced Friday that the Police Department
and CPS were launching an immediate change: A CPS special investigator
would work out of each of the city's six police substations. Still, some
child advocates say, the problem begs proactive remedies such as
counseling and education.

Today the San Antonio Express-News illuminates the crisis by giving it a
human face. Fourteen faces, actually. That's how many child deaths CPS
classified as abuse or neglect in Bexar County in the fiscal year ending
Aug. 31, 2006 — a per-capita fatality rate that ranks third in the state
and much higher than the national average.

We spent 10 months examining the lives and deaths of all 14 children,
whose fates ranged from brutal abuse to heartbreaking lapses in judgment
by otherwise loving parents, from failings of system to failings of society.

From sources, police and autopsy records and interviews with dozens of
family members, law enforcement officers and child protection officials,
there emerged out of the statistics real children. David. Triston.
Abigail. Jay. Jose. Ericka. Elijah. Lenny. Brian. Guadalupe. Ruben.
Brianna. Braden. Treasure.

Some of the children were smothered. Three of them drowned. Eight came
from families that had a history with CPS.

Most of the families couldn't afford funerals or gravestones.

Here, all in one place for the first time, are those 14 stories,
representing a year's worth of deaths, many heretofore untold. Short
lives. Little histories. The big picture, pieced together in a way
you've never seen before.







CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
  #2  
Old July 17th 07, 11:02 PM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
0:]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default Texas, Four Feet Under: Hidden stories of child abuse: a childdied every three weeks in Texas in 2005.

On Jul 16, 11:46 pm, fx wrote:

...once again blaming CPS, and this time, the cops, for not doing what
they cannot legally do. Imagine if a cop could remove your child for
suspicion because he or she had a "red mark" that showed up ONLY ON A
cell phone pic.

Imagine the rant and raging on this very newsgroup if a cop did
that...yet this one is faulted for NOT removing based on a cell phone
photo. ... as the evidence.

Come now, fx. Michael.

Four Feet Under: Hidden stories of child abuse

Web Posted: 07/15/2007 01:30 AM CDT

Nancy Martinez
Express-News

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met...07.en.childmai...

The morticians did their best with the tiny lifeless infant. Two hours
they spent trying to mask baby David's injuries. They disguised the
chunk missing from his leg with plastic and special cream. They covered
his bruised face with makeup.

Still, family members at David Lee Graves IV's funeral whispered to each
other that the infant in the tiny velvet-lined casket didn't look
anything like David.

Only five months earlier, David had been brought into the world to
replace another child, one the mother lost to Child Protective Services
because of a drug habit. He weighed 11 pounds when he was beaten to
death in December 2005. Somebody bludgeoned his head and smashed his
jaw. Someone bit his thigh and bruised his arm.

A list of his injuries filled two pages of the medical examiner's report
and informed the mortician's notes.

"Baby in bad shape," the undertaker wrote.


I'll bet this mortician has seen more than one such child.

When they buried David 4 feet under, a common depth for a child's
grave, on the Friday before Christmas, his mother wasn't there. Devon
Arlene Vega, who was 25 then and had a cocaine habit, was locked in the
Bexar County Jail, accused of beating David to death less than two weeks
after CPS had begun investigating her for a second time on allegations
of neglect.


And CPS should have removed the child? On what grounds?

Greg Himself, has said that "neglect" is not serious physical abuse and
children should not be taken from their parents for it.

What shall society do then?

Or does this just serve to satisfy your need to rant, sans any rational
reason to by way of this story?

More comments interspersed below.


Last month, at the age of 26, she pleaded guilty to murdering David and
was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

David's was a death foretold, an indictment of a system that repeatedly
fails to protect children, often with brutal consequences and lasting
collateral damage. But if such cases make you think child abuse is a big
problem, you don't know the half of it.


"Death foretold?"

What information provided would turn any of the actors into psychics.
Hell, the MOTHER didn't even know she was going to kill him, did she?

Even now, as more kids than ever are dying of abuse or neglect,
high-profile deaths continue to be the exception. Some children die
without ever making the news. Indeed, some aren't classified as abuse or
neglect, despite cold, hard evidence that suggests they should be — like
the bullets a young mother named Lani Carr fired into the heads of her
children, Jamila and Arthur. Such arbitrariness throws into doubt the
accuracy of the statistics CPS releases — and statistics are all that
the agency can make public under the law.

Because CPS records are confidential, it's almost impossible even to
ascertain the names of the children who die, even though public scrutiny
can be helpful, having spurred meaningful reforms elsewhere. Add to that
the initial uncertainties about cause of death, so common in such cases,
and it makes for something strange and surprising: a serial killer that
wants for publicity.

For every Sariyah Garcia or Sebastian Lopez, whose bodies were found
under a house in March, stirring public outrage, there are at least as
many other children who die without a ripple on the public
consciousness. Despite attempts to reform CPS, the death rate is rising,
and many kids are dying on the state's watch. Last year was the
deadliest ever in Texas.

In Bexar County, the deadliest 12-month period was the state fiscal year
ending Aug. 31, 2005. Eighteen children died. That's a child every three
weeks. Many of those children lived and died without the public's
bearing witness.

Though CPS most often gets blamed for child deaths, the tragedy of
Sariyah and Sebastian also brought police under scrutiny. Police
officials were criticized because an officer did not remove them from
their mother Valerie Lopez's home after seeing a cell phone video Nov.
10 that showed a wide red bruise on Sariyah's face. (The officer
referred the case to CPS, which was unable to locate Lopez or her
children despite what the agency claimed were repeated attempts between
November and March.)


And had that been a "play" bruise, and in fact had the child been
removed on such weak evidence, according to you folks, Micheal, this ng
would have erupted with indignation over the PARENTAL RIGHTS VIOLATION
BY THE ARROGANT COP. You know it, I know it, and Greg Himself knows it.

The article consists more of hyperbole than information. In fact, it's
highly biased by its very lack of information. We call that, in critical
thinking, lying by omission.

A deliberate attempt to mislead.

Around the year 400, Saint Augustine argued that the sin isn't in what
you do (or don't) say, but in your intent to leave a false impression.

He was discussing "pious fraud," a common logical fallacy. And used
constantly by politicians, and you, Michael. As you always have.

Police Chief William McManus announced Friday that the Police Department
and CPS were launching an immediate change: A CPS special investigator
would work out of each of the city's six police substations. Still, some
child advocates say, the problem begs proactive remedies such as
counseling and education.

Today the San Antonio Express-News illuminates the crisis by giving it a
human face. Fourteen faces, actually. That's how many child deaths CPS
classified as abuse or neglect in Bexar County in the fiscal year ending
Aug. 31, 2006 — a per-capita fatality rate that ranks third in the state
and much higher than the national average.

We spent 10 months examining the lives and deaths of all 14 children,
whose fates ranged from brutal abuse to heartbreaking lapses in judgment
by otherwise loving parents, from failings of system to failings of

society.

From sources, police and autopsy records and interviews with dozens of
family members, law enforcement officers and child protection officials,
there emerged out of the statistics real children. David. Triston.
Abigail. Jay. Jose. Ericka. Elijah. Lenny. Brian. Guadalupe. Ruben.
Brianna. Braden. Treasure.

Some of the children were smothered. Three of them drowned. Eight came
from families that had a history with CPS.

Most of the families couldn't afford funerals or gravestones.

Here, all in one place for the first time, are those 14 stories,
representing a year's worth of deaths, many heretofore untold. Short
lives. Little histories. The big picture, pieced together in a way
you've never seen before.

CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...

 




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