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The girl in the window

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Bob Cook, Aug 3, 2008.

  1. Sly

    Sly Active Member

    In that vein, I just adopted a dog and was all bummed out that I care more about my dog than this woman cared about her own daughter. Second anyone who said they can't believe how people could live in such filth. Reminds you that a large percent of the world's population is simply made up of animals who have the ability to talk.
     
  2. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    This story was on the front page of the Indianapolis Star yesterday. It's about how Indiana's child protection unit left a 2-year-old with his mother, even though it found meth in HIS system. The boy died not long afterward, part of a string of deaths under that unit's watch:

    http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/NEWS02/808050373

    Of course, this, like most other state protective services, is chronically underfunded and always under "reform." And as a prosecutor friend of mine says about protective orders and the like, they're only pieces of paper. It won't stop someone who's completely out of control or determined to cause harm.
     
  3. MartinEnigmatica

    MartinEnigmatica Active Member

    To continue on ink-stained's assertion that this is not an aberration, there's been a running case in Philadelphia about a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who died from starvation while living in squalor. She died two years ago, so the case is currently focused on reform...but the amount of indifference from city officials is no less appalling. Here's a sort of homepage of the Inquirer's coverage:

    http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/child_welfare/

    Quick summary:

    "In the most searing dissection yet of Philadelphia's child-welfare agency, a grisly grand-jury report yesterday found that a 14-year-old girl rotted in her bed because of the system's brutal indifference. Prosecutors charged that nine people, including the girl's parents and four social workers, stood by while Danieal Kelly, who had cerebral palsy, starved to death. Kelly's bedsore-ridden corpse was found in a boiling-hot and squalid West Philadelphia rowhouse on Aug. 4, 2006, weighing just 42 pounds - the weight of a typical 5-year-old."
     
  4. Montezuma's Revenge

    Montezuma's Revenge Active Member

    I'll third that. Hate that phrase in all its lameness.
     
  5. goalmouth

    goalmouth Well-Known Member

    These stories are starting to appear as often as the nursing-home abuse stories of the 1970s. They'll never go away, but people will stop reading and papers will stop covering.
     
  6. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Feral children are very rare.

    To have no oral communication in their formative years is very, very rare.

    Children living in squalor?

    I'll be willing to bet that 1-in-250 live in squalor. Squalor being roaches walk on them at night as they sleep or no working central air or heat. Actually, the number might be lower.

    You don't have to have money to be clean.
     
  7. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    The grand jury link is not lying. There are some graphic photos in there. Jesus.
     
  8. Overrated

    Overrated Guest

    No, because it was one of the most touching, yet troubling stories I've ever read, and it left me with a goddamn lump in my throat that made me incapable of speaking.

    Since I read it, I think about this story several times every day...it just pops in my head...never read something that did that before. On one hand, it's a fantastic story...but on the other, it bothers me that I think it's a fantastic story. It's a horrible story...no matter how well-written.
     
  9. Shark_Juumper

    Shark_Juumper Member

    In one of my child development classes we studied Genie. At one point she was allowed to move back in with her mother. She lost almost all of the little progress she had made.
     
  10. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Jesus, the girl in Tampa lived at Disney World compared to this Philly story.

    There are some very bad and sick people in this world. How bad and sick they are just gets redefined.

    "Oct: 19, 2006: After The Inquirer reports on the deaths of other children while under DHS care, Mayor John F. Street is shown photographs of Danieal Kelly. He fires DHS Commissioner Cheryl Ransom-Garner and her top deputy."

    I hope he fired that person two seconds after seeing the photo.
     
  11. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7130407&version=1&locale=EN-US

    The Philly Mayor's response after he shitcans a bunch of DHS employees and brings criminal charges against them.
     
  12. Blitz

    Blitz Active Member

    That's some great work by the writer(s) and the videographer.
    Tremendous storytelling.
    Great post, Bob Cook.
     
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