Guest Editorial…We must do more to protect children

It’s not hard to muster public support against the unspeakable horrors of child abuse. Anyone with a heart can’t help but empathize with defenseless children who can’t fend for themselves.
The case this year xof Christina Regusters in Philadelphia comes to mind. She was convicted in September for the 2013 abduction and violent sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl. Regusters abducted the child from a public school by covering herself, including her face, in Muslim garb and signing the youngster out of school.
The child was eventually found, but endured multiple surgeries to recover. Regusters, who was 21 years old when she committed her crime, testified during her trial that she was a victim of child abuse when she was young.
These cases of abuse are clear and unambiguous. It is clear who is as fault.
But a new report from the Associated Press determined nearly 800 children have died of abuse or neglect nationally during a recent six-year span. Many of them were beaten, starved or left alone to drown. And even more surprisingly, all of the deaths noted in the report were of children who were already under the “protection” of government child services.
The report noted part of the challenge in helping to keep abused children safe is “no single, complete set of data exists for the deaths of children who already were being overseen by child protective services.”
The 50-state study determined states provide information to the federal government on child abuse deaths on a voluntary basis.
This must change.
Philadelphia may provide a path forward for change. Anne Marie Ambrose took over the city’s troubled Department of Human Services after the death of Danieal Kelly, 14, who died of malnutrition in 2006. Four workers from an agency contracted by the city were convicted for negligence in Kelly’s death.
Ambrose instituted sweeping changes at DHS, including lowered case loads and a single-case management system that was community-based. Federal officials said Ambrose’s leadership spurred a “sea change” in city social services.
But the work is not done. Local, state and federal governments must do more to protect the most vulnerable in our society. A good place to start would be, at the very least, keeping accurate records of children in child services and accurately documenting outcomes.
(Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune.)
 
 
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