Fortunately, it’s not every day that a manhunt for an escaped prisoner ends not only with his capture but the rescue of three small children suffering from apparent neglect. Unfortunately, Monday’s arrests in Oaklawn are a reminder that when kids are at risk in Wichita, it’s usually because of abusive and neglectful relatives or acquaintances rather than strangers.
It’s good to know that these innocent children in our community are out of that situation. But their discovery, on the heels of Friday’s sentencing of Jennifer Wood to 44 months in prison for “systematically” starving her stepdaughters last year, underscore again how vital the state and local child-protection systems are. They only work well, however, when the community is vigilant about watching out for kids in trouble.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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22 Comments
The thing that I do not understand is that apparently there had been numerous reports about the starvation case but nothing was done for so long. How can we allow children to be allowed to slip through the cracks like this?
I guess I don’t understand how anyone, let alone the parents, could be cruel to children by refusing to give them food and water. What on earth is wrong with people? If you don’t want them or can’t care for them then please get them somewhere that they can be loved and cared for.I advocate licensing for people who want to be parents! I definitely don’t understand those who bring children into the world without any intent to do their best in raising them. Practice birth control for crying out loud.
That’s the one of the most bizarre abuse cases I’ve read. Parents starved the little girls, horrible.
But other children helped?
One was reported, another girl was told to make sure the starved girls weren’t eating or drinking anything.
Those parents sanity isn’t questioned?
The mother starved in jail, how would she like that.
Father of those abused girls is evil. Unimaginable. Let him starve in jail to skin and bones.
3 squares a day for them isn’t fair.
SRS says they are understaffed. Those on staff do poor jobs with so many cases. It was reported some were disciplined or fired over this case.
Two crazy people in Texas.
One put his young daughter in a microwave for a short time, the baby girl was partially burned.
The mother wants him back out of jail.
A drugged out girl, she was high school cheerleader, cut the genitals off her young baby son and said a dog did it.
The boy was saved but what about his future.
Something has to be done to keep children from abusers and insane.
Every state has horrible stories of abuse. Women attacked while pregnant and baby stolen, is always upsetting.
If our government doesn’t enforce immigration laws, why should it enforce child protection laws?
The agencies don’t DO anything about these things though- even when reported! Have you seen the ads in the newspaper (we have them here) practically begging for foster homes?
The state needs to make more group homes, that’s all there is to it.
Hopefully after the starving girls though, that was a wake up call to what was going on with SRS and Foster care, but I’ve yet to see any change around here.
Its interesting to watch adults shop in a grocery store with kids.
As the adult puts beer, smokes and other things of vice into the cart, they yell at the kids for picking up candy wanting wanting their parents to buy it. They usually state it’s bad for them or they had too much candy.
That woman has to be monstrous to do that kind of things to kids.
I wonder why teachers did not pick up on the fact, these kids were undernourished?
Walk on by……………………..
I reported a case last year in Oklahoma regarding a little girl who’s hands were duct taped at night, she broke her nose and the parents refused to take her to the doctor or hospital…after a year she was finally removed from the home after the teacher found bruises on her arms and neck…both her parents are addicted to presciption painkillers. Of course, they wouldn’t think of missing church on Sunday, and two years ago they were nominated by their church as “family of the year”.I think substance abuse underlies a lot of child abuse and neglect..it’s an epidemic and many people’s lives are simply out of control and they end up taking it out on their children. Add the online sexual predators and our society is in a pretty sorry state for children. It’s so sad.
Whatever Con! Kids shouldn’t get anything they want for crying out loud.
The bitch should have got 44 YEARS and not 44 months!
I don’t have very high expectations for people that like in Oaklawn. Was a dump even when I was a kid!
Methinks PMom misses the point. :)
Good comments Mary. As a grandpa such cases really hurt and infuriate me. I hope they put her in the general population in prison. I’m sure they will know how to handle her.
Hey Republican – the teachers did report the abuse of those two starved girls. The fact is that SRS did NOTHING about the reports for months.
This country will never acknowledge the rights of children to a safe childhood because these are non-voters. And usually these parents are poor and non-voters, so the Republicans don’t care because there is no money to be found in this situation.
After all, poor people deserve to be poor – right Republican?
Offers fedup a party whistle to go with his tin foil hat.
Two nails hit on that pointy little head of yours?
I don’t think that it’s because people don’t care..the system is overloaded with neglected and abused children now and it’s not against the law to be a bad parent…the only way the state will intervene is if the child is in actual physical danger..there are lots of parents who don’t have any business being parents, but no one can do a thing about it. That’s why we see only the worst cases come to light, and then the state better be damn sure the kids are in harm’s way before they take them out of the home.I think the idea of keeping the family together at almost any cost is a mistake..but to do it differently would mean that the system would be even more overloaded than it is now..and we simply don’t have the resources.We need to do more prevention, like making parenting classes in high school mandatory and really working to reduce unwanted pregnancies and dysfuctional lifestyles.
Mary, OTOH, I also have a friend who lost custody of her daughter after the daughter alleged that she hit her, which the mother did not. The daughter had a bruise on her arm, and told other kids her mother hit her. The daughter merely wanted to do some things (like live with her druggie dad, have sex) that the mother wouldn’t allow, so the daughter thought was the way to get what she wanted. Unfortunately this cost the mother a lot of money, forced counseling, and now she’s listed as “uncooperative” or something because she didn’t show ‘remorse’ for something she didn’t do.
Kids don’t get taken away because they get hit once…there has to be a lot more for SRS to dtermine that a child is in danger and therefore should be removed from the home. Having a filty, vermin infested house, not having utilities, or severe neglect or physical abuse are the main criteria for removal from the home…and sometimes that’s not enough. I’ve seen and reported kids living in those circumstances and SRS will still do everything to keep the family together…even if it’s not best for the child.Also, it’s not against the law to spank your kid..as long as you don’t bruise or break bones.True, teenagers often lie and manipulate, especially when the parents are split, in order to get their way.The girl I was referring to in my ealier post was only 8 yrs old.
If having the system as we know it under one roof would increase the abuse of the children, that would be an even worse alternative.
The problem is oversite….who is watching the them? Who is in charge of making sure they follow procedures and guidelines as stated in their manuals. They are a law unto themselves. Who restrains the SRS?
We need a place for the children but not under SRS, Youthville, WPD or EMCU. We need a child advocate center that is independent of the system. CASA would be a good addition to that. It needs to be staffed with well trained people who can do physical, emotional and sexual abuse exams. We need people of integrity to man it. People who are able to do a proper forensic interview without bias, non-threatening, kind and friendly to let the children tell their story.
SRS is abusive to children in their custody. The kids a lot of the time to seem to be incarcerated. I know of a young child that during a forensic interview was so traumatized by the SRS case worker and a WPD Detective that the child was in a fetal position and unable to make eye contact. They were relentless in trying to lead the child to change the story. They did not allow the child to finish a sentence. They interrogated the child far worse than a person accused of a crime. Because of the Miranda Laws they could not have treated an adult in such a manner.
They did not allow an advocate or a parent or a lawyer in to stand with the child. This is abuse. Many children are interrogated by such bullying tactics and come out of the forensic interviews looking like zombies, crying and some hysterical. That is not in the child’s best interest. They will hammer away at these kids for up to an hour and a half.
Also the SRS is getting around the system and putting children in their care on mind altering drugs without a real diagnosis or a proper examination by a psychiatrist. They go through a nurse practitioner and she gives them a diagnosis/label without testing or even seeing the child in order to prescribe the drugs for SRS. She works under a psychiatrist. This is done to make the children complacent and to chemically restrain them. These are drugs for schizophrenia, bi-polar, or autism. It is a dangerous practice to manipulate a child’s brain chemicals for no reason than to make them compliant with a system that has abused them.
We need open records, the secrecy of the Juvenile system is contributing to the abuse of the children. The children need to be able to have a lawyer to represent them in court. The guardian ad litum is a joke. A child needs an advocate and the gals are for the system.
Remember we are the people who can make a difference by getting involved. If this is going to be more of what is already in place the kids are in trouble.
Ron Paschall and Nola Foulston need to stay out of this. You can’t be the prosecutor of the children and their advocate too. They treat the children like liars if th child doesn’t line up with the plan they devise. They are against the protective parent most of the time. They all need training and education on how an abused child copes with their circumstances. The little girls were not safe enough in the system to be able to tell and be believed. Lots of children are in that situation.
Mary Caruso – you need to get into the real world! Kids do get taken away for no reason at all and if you have reported children – shame on you – SRS doesn’t have to have a reason to take children – put yourself out there and let some of the people tell you what really happens – it’s nothing but a cash cow for Kansas – and it needs to stop!!!! Megan Mosack on Bill O’Reilly’s show is right – “Kansas doesn’t protect children”. They give them to the abuser so they can groom them for the next generation of income. SHAME ON KANSAS!