January 17, 2008, 23 month old Cyrus Belt was thrown to his death off a pedestrian bridge in Hawaii. This ended a short life apparently characterized by abuse.
Cyrus was just one day old when his first child welfare file was opened. Just six days before his death another threat of abuse and neglect complaint was registered with the state. By last Thursday, the day of the murder, the case manager had not yet visited the family. If authorities had intervened sooner in that week, would the unthinkable have somehow been averted? KHON 2
While the Child Abuse and Neglect team within the Honolulu Police Department was speaking with his case manager about this latest report, police found the toddler wandering the streets and returned him home. Now the public and legislators are wondering if better communication between departments might have prevented this tragedy.
But who could have guessed that the boy’s grandfather would allow Matthew Higa watch the boy? And that he would throw the child off a bridge? Less than half an hour after he was returned home by police?
Couple this with a 2007 case in which twelve year old Indigo Wright was nearly starved to death at the hands of her mother. All the while a family member knew of the abuse but failed to report it to authorities.
And that gives you the backdrop for a flurry of activity designed to protect children in Hawaii:
- Senate Bill 3055 (pdf) broadens the group of persons required to report child abuse and neglect to include family members.
- Senate Bill 3056 (pdf) establishes a pilot project allowing the Department to conduct well-child follow-up visits for children who have been reported but not confirmed as abused or neglected.
- And the Hawaii Department of Human Services is also exploring a new policy:
In an unprecedented move to increase the safety of vulnerable children, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has announced plans to give the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) direct access to internal records from the child welfare system. Hawaii Reporter
SB 3055 bothers me although I don’t know that I could necessarily say I oppose it. After all, anyone who knows that abuse is occurring and does nothing to defend the victim becomes a part of the abuse. Still, somehow it seems doubtful that anyone who would sit passively by as a child is abused would care one way or the other what the law says about reporting.
SB 3056 seems to violate the Fourth Amendment. What probable cause is there to revisit the home on the same allegation that has already been proven false?
And it looks like there may be some federal privacy restrictions to overcome with DHS’ plan.
But it isn’t really the measures themselves so much as the reactionary nature which bothers me. So much of this type of legislation, including that which affects homeschoolers, is driven by a single, high-profile case.
What about all the innocent people who are pulled under state oversight because of fear that one of these bizarre cases might be repeated? After all, they make headlines because they shock. And they shock because they are so far outside what is normal even under what constitutes abuse.
[tags] Cyrus Belt, Indigo Wright, child abuse[/tags]
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Well, it’s been said, “Better that ten innocents suffer than that one guilty person escape.”
Oh, wait. I think that’s supposed to be the other way around.
When it comes to child abuse, the thought of even one guilty person escaping is hard to swallow, let alone ten.
That kind of puts us in a tough position with the public when we try to exercise our parental rights.
What bothers be most about this is that once again, because social services did not do their jobs in a timely and appropriate manner, new laws are having to be formed. Does the government really think that new laws will improve what goes on in Child Protective Services? Why not put that energy towards revising CPS, making certain staff members are qualified and properly trained, as well as not overburdened.
“By last Thursday, the day of the murder, the case manager had not yet visited the family.”
Imagine.
The same people that complain Bush’s policy of War in Iraq is really just a means to gain Federal powers over our lives are the same people that truly seek power to invade the homes of homes of innocent Americans using CPS. Typical bureaucrats attempting to gain more encroaching authority into the private lives of Americans. The Nanny state watching our children for us really is a means to make sure we tow the line of their worldview.
You’re right…and in these cases, hindsight is 20/20. I always wonder how many cases there are that look similar where the state doesn’t jump on it and nobody dies. No one seems particularly clear on what happened to get the boy in the hands of this Higa who apparently walked from the scene casually, smoking a cigarette.
The same thing could have happened even if all were properly informed. Higa wasn’t even part of the investigation. Just a nutty neighbor the mom says she never would have left her kid with. Of course, it looks like she left her son with her father without bothering to wake her father to tell him about it.
Sad.
After this tragedy, the newspapers here reported that that the problem was that DHS did not have the funding to follow up with families like little Cyrus’s who had been investigated. Then suddenly, there’s a bill (3056) that would have the DHS following up on families who had been reported but had not been found to be abusive. Makes no sense, but that’s politics, isn’t it?
Definitely. I wish we could get away from the “we have to do something” mentality and really assess what is going on. In many of these cases, there are existing problems that are not being addressed: lack of communication, lack of personnel, high turn over rates, lack of funding…all of it goes together really. Why can’t we see what the real problems are and try to fix those rather than overburden a system that is already barely treading water?
Oh. what a sad story.
THANKS for sharing this Dana and for dropping by my site, thank you!!