"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong in the broken places."

-Ernest Hemingway

The first blow strikes you across the face. You feel the hand print staining your cheek. The sharp pain persists. The tears begin to well in your eyes.

You are touched in ways that you know are wrong, yet there is nothing you can do about it. You are poked, prodded, fondled. And then the beating starts again.

The second punch is harder than the first, aimed at your stomach. You double over in pain, gasping for breath. You bend over, begging for air. You are kicked, stepped on, pinned down against your will. Kicked again. Pulled up by your hair. Punched. Slapped. Bruised. Beaten. Defeated.

You want to fight back. You want to defend yourself somehow, but it is impossible. Why? You look down at your body and what do you see? You are not a college student.

You are not 21 or 19. You are a child, maybe 3 years old, maybe 8 or 12. And who is this monster attacking you? Some stranger? Are you the victim of some random hate crime?

You stare at the face of your attacker, at the person who has done this to you so many times in your short life. It is not a stranger -- it is family. A relative. A father, mother, aunt, brother.

Your body, frail and fragile, gives up. You succumb to the pain, dropping to your knees and then your stomach. Your body instantly curls into a ball.

You huddle in a fetal position, letting the sobs sniffle their way out. Why? Why? You ask yourself over and over. Why?

Child abuse is one of America's hidden killers. Think this couldn't happen to you? According to Child Abuse Prevention Services (www.arbon.com/abuse), over 3.1 million children are abused or neglected each year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://exchange.bravenet.com/exit.php?id=4030452644

 

Reporting Possible Abuse Protecting children from abuse is everyone's responsibility.

 

 

 

"Whenever any person...has reason to believe that a child has been subjected to incest, molestation, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or neglect, or who observes a child being subjected to conditions or circumstances which would reasonably result in (this abuse)...he shall immediately notify the nearest peace officer, law enforcement agency, or office of the division (Division of Child and Family Services-Department of Social Services, Protective Services)." (Utah State Code §62A-4-501)

Listed below are several current and past cases where murder was committed by a victim of abuse, and it could have been prevented if the neighbors and family members that

knew of the ABUSE, would have reported it before it escalated to this extreme.

 

This Tragedy Could Have Been Prevented and Cody Could B Getting Help And Three People Would Still Be Alive

if someone would have reported what they knew.

 

 

 

The trigger for the July 2004 shooting deaths of Cody's father, sister and stepmother may have been an alleged incident of abuse the night before, said psychiatrist Robert Buser, who treated Cody for five months last year.

Cody testified during the guilt phase of his trial that his father burned his arm when the boy, then 14, refused to have sex with his stepmother, Tryone. Buser disagreed with prosecution experts who found that Cody, now 16, exhibited psychopathic traits and cannot be treated effectively if Judge James Waylon Counts decides he does not belong in prison.

Cody Posey likely developed post-traumatic stress disorder after surviving a car crash five years ago that killed his mother, and his emotional problems grew until they boiled over into the violent murders of three family members, a defense psychiatrist testified Tuesday. Cody’s abuse triggered the events that lead to the murders of his family.

 

Buser said he has little concern that Cody will kill again or commit a serious violent crime, saying there are many indications that the murders were an "isolated act" that stemmed from "domestic violence" and Cody's untreated emotional problems, what was left out was the abuse Cody suffered from for years that a lot of people knew about, but said nothing.

"Paul was an awful person. He treated that kid bad from the moment he was born," their neighbor said. "[Cody] was tortured his whole life as a child, especially the last two and a half years. He was abused something awful."

Noting that Forrester once worked as a counselor, prosecutor Sandra Grisham chastised the defense witness for not reporting the abuse.

"You were a counselor? And you didn't report a child being beat with a belt 50 to 70 times?" Grisham asked. Forrester agreed that he never notified authorities, saying the child welfare laws did not require it back then and he was satisfied that Paul's girlfriend at the time was protecting the boy sufficiently, at least from physical abuse. These murders could have been prevented if only these people would have reported the abuse.

Update:A New Mexico jury found a 16-year-old boy guilty of two murder counts and one count of voluntary manslaughter Tuesday for the shooting deaths of his parents and stepsister on a ranch owned by newsman Sam Donaldson.

 

New Update:

A New Mexico judge spared 16-year-old Cody Posey a life term and sentenced him to a juvenile facility until age 21, finding that the teen suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The decision whether to hand down a juvenile or adult sentence hinged on Posey's potential for rehabilitation.

 

 

Silence surrounded case of horrific child abuse

 

 

 

By the time 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre was brought to the hospital by her adoptive parents, investigators say, she was beaten so savagely that she was all but brain dead.

But even though court documents filed in a case against her adoptive parents say agencies were aware of injuries to the girl five years ago, the state Department of Social Services says it wasn't until last year that it received a complaint of neglect involving her.

The girl's aunt, Holli A. Strickland, 33, who adopted her four years ago, will never be tried. She died along with her grandmother in a double shooting last week in a case believed to be either a double suicide or murder-suicide

 

Her husband, Jason D. Strickland, 31, is awaiting trial.

At last report, Haleigh was listed in critical condition at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

After the neglect complaint the DSS assigned a caseworker to the family and a therapist to the girl, who continued to attend public school as well as dance classes. Yet no one discovered what emergency room doctors saw when she was brought to Noble Hospital for flu treatment on Sept. 11:

Oozing burns. Old bruises and a brain-stem injury one doctor describes as consistent with a pattern of violent shaking.

"Why the hell didn't somebody say something or do something?" asked Lt. Daniel J. Kennedy, commander of the State Police Barracks in Russell.

Kennedy has no role in the case but is a member of the Southern Hilltowns Domestic Violence Task Force. He has investigated similar cases where abuse is seen or suspected by others in the community - sometimes many others - yet goes unreported until tragedy strikes.

Shortly after the Sept. 11 incident, but before the Stricklands were arrested Tuesday, an anonymous caller told The Republican he and others outside the family had long noticed Haleigh's burns and bruises but did nothing for fear of getting involved.

 

 

Remaining silent is cruel and it is inhumane.DSS, after undergoing the extensive process of vetting Holli Strickland's ability to provide a safe home, became aware of potential trouble in 2004 when it opened a case on the family after Holli Strickland failed to provide follow-up medical care for Haleigh, DSS spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said Friday.

Since then, a psychiatrist had been providing weekly counseling for the girl and a social worker had been making monthly visits to the Stricklands' 36 Bowdoin St. home, most recently during the first week of this month, Monteiro said.

How could the long reign of abuse so graphically described in court papers have gone undetected?

"It's a devastating case; it's a troubling case," Monteiro said. "That is why we are doing everything we can to figure out what has happened and what will happen . . . This is one of those major cases that really trouble us."

Monteiro said the agency will continue to investigate the case.

"Whenever there is a problem it is reviewed and looked at so the same problem could never happen twice," Monteiro said.

Monteiro had no knowledge of the "other multiple agencies" that court documents state had been involved with the girl's injuries since 2000 and said it was possible that DSS had never been notified of them.

Court documents don't name the other agencies.