The Indianapolis Star has an opinion piece based on the death of a 4 year old Lafayette girl, apparently the result of abuse involving her hands being bound and duct tape over her mouth, that was previously reported in the Lafayette Journal & Courier and upon which I posted a blog entry. I had thought that I was straying fairly far afield from my normal Indiana political beat. But, the Star Opinion brings it a bit closer to home. According to the Indy Star:
The child protection system in Indiana is broken. Badly. And, for 4-year-old Aiyana and thousands of other children suffering from abuse or languishing in foster care, tragically.
Aiyana’s case is especially maddening because her grandfather says family members called Child Protection Services three times in recent months to warn that the child was in danger. The director of the Tippecanoe County Office of Family and Children says there was insufficient evidence to investigate the complaints, despite the fact that Aiyana’s father, Christian Gauvin, was convicted less than two years ago of battery on a child. Both he and the child’s stepmother have been in trouble with the law many times.
One reason why children like Aiyana are not better protected is the sheer volume of reports handled by the state. In fiscal year 2003, state workers investigated 61,492 reports. In a system in which caseworkers are hopelessly overworked and undertrained, mistakes — life-threatening mistakes — become all but inevitable.
The Lafayette Journal & Courier has a story on Child Protective Services and its deficiencies, as well as efforts to address the problem. The J&C also has a story with more details on Aiyana’s death.
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