The Journal & Courier has more on the death of Aiyana Gauvin and they also have an opinion piece entitled Did system fail Aiyana? It surely didn’t save her.
The news story describes a court proceeding in which the juvenile court judge said that prior records involving Aiyana had to remain sealed. Those records involve the initial removal of the girl from her mother in a child in need of services proceedings. There is at least the allegation that the mother had a prescription drug dependency before Aiyana was moved to her father and step-mother. The juvenile court judge said that her personal preference would be for the records to be unsealed, but that the law didn’t allow her to act on her personal preference in this regard. The Journal & Courier is apparently going to try for the records under a different legal angle.
The opinion piece captures the simmering rage of the community over this incident. For my own part, I cannot fathom the depravity that leads to the deliberate torture of a 4 year old. Apparently pictures were taken of Aiyana tied to bathroom fixtures and baby gates. I believe there are also allegations that other children in the family were involved with Aiyana’s mistreatment.
I seem to have a fixation on the more emotional stories this week – Aiyana Gauvin and Terri Schiavo. Chalk it up to a slowish legislative lead up to the Easter Weekend I suppose.
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