After his 3-year-old daughter was found to have subdural and retinal hemorrhages as well as bruises, her 22-year-old father was indicted for three counts of felony assault. He told police she had fallen off a table a few days earlier but seemed unhurt. The mother was at work at the time and he was the only adult home when 911 was called. Although the little girl’s first seizure had occurred at 18 days of age and she had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, the Child Abuse Pediatrician wrote that nothing about her pattern of injuries suggested anything other than “severe, life-threatening child abuse.” The defendant had no criminal record. The baby’s mother defended him until it became clear that one of them would be blamed for what happened. Child Protective Services had been involved with the family since the baby’s birth. Their concern was that the mother yelled at her daughter when she cried.
Prior to trial, it was discovered that the child had a rare genetic disease which caused a pattern of calcification in her brain. This introduced reasonable doubt. Although some doctors continued to believe the child had been abused, others weren’t sure. Due to disagreement among medical experts, the charges were dropped.
The child never recovered and has significant special needs. The mother lost her parental rights in part because she did not attend required counseling sessions and medical appointments and in part because she failed to protect the baby from her boyfriend.
The child was adopted by a couple who poured their lives into her care. Her adoptive mother continues to push for “justice”—for someone to be held accountable for the child’s condition. “Abuse and neglect is abuse and neglect,” she said, “whether or not a child is born with a disability” (genetic condition). “I just can’t let it go. … God put me in a place where I need to be a voice for all children.”
At the urging of the adoptive parents, the prosecutor reviewed the case, but the statute of limitations for available charges had expired.