Hmm, I think there's a bit more to this story than meets the eye.
someone should have noticed. In my city too, a young woman with autism died. She was found starved and in filthy conditions. She was supposed to be taken care of by her sister. She went to a school. People did notice she was losing weight and normally would eat just about everything she could get her hands on. The police found her locked in and the kitchen was locked and the fridge chained up.
One of the school workers had noticed she was losing weight and often can in dirty clothing. Yet since she was not a child no one bothered to complain. Often elderly people are starving and wearing dirty and ragged clothing but they are ignored. Children sometimes get help but not adults.
It might be better for people to be nosey and make a report to the authorities who can investigate. There should be more workers to investigate neglect.
Failure to thrive? And they didn't take her to the doctor? They have two other kids--they must have known something was wrong when this little girl grew so much more slowly than they!
Average weight for a 7 year old is 53 pounds, they would have watched as she starved to death.
yes, fair point, my daughter was very underweight as well -- she was below the minimal average, but she was healthy. I was very small as well as a child, well below the average.
What concerns me more is the fact that she was reported to be severely dehydrated. Even in conditions where a child is starving, it is often the dehyration that kills. This little girl was said to have almost no fluid left in her body. That just *doesn't* happen overnight. Long-term dehydration leads to disorientation, convulsions and coma, then eventually death. This little seven year old HAD to have been noticeably sick for quite some time before death, so it' s very hard to believe her parent's claim that she was "tucked into bed" the night before, happy healthy and smiling and the next morning dead. I don't know of any condition or disease that leads to extreme and rapid dehydration (apart from gastroenteritis, which has vomiting and diarrhoea as the dehydrating symptoms, which was apparently not the case here).
Not only that, but DOCS apparently knew about this family previously, which is not a good sign. The report I heard said that one of the older children was also diagnosed as being severely underweight. Genetic proclivity, or simple underfeeding?
Alison [/b]
miss luce, i was only 14 pound more than this girl at that age and here i am. averages are average. yes she was under wiegh but by its self not life threatingly so.with doctor care that could have been manage the same way they upped my wieght, vitamns and potien and cal shakes along with 3 meals a day.
The trouble with that is, she is *dead*, not merely underweight, but dead. So it must have been life-threatening, unless I'm reading it wrongly. I'm glad you got a doctor's care and had your shakes and vitamins, etc, but the thing we're discussing is an apparent case of neglect by parents. She wasn't gotten to a doctor, indeed nobody, not even DOCS, did anything to intervene, even though concerns had been raised about the family conditions before this. I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but this is one news report that really makes me very angry, as I deal with children every day in work and I know how vulnerable they are.
Alison
Hmm, I think there's a bit more to this story than meets the eye.
I agree - there may be more than one background story, e.g.
1. Sometimes government agencies come under so much flack for over-intervention that they decide to back off; but instead they then do too little.
2. When suspect families move around it is sometimes difficult for agencies to keep up with them.
3. It appears to me that the 'powers-that-be' often make 'value judgements' and abandon poorer, sicker or 'handicapped' kids and those of certain races to their fates so that they can concentrate their resources on kids who they think can 'be improved' at a net benefit to society (I have personal experience to give me this view. 
)
The only way she wouldn't have looked skinny with such a low weight is if she also was only about the height of a one year old baby.
Lauren was slightly underweight at birth for her length, but the doctor said not to worry about it, as babies with some Indian or Asian genetic makeup tend to weigh less at birth than European descent babies. She soon gained weight until she was in the normal range. And she's a petite little thing now, the smallest in height in her year at school, but the normal weight for her height.
I was in the normal weight for height range until I reached puberty. After that, the hormonal surges triggered my immune system into overdrive and my thyroid was completely destroyed. Of course without a functioning metabolic engine, I got sick, cold, blue-lips, lethargic, exhausted all the time, and - weight gain. All of which I accepted as "normal" because I knew no better and wasn't diagnosed until three years ago. The weight has been gradually coming off by taking one hormone replacement tablet per day.
I'm glad the doctors finally worked out what was wrong with me. Up until then, I'd been accused of being lazy, stupid, and a glutton. All of which was untrue. Not to mention unfair.
Alison
Average weight for a 7 year old is 53 pounds, they would have watched as she starved to death.
Yes, at the same age, I weighed 42 pounds and was considered quite skinny. This little girl would have been a walking skeleton and I don't believe that the parents would not have noticed this unless they were either very unintelligent or bombed out most of the time.
I'm also very suspicious when someone says "help me find out why so and so died". It's as if they don't want to admit they had something to do with it.
Sounds like a lie about not committing murder! They don't want to admit it!
I hope that they get life in maximum security prison without parole!
Is that your cat RJARRRPCGP -- he/she is beautiful - what is your cat's name?
In the latest news on this case, I heard this evening that the police are now searching for the parents of the little girl, to charge them not with manslaughter due to neglect, but with murder. Unfortunately the couple have gone on the run, and can't be found.
Alison
Just a little update. The parents were found yesterday and are expected to be charged with murder.
Alison
Just a little update. The parents were found yesterday and are expected to be charged with murder.
Alison
Good! And so they should be!