Teacher charged with sexual battery of a teenage male student

A 27-year-old teacher at Biloxi's alternative school was released on $50,000 bond after being charged with sexual battery of a teenage male student at the school, police said Monday.

Last Preschooler Tossed From Bridge Found

A body believed to be the last of four children who were allegedly tossed from a coastal Alabama bridge by their father was recovered Sunday, authorities said.

This is a very sad story. What struck me was that in later accounts family members acknowledged they were afraid the Father took the children to sell them for drugs but no one attempted to stop him or contact the authorities.

I am also surprised by how little media coverage this case has attracted in comparison to the Jacks case.

Four Preschoolers Thrown From Dauphin Island Bridge by Dad

With all the hoopla over the Jacks in the blog world this tragedy has flown under the radar.

The Mobile County District Attorney's Office is charging an Irvington man with four counts of capital murder in the deaths of his four children, ages three years to four months.

The body of a third child allegedly tossed from a coastal Alabama bridge by their father was found Tuesday in a Mississippi bayou, authorities said.

This isn't far from where I live, so it has really hit close to home. Supposedly he killed his children after having a fight with his wife.

The bodies of 3-year-old Ryan Phan and his 4-month-old brother, Danny Luong, were recovered over the weekend in waters a few miles west of the Dauphin Island bridge. Their father is accused of dropping them from the highest point of the span, about 80 feet above the Intracoastal Waterway, on the morning of Jan. 7. The search for bodies began the night of Jan. 8 after authorities said the father broke down and confessed.

Here are some more blog entries on the tragedy.

Update to the Jacks' Case

From The Washington Post
Although a social worker made at least two visits to Jacks's home, in the 4200 block of Sixth Street SE, no one answered the door to the rowhouse either time. Less than three weeks later, Child and Family Services staff members closed the case after receiving an unconfirmed report that the family had moved to Maryland.

"All the requisite information was available to our people, but the follow-up was never done," Fenty said yesterday. He praised Lopes's efforts to pierce the city bureaucracy as "exceptional" but also said such persistence and dedication ought to be the norm.

"She stands out, really, I think, because so many other people just didn't do their job the way they're supposed to," Fenty said.

Again this case had nothing to do with homeschooling. In fact Ms. Jacks never gave the notice required if a child was being withdrawn from a public school. Apparently too many of the people in the system failed to do their job properly. The children were truant from school, but instead of reporting them as truant the school took the Godmother's word that they were being homeschooled; the Mother was never contacted for verification or asked to give the proper notice. Child and Family Services were notified of suspected abuse and mental illness but they closed the case after an unconfirmed report that the family had moved. Plenty of people knew there was a problem, unfortunately the government workers that were suppose to protect these children failed to do their job. It's unconscionable that those with their own agendas are using this as an excuse to attack and harass legitimate homeschoolers.

Substance abuse, mental illness, homelessness and the failure of the child welfare agency to follow up on reports of abuse lead to these girls death.

At least six child welfare workers will be fired for failing to properly address complaints about a woman's care for her four daughters, who were later found dead in their home, the mayor said Monday.

So at least six child welfare workers didn't do their job, but the New York Times is blaming homeschooling instead of the child welfare workers, how irrational can you get?

Lopes called the city's child welfare hot line and said that she had visited the home, but that she was not let in by the mother, Banita Jacks. Lopes said Jacks told her she did not want Brittany going to school because she was afraid the girl would run away. Lopes reported seeing two or three younger children who also were not in school.

In a second call - this time to police - Lopes expressed frustration at being transferred among several city departments and said she was concerned about Banita Jacks' mental state. "It seems that the mother is suffering from some mental illness in which she is holding all the children in the home hostage," Lopes said.

Lopes clearly stated that the Mother was suffering from some mental illness but social workers choose not to intervene.

Lopes' call was not the first time someone had tried to alert the city about the family's situation.

In July 2006, a nurse who had been treating the father of Jacks' youngest two daughters called the child welfare hot line to report the family was living in a van and that the parents were struggling with substance abuse, officials said. The nurse couldn't provide an address for the family so social workers did not follow up.

Parental substance abuse was reported but because the family was homeless social workers didn't follow up. Maybe in light of all the evidence the New York Times should reconsider their article by JANE GROSS and do an article on how substance abuse, mental illness, homelessness and the failure of the child welfare agency to follow up on reports of abuse lead to these girls death.

Public School Socialization, No Thanks

Two boys, ages 9 and 11, have been charged with forcing a 7-year-old boy to perform oral sex on them on a school bus.

A Taste of Hell

Authorities charged the director of a Christian boot camp and an employee with dragging a 15-year-old girl behind a van after she fell behind the group during a morning run.

$2 million in child welfare payments = child abuse

A Florida woman accused of using aliases to adopt 11 New York children received as much as $2 million in child welfare payments even as she starved, bound and abused them, police said Tuesday.

Read the rest here.

Public School Teacher has sex with 11 year old student

A former elementary school teacher pleaded guilty Friday to having sex with an 11-year-old student and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a prosecutor said.

Wendie Ann Schweikert, 37, was arrested in May 2006 and charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act on a minor.

This is so sick.

A good reason to be a SAHM

The state has revoked the license of a day care center accused of hiding crying infants in a storage room during an unannounced inspection, officials said.

Read the rest in The Sun Herald.

Another Day Care Nightmare

A woman who ran a child-care center from her home has been charged in the deaths of three infants dating to nearly a decade ago, authorities said.

Andrea Marnette Person, 39, was indicted Tuesday in the April 2 suffocation death of 2-month-old Michael Harris Walker, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. A coroner ruled the infant had died of "intentional asphyxiation."

That child's death led to the investigation that uncovered the two others, for which she has been charged with homicide by child abuse.

The death of a 1-year-old boy in Person's care in 1998 was originally attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, but authorities now say Person smothered the child with her hands.

She also has been charged in the 2001 death of a 4-month-old boy. The infant died of dehydration after he was left near a heater, authorities said.

The children were being cared for in Person's home in a Columbia suburb. There were no complaints made against Person, according to the Department of Social Services.

Read the rest in The Sun Herald.

Day care nightmare

A day care worker was being held Saturday in the death of a 2-year-old boy who had his hands bound and his mouth covered with masking tape, police said.

The boy, who had been on life support, died late Thursday, Officer Jason Willingham said.
Vicki Leigh Chiles was being held without bail on a complaint of first-degree murder. She was the only worker at the facility at the time, looking after eight children ages 7 and younger, Willingham said.

Chiles told police the boy would not be quiet for nap time, so she used tape to silence him, an arrest report states.

Public School Students' Sibling Abused

Often the critics of homeschooling use the 'abuse card' to insist that homeschoolers must be regulated and monitored. Their mantra is public schools prevent abuse. Apparently they don't.

Over the last three years, the 5-year-old girl was routinely tied up, struck, burned with cigarettes, forced to eat hot peppers and made to drink out of the toilet, Dart said. She had also been scalded, sustaining second- and third-degree burns, Dart said. Four of Petrov's children - but not Melanie - began attending Apollo School in Des Plaines in September, said Principal Lynn Glickman. Glickman said the children are in kindergarten and first, third and fourth grades. She would not comment on whether they had ever shown signs of abuse, nor would she talk about Petrov.

Why didn't Melanie's siblings tell a teacher what was going on? Why didn't a teacher notice that something was wrong? Even IF the siblings were not being physically abused themselves seeing Melanie being abused had to take a toll. Read more in The Sun Herald.