T'is just so sad (traumatic content/child abuse warning)

rhymegirl

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Oh God that made me cry. That poor little girl.
 

RLB

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What a tragic, awful story. I cried too.

(that version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow always makes me cry anyway; it's the one I danced with my father to at my wedding)
 

Maryn

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While this is absolutely heart-wrenching, as it should be, I can't help but wonder why we as a nation don't vote to give adequate money to the government agencies, always short-staffed and underfunded, which are designed to investigate alleged abuse? If a complete investigation, the kind they give homicides, had happened either of the other times this child was seriously injured, she might be alive today.

Tragic, just tragic.

Maryn, no cute sign-off
 

maestrowork

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And I'm surprised the girl was handed back to her mother so many times. There's just something wrong about the system when they value the "right" of the birth mother more than the child's welfare.
 

Cranky

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Ah crap. I don't know why I look at this stuff. It never fails to make me cry. Poor little baby...
 

rhymegirl

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What a tragic, awful story. I cried too.

(that version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow always makes me cry anyway; it's the one I danced with my father to at my wedding)

Not to take anything away from the story of Kelsey, but the woman singing Over the Rainbow--Eva Cassidy, has a sad story, too. I have one of her CDs--love her version of the song. She died at age 33 of melanoma.
 

CACTUSWENDY

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Such a short life. So many chances to be saved from it. Sigh. He got off easy. IHMO.......

(I bet her daddy had to be tied down to keep from doing something to that man.) Sigh......
 

tjwriter

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That was so sad.

A little three year old boy was abused to death by his parents here recently. His parents had been previously convicted of meth related charges, and from their photos, I'd guess they were on meth still. The little boy's twin sister suffered severe abuse.

The two children had spent most of their lives in foster care in Illinois. However, they were returned to their parents for an extended stay by a judge despite the recommendations against such a thing from two agencies. The parents moved to Indiana, which caused a disconnect, and there was no one to monitor the welfare of those children.

It's a horrible thing. There have been far too many cases of child abuse, neglect, and death lately. The people who commit such acts should be punished as harshly as possible.
 

JennaGlatzer

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I can't look. It's the worst side effect of having a baby... suddenly, you feel everything that relates to a child's pain a thousand times deeper than you ever felt it before. I see my smiling, loving little girl and I think about these other kids who should have been as loved as she is. It hurts too much. Just knowing what happened hurts too much. Just knowing that it ever happens hurts too much.
 

tjwriter

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Jenna, that is so true. I watched this tribute, and I bawled. It's not the first time I've seen one of these. Becoming a mother has made that pain nearly unbearable. As it has increased the urge to beat these type of people to death in the most painful way possible. (Not a real threat on any person's life. Just a wish for severe punishment.)

Whoever could harm a sweet innocent child? You have to be some sick and twisted bastard.

In regard to the recent case here, someone wrote to the editor advocated the same type of registry for abusers as sex offenders, and I have to agree.

I'd also like to see some sort of national registry to track these families so that should a family move across state lines, they are not lost in the shuffle.

Hmm, I might have to start doing some letter writing.
 

RumpleTumbler

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That was hard to watch.

Especially with my daughter sleeping on the couch behind me.

To have an ex-wife who is so desperate for a man that she is marrying the first person she dated after our separation next month it is particularly troublesome.

God Bless Kelsey.

I'm adding that vid to my myspace.
 
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KTC

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What are we doing? Sometimes it's just completely unbearable.
 

Ol' Fashioned Girl

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I watched this story unfold locally from her death to the convictions of both the 'mother' (and I use that word in the loosest of terms) and the step-father. The saddest picture of all to me was the one of her with both legs broken - spiral breaks. Less than two months after that abuse, the judge placed her back in the 'home' (another loose term) where she was killed about five months later.

I think it's atrocious that the judge himself wasn't convicted of enabling child abuse and manslaughter, at least.

Unfortunately, Kelsey isn't the only child who's suffered that fate here in Oklahoma. We're still searching for the body a little boy who's mother's been convicted of his murder - largely on the testimony of his little brother. Another boy was murdered and stuck in an old freezer filled with dirt. DHS returned another child to his abusive household where he was smothered in the cushions of a filthy sofa... there are many, many other cases, but these are just the ones coming to my sleepy mind this morning.

Yeah. The systems broken here in Oklahoma. Very, very broken.
 

Appalachian Writer

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I watched the video and I wept. In the Bible, Jesus admonishes anyone who would harm a hair on a little one's head. I shutter to think about the cries that will rise from the vat of Hell when people like this man arrive. A part of me is consumed with sorrow for the child's ordeal and for her father. Another part of me is writhing in anger. I lost my 10 yr. old in a traffic accident, and when I think about how much I'd like to have her back, I ache. This poor father aches, too. He aches to touch his little girl's hand, but his ache is doubled because this was no accident. His daughter wasn't taken; she was thrown away, treated like refuse to be discarded. This child's life mattered. They all matter.
 

L M Ashton

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It's a horrible thing. There have been far too many cases of child abuse, neglect, and death lately. The people who commit such acts should be punished as harshly as possible.

It's not lately. It's just that, with the media and internet, there's increased awareness. But this sort of thing has been happening for a long, long time.
 

tjwriter

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It's not lately. It's just that, with the media and internet, there's increased awareness. But this sort of thing has been happening for a long, long time.

Oh, I know that it keeps happening all the time. It just seems that in my local area there seems to be an influx of these reports lately.

PS When you use Fahim's avatar, I think you're him, btw.
 

Jersey Chick

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I haven't watched the video - thankfully I read everything here and am not so sure I will, either. Like Jenna and the other parents have stated here, it hits too close to home to think that any child out there suffers at the hands of his or her parents. I look at my two kids and cannot fathom raising a fist in anger, never mind breaking bones.

There's a special place in hell for people who abuse kids and animals.
 

Jean Marie

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I haven't watched the video - thankfully I read everything here and am not so sure I will, either. Like Jenna and the other parents have stated here, it hits too close to home to think that any child out there suffers at the hands of his or her parents. I look at my two kids and cannot fathom raising a fist in anger, never mind breaking bones.

There's a special place in hell for people who abuse kids and animals.
I didn't watch the video, either. And, I won't. I read some of what was written, here. Enough to get the gist that it involved child abuse.

Too bad the OP didn't see fit to incorporate that fact in the original thread title.

Fortunately, someone else did.

Bolding is mine: Couldn't agree more.
 

brittanimae

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I can't look. It's the worst side effect of having a baby... suddenly, you feel everything that relates to a child's pain a thousand times deeper than you ever felt it before. I see my smiling, loving little girl and I think about these other kids who should have been as loved as she is. It hurts too much. Just knowing what happened hurts too much. Just knowing that it ever happens hurts too much.

This happened to me too--I had a baby just before the tsunami and I couldn't even pick up the Time magazine covering it. About the only issue I never (to this day) read.

The video was beautiful. Utterly tragic.
 

L M Ashton

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PS When you use Fahim's avatar, I think you're him, btw.
:D Excellent! :D

This happened to me too--I had a baby just before the tsunami and I couldn't even pick up the Time magazine covering it. About the only issue I never (to this day) read.
Try living in tsunami central. Everyone around me who I know has lost family members, and a few lost every relative they had as entire villages were wiped out. Hear those heartbreaking stories. And if you're extremely sensitive like me... Ack. It took me a year and a half to get over that. Well, sort of get over that.

Which is also why I didn't watch the video and don't generally read the news. I don't deal well with this stuff.