The Child Protection eNewsletter

Search for missing Madeleine makes visit to Vatican… 

Pope Benedict XVI held the hands of the parents of 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, blessing them and a photo of the girl as they asked for prayers for their daughter, who disappeared while holidaying with her family in Portugal.  Read More Here  The Vatican had readily accepted the British couple's request to meet with the pope, as they press their campaign to publicize their daughter's disappearance.  Devout Catholics, they recently prayed at the pilgrimage site in Fatima, Portugal for her safe return.

The couple also outlined plans in the search for their daughter, saying they would travel to Spain, Germany and the Netherlands — countries that send many tourists to the holiday area in Portugal.  Gerry McCann brought a poster of his missing daughter, which has been widely distributed, to the news conference at the residence of the British ambassador to the Vatican.  He said the family was asking people going on holiday to put up the posters to further publicize the disappearance.

Texas Youth Commission overhaul passes… 

The Texas Youth Commission overhaul bill that became one of the major issues of the 2007 legislative session is on its way to becoming law.  Read More Here  On Friday the Texas House approved the final version of Senate Bill 103, which will become law immediately if Governor Rick Perry signs it as expected.

The measure revamps the management structure of the scandal-plagued state juvenile corrections agency, setting up a single, governor-appointed commissioner to oversee it for the next two years.  Unless the Legislature decides differently next session, a seven-member board with an executive director would then take over on September 1, 2009.

Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, the primary author of the bill, said the TYC will have $525 million to put into place the reforms, which are intended to address issues that led to the abuse of inmates.  “The Texas Legislature has made improving this agency a top priority, and we expect success,” Hinojosa said.  Representative Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, the House sponsor, said after the measure cleared the House that he was glad to have the reforms on the way to the governor’s desk.

Inmate abuse in the Rio Grande Valley surfaced in October, 2004 at the Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg.  Boys in the youth prison there flooded dorms, and some of the officers the Texas Youth Commission sent there to bring order instead abused boys.  Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice has said Evins violates the U.S. Constitution; three Evins superintendents have quit or been fired; and TYC leadership has resigned under reports of widespread mismanagement and sexual and physical abuse in the agency.

The scandal swept the Legislature into a fury over the last three months.  The final product of lawmakers’ reform efforts would require more oversight, more training of guards, and possibly moving facilities closer to urban areas.  (For more coverage of this story see vol5_iss13  vol5_iss15  vol5_iss19  vol5_iss23  vol5_iss30  vol5_iss31  and  vol5_iss32)

In other news… 

A South Carolina 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.  Read More Here  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.

After a five-hour hearing today that included the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington warning of possible ministry cutbacks and an industry representative warning of the potential for higher cost or non-existent insurance coverage, the Delaware House Judiciary Committee voted 5-0 to release a bill that would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases.  Read More Here

A lawsuit accusing Washington state social workers of negligence in the sexual abuse of an 8-year-old foster child has been settled for $290,000.  Read More Here  The alleged abuse occurred in 2002 after the boy was placed in the Ellensburg home of a new foster mother who was also housing an older boy with a documented history of sexually abusive behavior, said Tim Farris, a Bellingham lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the victim.

A Texas mother hung herself after hanging her four young daughters.  Read More Here Three of the daughters and the mother were found dead and her eight-month-old daughter was alive but in dire need of medical attention.

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