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I'm not sure, but I don't think that's necessarily true. There's a general misunderstanding that all schools have nurses. Perhaps it varies by state. But in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia we had "clinic aides" who were definitely NOT nurses.
Yes. The School District in which my wife works has one School Nurse for the entire district of over 3000 students. One High School, One Middle School, and Four Elementary buildings.
Their number of insulin dependent diabetic students has sky-rocketed in the past 25 years, and all these students require their insulin at Lunch time.
I know that a teacher doesn't have the power to separate a child from a parent.
She followed protocol, along with every other "mandated reporter" - and he still ended up dead.
Too many, IMO, protecting their jobs/pensions instead of a child who is (obviously) being severely abused.
My question was & due to the fact that the social service "employee" said that his teacher should have NOT allowed him to go home to his abusers (and the little boy asked his teacher to NOT call "the lady" after he told her that his mother shot him in the face because the abuse got worse for him after..) she did, anyway; what else could she have done?
There *isn't* anything else she could have done, short of stepping in and disallowing the child 's parents access to him, which was not within her power. That's what I'm saying. It's not "not wanting to step out of her lane." It's that it's not legal for her to deny access. It's not a situation where it's like, "Well, she could have abducted the child and hidden him in a safe house, and just chose not to," or anything.
I think it's rather unkind to lay any blame on the teacher - it sounds like the teacher was the only one even attempting to protect him. Sure, she could have called the police - the same police who accused the kid of lying? Doesn't sound like it would have been helpful. She can't keep him away from his legal guardians - that's kidnapping. School staff aren't even allowed to take kids off campus without guardian permission, which puts the kibosh on her taking him to a doc. Call an ambulance? EMTs are unlikely to transport a kid to the hospital for the kind of injuries he came to school with. In retrospect I imagine she wishes she would have broken the law, but that's a big ask in the moment.
There *isn't* anything else she could have done, short of stepping in and disallowing the child 's parents access to him, which was not within her power. That's what I'm saying. It's not "not wanting to step out of her lane." It's that it's not legal for her to deny access. It's not a situation where it's like, "Well, she could have abducted the child and hidden him in a safe house, and just chose not to," or anything.
A social worker would know that, too.
Yes, that is the reason I asked - I thought it was odd that the social worker would say what she did about the teacher.
The teacher did what she could do "in her lane". She brought the principal in to the issue ( I don't remember the exact exchange between the two of them, it's very hard docu-series to watch and all I could think about was the little boy) and he told her that "we report, we don't investigate".
Teacher said that she knew he wouldn't be of any help after that.
She also spoke at the sentencing of the mother's boyfriend. That was a tear-jerker.
She was looking for someone to blame, because her own agency screwed up.
I'm not aware of this story, but it sounds like the police failed the boy royally, too. Accusing him of lying? Repeatedly? Aren't they mandated reporters, too? Is abusing one's child not a crime? Wouldn't they be obligated to investigate? Does the family live in a conservative "law and order" community, where the police are still mentally back in the 1950's, when children routinely weren't believed? I thought we'd moved past that long ago.
So, what happens now? Will the parents go to jail? Will police procedures be revised? Will this child's death bring about positive change? Horrific.
I watched the rest of the series today.
The deputies (or dispatch, I guess) labeled the calls to his house as low-priority and would apparently show up at 12am or 2am and only speak to the mother or her boyfriend. Took their word for it that the 8 year old was rude, caused trouble in school, his bruises/lack of teeth were because he got beat up by older kids....while they had him locked in a cabinet with a sock in his mouth, a bandanna covering his face and bound (hog tied, sometimes, apparently) in their bedroom. And "mom" had knocked his teeth out with a bat.
Never asked to see the child, never interviewed the child away from his psycho mother and her psycho boyfriend. Never interviewed the other (older) children in the house.
Even worse?
Gabriel's mother brought him to a GAIN office so she could pick up paperwork. The security guard saw how beat up he was. He had a black eye, healing bruises on his face, cigarette burns in the different stages of healing as well as what looked like fresh burns on his strangely shaved head.
A woman in the office made fun of his haircut (who worked for the county) to the security guard when he told her that this kid has been beaten up and she needed to do something about it.
The woman went to her "boss". Boss said "it's 4:45pm, no overtime. Let it go".
Security guard couldn't believe it. Didn't care about the HIPPA violation - got the woman in the office to give him the name/address of the mother - ended up calling HIS boss. His boss told him that it wasn't his job.
Security guard hung up on his boss. Called 911. 911 said, "not an emergency". Called the police. Was told that they'd look in to it.
I think that was either one or two weeks before Gabriel was beaten to death.
The boyfriend received the death penalty, the mother (after seeing how the trial went for her boyfriend) took a plea deal - life without parole.
She said, at her hearing, that she would hope her other children would come to their senses and visit her in jail.
And after it was all over and done?
Two weeks later a 10 year old boy (with documented abuse, many similarities to Gabriel's case) was killed by his mother's boyfriend in the same county. Something like only 2 miles away from where Gabriel lived.
Same DCFS, same "police", same system...and YEARS later.
Didn't learn a thing.
Last edited by Informed Info; 02-28-2020 at 08:48 PM..
I read a lot of these cases, they seem to be increasing, and almost always the parents receive harsh punishments in the criminal justice system as children are seen as the most innocent of victims. I believe the mother in this case got life without parole and the boyfriend got the death penalty. The problem is things happen too late. Yes it makes me feel a little better knowing there is a punishment but it changes nothing about the short horrific life of this or any other child. A young boy was killed in NYC a few years ago, his mothers boyfriend was just convicted and sentenced. His mother took a plea deal because she didnt actually kill him, he came to school with a broken jaw and missing teeth. Bruises up and down his legs. Nothing was ever done. The little boy in long island who was just killed by his NYPD father, CPS was called once a month for 6 months, school ended, in september when school went back the calls to CPS started again and not one single person ever visited the house. The child is now dead.
These usually end in a localized investigation of CPS and sweeping overhauls to caseloads and procedure. But 1700 children a year die at the hands of their caregivers through abuse and neglect. Its disgusting
In the long Island case, the father was NYPD. They think that he convinced the Suffolk police that everything was fine. Cops tend to stick together.
And they stuck together in Gabriel's case, as well.
There was a 3 year internal investigation (Sheriff department) that the defense team was made aware of, but the head prosecutor was not. And the DAs office and "cops" are supposed to be on the same "team".
So he, the prosecutor, asked the Sheriff's department for the findings of. His multiple requests, made to many in the department at all levels, were ignored.
His (prosecutor) wife was a deputy in the department. He was told that his wife needed to watch her back because the deputies who were derelict of duty were afraid to lose their jobs - for their obvious negligence that contributed to Gabriel's death.
There *isn't* anything else she could have done, short of stepping in and disallowing the child 's parents access to him, which was not within her power. That's what I'm saying. It's not "not wanting to step out of her lane." It's that it's not legal for her to deny access. It's not a situation where it's like, "Well, she could have abducted the child and hidden him in a safe house, and just chose not to," or anything.
A social worker would know that, too.
I think perhaps a bit of clarity is in order.
After finding the Palmdale handbook given to parents /guardians each school year, areas of it OUTLINE clearly what a school teacher/ official and guardian can do if they suspect abuse on either side. Meaning a teacher abusing a student or a teacher suspecting abuse of the student by an outside source. Turns out that the Teacher walks a thin line. Because the parent can file a grievance with the school district for "false" reporting if the CHildrens Social Worker decides the allegations were unfounded.
First let me say that this reporting is to remain anonymous to a large extent. Even the Teacher does not need to confide in the student that she called (reported it).
Palmdale Elementary Does have a FULL TIME NURSE . So this particular school did have a viable option. The Nurse is granted priveldge as well to contact the medical Mobile Unit to have them actually come to the school and have the child examined wihtout the kid leaving the premise.
After finding the Palmdale handbook given to parents /guardians each school year, areas of it OUTLINE clearly what a school teacher/ official and guardian can do if they suspect abuse on either side. Meaning a teacher abusing a student or a teacher suspecting abuse of the student by an outside source. Turns out that the Teacher walks a thin line. Because the parent can file a grievance with the school district for "false" reporting if the CHildrens Social Worker decides the allegations were unfounded.
First let me say that this reporting is to remain anonymous to a large extent. Even the Teacher does not need to confide in the student that she called (reported it).
Palmdale Elementary Does have a FULL TIME NURSE . So this particular school did have a viable option. The Nurse is granted priveldge as well to contact the medical Mobile Unit to have them actually come to the school and have the child examined wihtout the kid leaving the premise.
Watch the entire series, the director was right, everyone should watch and not turn away. The real hero’s of the series was the prosecutor and security guard. This definitely shows the coverup within the child protective services and sheriff’s department. Seriously, watch this and if you think it is too hard to handle, think what the child went through.
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