Please don't forget

Karsyn Young and Vincent Hill. Do those names ring a bell with you? Karsyn and Vincent are two children in the Wichita area who died at the hands of their caretakers this year, 2010. Karsyn was 10 months old and was beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend. Vincent was 19 months old and died after both his mother and his father not only beat him to death, but apparently, abused him severely for several months prior to his fatal injuries.

I noticed a makeshift memorial in front of Vincent's home after his death and his parents were arrested. It said, "Vincent we love you." Really? Do we? A neighbor had phoned SRS to report possible child abuse after hearing Vincent scream loudly and long one day - and SRS did not investigate because there was no probable cause that abuse was occurring. Did we love Vincent? As a community, did we care about him and about Karsyn? I think the neighbor did the right thing by reporting, however, I hope we have learned a lesson. If you suspect a child is being hurt, please don't call SRS first. Call 911 first or go to your local police station and fill out a report. THEN call SRS. Get involved. It's hard, I know. I've had occasion to report child abuse as part of my job. It's uncomfortable, it's sad, it's scary, and it's heartbreaking. But all the Karsyns and Vincents of your neighborhood are counting on you.

The other thing I hate is that I have no way to obtain information after I call SRS. If I call back and want to know the disposition of the report - if someone went to the home, if someone talked to parents, if someone came to the school - they say they cannot tell me this information. Why is that? And why do some things have to be reported many times before home visits are made?

I would like SRS to be fully accountable to somebody in this state for every report they receive - whether they followed up on it and why or why not. I'd like somebody to oversee the whole organization of Kansas Child Protective Services. I'd like to pay social workers more than you can make at McDonalds so that highly qualified people are chosen and trained to do this thankless nightmarish job. I'd like to hear stories of children who are successfully reintegrated back in the home and of parents who are parenting better. I'd like to hear success stories of children who have been adopted into loving homes after no more than 12 months in foster care. I think we owe nothing less to the children in this community who belong to all of us.