:00:13. > :00:16.very mild overnight. Cloudy and dampen the West. -- dam in the West.
:00:16. > :00:22.Brightness developing across eastern England and eastern
:00:22. > :00:30.Scotland. Rain heavier and more persistent for Northern Ireland,
:00:30. > :00:40.western Scotland. East Anglia and the south-east will be very mild.
:00:40. > :00:40.
:00:40. > :00:50.Tuesday will be a lovely day. Writer winds and very mild. --
:00:50. > :00:57.
:00:57. > :01:02.This is BBC News. A summary of the news: China has joined
:01:02. > :01:10.international calls for an end to Syria's violent crackdown on anti-
:01:10. > :01:15.government protests. Syria's President warned of an earthquake
:01:15. > :01:20.if the West where to intervene in his country. It would risk serious
:01:20. > :01:25.becoming another Afghanistan. Two Britons were among the 17 killed in
:01:25. > :01:29.Kabul yesterday in a car-bomb attack. They were electricians
:01:29. > :01:36.working for an American building company. They were in an armoured
:01:36. > :01:41.bus when it was hit by a Taliban suicide bomber. The Australian
:01:41. > :01:47.airline Qantas said it hopes to resume flights within the next 24
:01:47. > :01:54.hours. They grounded their entire fleet overran industrial dispute.
:01:54. > :01:59.The airline said there were 3,000 affected passengers at Heathrow.
:01:59. > :02:02.The Bishop of London has told anti- capitalist demonstrators outside St
:02:02. > :02:09.Paul's Cathedral that he does not want to see their protest in the
:02:09. > :02:16.end violence. Today was the first Sunday service since St Paul's was
:02:16. > :02:21.opened again on Friday. A freak snowstorm in the US has left 10,000
:02:21. > :02:31.homes and businesses without power. Three people are reported to have
:02:31. > :02:35.
:02:35. > :02:39.died. Now, in a disturbing programme on child abuse in America,
:02:39. > :02:49.Natalia Antelava goes to Texas to investigate the roots of a growing
:02:49. > :02:53.
:02:53. > :02:58.epidemic of child deaths. Rebecca died when she was three. She was
:02:58. > :03:00.beaten to death. But hers is just one story. Behind each face are
:03:00. > :03:03.dozens of others. Every year, hundreds, possibly thousands of
:03:03. > :03:13.children die in the world's richest democracy. Killed by people who
:03:13. > :03:14.
:03:14. > :03:19.were meant to care for them. Clearly it is a huge public health
:03:19. > :03:23.issue. It is a major epidemic. us get to the developing story of
:03:23. > :03:30.the death of a three-year-old boy. A mother has been charged with
:03:30. > :03:33.manslaughter. If that was a health issue, if that was kids getting
:03:33. > :03:43.bumps on their hands which stopped them from writing, it would be
:03:43. > :03:49.
:03:49. > :03:54.called an epidemic. Police say she was forced into a foot locker. A
:03:54. > :03:57.two-year-old is in the hospital with liver damage. I am so tired of
:03:57. > :04:00.the lack of response. She is four years old. Child abuse is
:04:00. > :04:03.completely preventable. At the scene, investigators found two
:04:03. > :04:13.children. They were aged seven and six. We're breeding an army of
:04:13. > :04:35.
:04:35. > :04:37.future child abusers. It was March 2007. San Antonio was in full bloom.
:04:37. > :04:45.But in this street, residents realised something had gone wrong.
:04:45. > :04:55.In there. They said they came looking for a dead animal. Instead,
:04:55. > :05:02.they found the bodies of two babies. So the baby was under this gap?
:05:03. > :05:05.was there for three months. Three months? Yes. During the
:05:05. > :05:08.investigation and trial that followed, their mother admitted to
:05:08. > :05:15.beating her 18-month-old daughter to death because she would not stop
:05:15. > :05:19.crying. Weeks later she also killed her four-month-old son Sebastien
:05:19. > :05:27.and buried him next to his sister. Valerie Lopez and her boyfriend are
:05:27. > :05:35.in prison for life. Four years on their flat is still up for rent.
:05:35. > :05:38.The community is still in shock. Elsewhere in the US, thousands of
:05:38. > :05:42.other children have died since in circumstances just as chilling.
:05:42. > :05:46.Child abuse is a crime like no other. It happens behind closed
:05:46. > :05:49.doors to those who often have no voice. It is difficult to detect,
:05:50. > :05:55.more difficult to investigate and extremely hard to come to terms
:05:55. > :06:02.with. No family, no community wants to admit it is failing to protect
:06:02. > :06:06.its children. And yet more and more people, doctors, educators,
:06:06. > :06:12.congressmen, are warning that in the United States, child abuse is a
:06:12. > :06:15.problem of endemic proportions. While it happens everywhere, better
:06:15. > :06:25.reporting of child abuse makes statistics more reliable in the
:06:25. > :06:28.industrialised world. The only available comparative UN report
:06:28. > :06:35.from 2003 estimates that every week, on average, two children die from
:06:35. > :06:40.abuse in Britain and in Germany. Three in France. Four in Japan. And
:06:40. > :06:46.27 in the United States. The combined population of these
:06:46. > :06:56.countries is bigger than the US. But the rate in the US is three
:06:56. > :06:56.
:06:56. > :06:59.times higher. The question is, why? In America, individualism is sacred.
:06:59. > :07:08.In Texas, they pride themselves on being more independent and more
:07:08. > :07:14.self-sufficient than anywhere else. We came into Texas because
:07:14. > :07:17.everything is bigger here. The latest data from 2009 shows that
:07:18. > :07:23.267 children died from abuse here. More than in any other state.
:07:23. > :07:27.Officials say they are better at reporting deaths. As we travelled
:07:27. > :07:33.across Texas we found reasons behind this staggering number.
:07:33. > :07:38.They're far more complex. In her father's memory, Emma will always
:07:38. > :07:45.be four. She would be sitting on the couch. She would look at me and
:07:45. > :07:50.I would look at her. I would ask her, are you daddy's baby? She
:07:50. > :08:00.would laugh and tell me, no I am mummy's baby. I would feign outrage.
:08:00. > :08:08.What? What? She would start laughing. I'd say, no! She'd just
:08:08. > :08:18.laugh. In the final weekend she was over I asked if she was daddy's
:08:18. > :08:27.
:08:27. > :08:32.baby. She just said, yes. She just said, yes. We have an update on
:08:32. > :08:39.breaking news. A mother sentenced to prison for not protecting her
:08:39. > :08:43.little girl from abuse. Once the lights were shown, there was
:08:43. > :08:49.bruising all over her body. On her stomach. She had a busted lip.
:08:49. > :08:56.Bruising all over her face. Emma's mother, Abigail Young, moved in
:08:56. > :09:00.with her boyfriend. He had a previous history of child abuse.
:09:00. > :09:03.Lucas was sentenced to life in prison for raping and killing Emma.
:09:03. > :09:09.Abigail is serving a 20-year sentence for failing to prevent her
:09:09. > :09:13.daughter's death. Three weeks before she died, Emma was diagnosed
:09:13. > :09:19.with genital herpes. Doctors reported it to the Child Protection
:09:19. > :09:27.Services. They said sexually transmitted disease was not enough
:09:27. > :09:34.of a reason to remove a child from home. Everybody had a chance to
:09:34. > :09:38.save her. Everybody missed the signs? Everybody missed the signs.
:09:38. > :09:44.There were signs from my family, signs that CBS missed, signs that
:09:44. > :09:51.the doctors missed. Within weeks of her death, two toddlers were killed
:09:51. > :09:55.in Texas. Both were under the watch of Child Protection Services. The
:09:55. > :10:01.agency launched an internal investigation into their deaths.
:10:01. > :10:11.Nobody was fired. Generally we do not talk about case-specific
:10:11. > :10:13.
:10:13. > :10:17.information. There are some times when a woman or man, whoever we are
:10:17. > :10:24.investigating, lies to us and we believe their lies. Surely the fact
:10:24. > :10:27.that a four-year old had genital herpes was enough of an indication?
:10:27. > :10:34.We certainly had medical indications that herpes can be
:10:34. > :10:39.caused by many things. There were assertions from the parents. I have
:10:39. > :10:47.had cases on this road. You cannot judge a neighbourhood on whether or
:10:47. > :10:50.not there is abuse happening here. I would put nothing past anyone.
:10:50. > :10:54.John Paul's job is to go from house-to-house investigating abuse
:10:54. > :10:59.that happens behind closed doors. He was not involved in Emma's case,
:10:59. > :11:03.but for him it is a reminder about what happens if he fails. The
:11:03. > :11:07.problem, he says, is that it is easy to fail. John Paul is
:11:07. > :11:16.currently investigating 38 families. That is more than double the
:11:16. > :11:18.recommended case load. The main reason that the lot of
:11:18. > :11:22.investigators are afraid to voice their opinions is because they
:11:22. > :11:28.might lose their job. He was not authorised to talk to us. But he
:11:29. > :11:38.felt it was necessary to do so. I have seen so much happen in the
:11:39. > :11:39.
:11:39. > :11:42.five years I have been with the agency. I feel as if the
:11:42. > :11:46.investigators that are out there doing the hard work but they are
:11:46. > :11:49.not being heard by the upper level management. I think a lot of people
:11:49. > :11:55.need to realise that just like police officers can burn out,
:11:55. > :11:58.investigators can feel burnt-out. Overworked and underpaid officers
:11:58. > :12:03.and a slow and often inefficient chain of command are not the only
:12:03. > :12:07.reasons why so many children fall through the cracks of the system.
:12:07. > :12:14.The former chief prosecutor of Harris County says that it is a
:12:14. > :12:22.problem. He says the agency focuses too much on keeping families
:12:22. > :12:28.together because that is what the Federal Government wants to do.
:12:28. > :12:33.Randy Burton now owns this law firm. That is how he pays for providing
:12:33. > :12:36.free legal services for children in trouble. His cabinets are full of
:12:36. > :12:46.stories of children that were killed because they were allowed to
:12:46. > :12:59.
:12:59. > :13:02.stay at home. In order to preserve the influx of federal money, which
:13:02. > :13:06.has over half the money that states get for child welfare, it has
:13:06. > :13:10.become an end in itself. We're going to make every effort to try
:13:10. > :13:13.and preserve these families. So in a state like Texas, that boasts the
:13:13. > :13:17.lowest rate of removal from homes in the nation, it is not surprising
:13:17. > :13:21.they also have the highest number of child fatalities in the nation.
:13:21. > :13:24.Up to 40% of children who die from abuse in the US have files with
:13:24. > :13:31.Child Protection Services. This makes it very easy for the critics
:13:31. > :13:35.to attack the agency. Not for their lack of desire, but for being too
:13:35. > :13:45.much of a slow, clumsy bureaucracy. Some say critics are missing a
:13:45. > :13:45.
:13:45. > :13:49.bigger problem. One of the bigger things that people need to remember
:13:49. > :13:52.about CPS is that their job is about protecting children after the
:13:52. > :13:56.fact. Their role is not to keep children from being harmed. That is
:13:56. > :14:05.a huge point that people need to understand. I think it is all of
:14:05. > :14:10.our jobs to protect children in the More than 30,000 children are
:14:10. > :14:14.already in foster care in Texas. The system is overloaded. Every
:14:14. > :14:17.year, hundreds of children come through this foster home as they
:14:18. > :14:24.wait for the Government to find them a new family or to decide if
:14:24. > :14:28.it is safer than to return to their parents. Some spend months here.
:14:28. > :14:32.Others, years. No matter how many scars, how many prisoners they were
:14:32. > :14:42.brought here with, all of their teachers say the children are
:14:42. > :14:48.
:14:48. > :14:58.Child abuse is possibly the only crime in which the victim simply
:14:58. > :14:58.
:14:58. > :15:05.doesn't know that something has This TV campaign is an attempt to
:15:05. > :15:09.start a public dialogue about child abuse. It is not easy. The taboo
:15:09. > :15:19.got broken about having breast cancer. We need that on this issue.
:15:19. > :15:29.We need to break the issue. We need a first lady of the US to help
:15:29. > :15:32.
:15:32. > :15:35.Dallas Children's Hospital is one of the biggest paediatric hospitals
:15:35. > :15:45.in the US. From cancer to heart transplants, they do everything
:15:45. > :15:45.
:15:45. > :15:53.here. And yet, child abuse accounts for 30% of the hospital's deaths.
:15:54. > :15:57.The numbers are on the rise. We see increasing violence. I think the
:15:57. > :16:07.cases that involve more double children in the one home are the
:16:07. > :16:14.
:16:14. > :16:24.most striking. -- multiple. This particular scenario would be
:16:24. > :16:26.
:16:26. > :16:29.siblings who are chronically and Torture situations. Dr Matthew Cox
:16:29. > :16:39.is one of these few paediatricians in the country specialising in
:16:39. > :16:39.
:16:39. > :16:43.abuse. He runs an abuse and neglect clinic. Most kids don't look like
:16:43. > :16:53.the battered baby that we often see. Most child abuse does not look like
:16:53. > :16:55.that. Most of the kids who are abused in the most severe forms
:16:55. > :17:01.have internal injuries, with no external manifestations. The
:17:01. > :17:08.doctors have to be aware of it and think about it. If they do not
:17:08. > :17:11.think about it as a physician, they will miss the diagnosis. Currently,
:17:11. > :17:20.most US medical students get only a day's worth of lectures on child
:17:20. > :17:26.abuse while they are at in college. Not these students. Dr Cox make
:17:26. > :17:29.sure they learn plenty about it. We joined Dr Cox as he took his
:17:29. > :17:39.students to a courthouse in amiably tan, testifying in cases of child
:17:39. > :17:49.
:17:49. > :17:57.abuse. It is part of his routine. It was a six-month-old girl. I was
:17:57. > :18:00.one of the surgeons who treated her. We go in without a camera. Medical
:18:00. > :18:03.treatment is often decisive in child abuse cases. After his
:18:03. > :18:08.testimony, Dr Cox tells his students that it will be a big part
:18:08. > :18:11.of their work. There is a lot more to the story then was presented. I
:18:11. > :18:18.am concerned about the safety of the child. How do you prepare for
:18:19. > :18:22.the case? This is one that has been said a couple of times. This was
:18:22. > :18:25.ten months ago. In that time, I had seemed well over 1,000 other kids.
:18:25. > :18:35.I didn't remember everything. Documenting the records is
:18:35. > :18:35.
:18:35. > :18:38.important. I average being called as a witness about once a week. We
:18:38. > :18:41.cannot fathom what kind of environment some children living.
:18:41. > :18:51.In Washington, some politicians are beginning to recognise what many
:18:51. > :18:51.
:18:51. > :18:53.told us is a real national crisis. Our role today is to be a voice for
:18:53. > :18:57.the voiceless. A congressional report says that the current
:18:57. > :19:01.numbers of child deaths are in fact a gross underestimate. I have been
:19:01. > :19:05.here for almost 25 years. I have attended many hearings. This has
:19:05. > :19:11.been one of the most painful. 2009, over 1,000 children died from
:19:11. > :19:17.abuse according to the official data. The real number, according to
:19:17. > :19:24.Congress, could be at over 2000. Expert witnesses explained why the
:19:24. > :19:29.Government had to play a more active role. States need emergency
:19:29. > :19:37.help now. Resources are dwindling, what child abuse and neglect is
:19:37. > :19:43.increasing. Here is an example of a programme that many believe can
:19:43. > :19:47.prevent abuse. Crystal is a qualified nurse. Every week for the
:19:47. > :19:51.next two years, she will visit this child, because the state of Texas
:19:51. > :19:57.says that he fits the criteria of a child at risk. Only one person in
:19:57. > :20:06.his family has a job. No-one has health insurance. His parents have
:20:06. > :20:10.just turned 18. While causes behind child abuse are complex, statistics
:20:10. > :20:20.show it is more common in areas with more by a rights of poverty
:20:20. > :20:21.
:20:21. > :20:24.and teenage pregnancy. -- high rates of. At this point, new
:20:24. > :20:28.parents will get so frustrated and overwhelmed that they will throw
:20:28. > :20:32.the baby down on the couch or shake the baby. This couple are
:20:32. > :20:40.determined to be good parents, but they say teenagers need help.
:20:40. > :20:47.frustrated at some points. I will not hurt him. I am conscious of
:20:47. > :20:53.what I'm doing. But it does sound like a lot a parents, especially
:20:53. > :20:56.dance, feel like they are still teenagers and having fun. -- dads.
:20:56. > :21:04.They will get frustrated and do something about it. They may regret
:21:04. > :21:07.it later, but it happens. Prevention could be an important
:21:07. > :21:12.part of the solution, but because of budget cuts, dozens of state,
:21:12. > :21:21.including Texas, and cutting their prevention budgets. This leaves
:21:21. > :21:31.millions of children without a safety net. Madeleine says it is
:21:31. > :21:33.
:21:33. > :21:39.getting harder to push prevention programmes. Legislators from both
:21:39. > :21:44.sides of love children. They are not adequately educated on the
:21:44. > :21:52.consequences of abuse and how they are paying for it. They look at the
:21:52. > :22:02.medical costs. They look at the prison cost. Remedial education.
:22:02. > :22:02.
:22:02. > :22:09.This is one of the most important routes of all evil in our society.
:22:09. > :22:13.The televised trial of a Florida woman, Stacey. She was accused of
:22:13. > :22:17.helping her brother to kill their parents. Prosecutors said it abuse
:22:17. > :22:22.they experienced in childhood was a cause of the murder. Stacey was
:22:22. > :22:28.found innocent and agree to talk to us about what it was like to grow
:22:28. > :22:32.up in an abusive home. Crying was forbidden in the house. If you
:22:32. > :22:36.cried, you got beaten more. If you made a sound when you hit, you got
:22:37. > :22:44.it more. If you made a sound or try to move when you rate, it last
:22:44. > :22:48.longer and got more violent. -- got raped. You just took it and dealt
:22:48. > :22:53.with it. Once you are reduced, you do not know anything but anger and
:22:53. > :22:57.violence. -- are abused. That's all you know how to live there.
:22:57. > :23:07.years on, she is still in therapy. Her brother is in jail for
:23:07. > :23:10.murdering their parents. The more damaged our children become, the
:23:10. > :23:14.more damaged our society becomes. We need to open doors for these
:23:14. > :23:17.kids to get help. A study done by the US Justice Department found
:23:17. > :23:23.that 68% of the inmates were abused as children. Those numbers are
:23:23. > :23:29.adding up and they are adding up in a terrible way. Across the US, many
:23:29. > :23:32.are trying to the cycle of violence that starts in childhood. It is a
:23:32. > :23:42.battle they will win only when the rest of the country acknowledges