Episode 6 The Bottom Line


Episode 6

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very mild overnight. Cloudy and dampen the West. -- dam in the West.

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Brightness developing across eastern England and eastern

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Scotland. Rain heavier and more persistent for Northern Ireland,

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western Scotland. East Anglia and the south-east will be very mild.

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Tuesday will be a lovely day. Writer winds and very mild. --

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This is BBC News. A summary of the news: China has joined

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international calls for an end to Syria's violent crackdown on anti-

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government protests. Syria's President warned of an earthquake

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if the West where to intervene in his country. It would risk serious

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becoming another Afghanistan. Two Britons were among the 17 killed in

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Kabul yesterday in a car-bomb attack. They were electricians

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working for an American building company. They were in an armoured

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bus when it was hit by a Taliban suicide bomber. The Australian

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airline Qantas said it hopes to resume flights within the next 24

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hours. They grounded their entire fleet overran industrial dispute.

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The airline said there were 3,000 affected passengers at Heathrow.

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The Bishop of London has told anti- capitalist demonstrators outside St

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Paul's Cathedral that he does not want to see their protest in the

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end violence. Today was the first Sunday service since St Paul's was

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opened again on Friday. A freak snowstorm in the US has left 10,000

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homes and businesses without power. Three people are reported to have

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died. Now, in a disturbing programme on child abuse in America,

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Natalia Antelava goes to Texas to investigate the roots of a growing

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epidemic of child deaths. Rebecca died when she was three. She was

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beaten to death. But hers is just one story. Behind each face are

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dozens of others. Every year, hundreds, possibly thousands of

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children die in the world's richest democracy. Killed by people who

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were meant to care for them. Clearly it is a huge public health

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issue. It is a major epidemic. us get to the developing story of

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the death of a three-year-old boy. A mother has been charged with

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manslaughter. If that was a health issue, if that was kids getting

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bumps on their hands which stopped them from writing, it would be

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called an epidemic. Police say she was forced into a foot locker. A

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two-year-old is in the hospital with liver damage. I am so tired of

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the lack of response. She is four years old. Child abuse is

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completely preventable. At the scene, investigators found two

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children. They were aged seven and six. We're breeding an army of

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future child abusers. It was March 2007. San Antonio was in full bloom.

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But in this street, residents realised something had gone wrong.

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In there. They said they came looking for a dead animal. Instead,

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they found the bodies of two babies. So the baby was under this gap?

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was there for three months. Three months? Yes. During the

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investigation and trial that followed, their mother admitted to

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beating her 18-month-old daughter to death because she would not stop

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crying. Weeks later she also killed her four-month-old son Sebastien

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and buried him next to his sister. Valerie Lopez and her boyfriend are

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in prison for life. Four years on their flat is still up for rent.

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The community is still in shock. Elsewhere in the US, thousands of

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other children have died since in circumstances just as chilling.

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Child abuse is a crime like no other. It happens behind closed

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doors to those who often have no voice. It is difficult to detect,

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more difficult to investigate and extremely hard to come to terms

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with. No family, no community wants to admit it is failing to protect

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its children. And yet more and more people, doctors, educators,

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congressmen, are warning that in the United States, child abuse is a

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problem of endemic proportions. While it happens everywhere, better

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reporting of child abuse makes statistics more reliable in the

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industrialised world. The only available comparative UN report

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from 2003 estimates that every week, on average, two children die from

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abuse in Britain and in Germany. Three in France. Four in Japan. And

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27 in the United States. The combined population of these

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countries is bigger than the US. But the rate in the US is three

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times higher. The question is, why? In America, individualism is sacred.

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In Texas, they pride themselves on being more independent and more

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self-sufficient than anywhere else. We came into Texas because

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everything is bigger here. The latest data from 2009 shows that

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267 children died from abuse here. More than in any other state.

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Officials say they are better at reporting deaths. As we travelled

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across Texas we found reasons behind this staggering number.

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They're far more complex. In her father's memory, Emma will always

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be four. She would be sitting on the couch. She would look at me and

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I would look at her. I would ask her, are you daddy's baby? She

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would laugh and tell me, no I am mummy's baby. I would feign outrage.

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What? What? She would start laughing. I'd say, no! She'd just

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laugh. In the final weekend she was over I asked if she was daddy's

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baby. She just said, yes. She just said, yes. We have an update on

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breaking news. A mother sentenced to prison for not protecting her

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little girl from abuse. Once the lights were shown, there was

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bruising all over her body. On her stomach. She had a busted lip.

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Bruising all over her face. Emma's mother, Abigail Young, moved in

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with her boyfriend. He had a previous history of child abuse.

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Lucas was sentenced to life in prison for raping and killing Emma.

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Abigail is serving a 20-year sentence for failing to prevent her

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daughter's death. Three weeks before she died, Emma was diagnosed

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with genital herpes. Doctors reported it to the Child Protection

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Services. They said sexually transmitted disease was not enough

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of a reason to remove a child from home. Everybody had a chance to

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save her. Everybody missed the signs? Everybody missed the signs.

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There were signs from my family, signs that CBS missed, signs that

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the doctors missed. Within weeks of her death, two toddlers were killed

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in Texas. Both were under the watch of Child Protection Services. The

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agency launched an internal investigation into their deaths.

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Nobody was fired. Generally we do not talk about case-specific

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information. There are some times when a woman or man, whoever we are

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investigating, lies to us and we believe their lies. Surely the fact

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that a four-year old had genital herpes was enough of an indication?

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We certainly had medical indications that herpes can be

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caused by many things. There were assertions from the parents. I have

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had cases on this road. You cannot judge a neighbourhood on whether or

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not there is abuse happening here. I would put nothing past anyone.

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John Paul's job is to go from house-to-house investigating abuse

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that happens behind closed doors. He was not involved in Emma's case,

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but for him it is a reminder about what happens if he fails. The

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problem, he says, is that it is easy to fail. John Paul is

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currently investigating 38 families. That is more than double the

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recommended case load. The main reason that the lot of

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investigators are afraid to voice their opinions is because they

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might lose their job. He was not authorised to talk to us. But he

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felt it was necessary to do so. I have seen so much happen in the

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five years I have been with the agency. I feel as if the

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investigators that are out there doing the hard work but they are

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not being heard by the upper level management. I think a lot of people

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need to realise that just like police officers can burn out,

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investigators can feel burnt-out. Overworked and underpaid officers

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and a slow and often inefficient chain of command are not the only

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reasons why so many children fall through the cracks of the system.

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The former chief prosecutor of Harris County says that it is a

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problem. He says the agency focuses too much on keeping families

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together because that is what the Federal Government wants to do.

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Randy Burton now owns this law firm. That is how he pays for providing

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free legal services for children in trouble. His cabinets are full of

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stories of children that were killed because they were allowed to

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stay at home. In order to preserve the influx of federal money, which

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has over half the money that states get for child welfare, it has

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become an end in itself. We're going to make every effort to try

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and preserve these families. So in a state like Texas, that boasts the

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lowest rate of removal from homes in the nation, it is not surprising

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they also have the highest number of child fatalities in the nation.

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Up to 40% of children who die from abuse in the US have files with

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Child Protection Services. This makes it very easy for the critics

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to attack the agency. Not for their lack of desire, but for being too

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much of a slow, clumsy bureaucracy. Some say critics are missing a

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bigger problem. One of the bigger things that people need to remember

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about CPS is that their job is about protecting children after the

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fact. Their role is not to keep children from being harmed. That is

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a huge point that people need to understand. I think it is all of

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our jobs to protect children in the More than 30,000 children are

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already in foster care in Texas. The system is overloaded. Every

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year, hundreds of children come through this foster home as they

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wait for the Government to find them a new family or to decide if

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it is safer than to return to their parents. Some spend months here.

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Others, years. No matter how many scars, how many prisoners they were

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brought here with, all of their teachers say the children are

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Child abuse is possibly the only crime in which the victim simply

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doesn't know that something has This TV campaign is an attempt to

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start a public dialogue about child abuse. It is not easy. The taboo

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got broken about having breast cancer. We need that on this issue.

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We need to break the issue. We need a first lady of the US to help

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Dallas Children's Hospital is one of the biggest paediatric hospitals

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in the US. From cancer to heart transplants, they do everything

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here. And yet, child abuse accounts for 30% of the hospital's deaths.

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The numbers are on the rise. We see increasing violence. I think the

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cases that involve more double children in the one home are the

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most striking. -- multiple. This particular scenario would be

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siblings who are chronically and Torture situations. Dr Matthew Cox

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is one of these few paediatricians in the country specialising in

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abuse. He runs an abuse and neglect clinic. Most kids don't look like

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the battered baby that we often see. Most child abuse does not look like

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that. Most of the kids who are abused in the most severe forms

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have internal injuries, with no external manifestations. The

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doctors have to be aware of it and think about it. If they do not

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think about it as a physician, they will miss the diagnosis. Currently,

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most US medical students get only a day's worth of lectures on child

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abuse while they are at in college. Not these students. Dr Cox make

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sure they learn plenty about it. We joined Dr Cox as he took his

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students to a courthouse in amiably tan, testifying in cases of child

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abuse. It is part of his routine. It was a six-month-old girl. I was

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one of the surgeons who treated her. We go in without a camera. Medical

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treatment is often decisive in child abuse cases. After his

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testimony, Dr Cox tells his students that it will be a big part

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of their work. There is a lot more to the story then was presented. I

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am concerned about the safety of the child. How do you prepare for

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the case? This is one that has been said a couple of times. This was

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ten months ago. In that time, I had seemed well over 1,000 other kids.

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I didn't remember everything. Documenting the records is

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important. I average being called as a witness about once a week. We

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cannot fathom what kind of environment some children living.

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In Washington, some politicians are beginning to recognise what many

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told us is a real national crisis. Our role today is to be a voice for

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the voiceless. A congressional report says that the current

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numbers of child deaths are in fact a gross underestimate. I have been

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here for almost 25 years. I have attended many hearings. This has

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been one of the most painful. 2009, over 1,000 children died from

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abuse according to the official data. The real number, according to

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Congress, could be at over 2000. Expert witnesses explained why the

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Government had to play a more active role. States need emergency

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help now. Resources are dwindling, what child abuse and neglect is

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increasing. Here is an example of a programme that many believe can

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prevent abuse. Crystal is a qualified nurse. Every week for the

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next two years, she will visit this child, because the state of Texas

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says that he fits the criteria of a child at risk. Only one person in

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his family has a job. No-one has health insurance. His parents have

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just turned 18. While causes behind child abuse are complex, statistics

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show it is more common in areas with more by a rights of poverty

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:20:20.:20:21.

and teenage pregnancy. -- high rates of. At this point, new

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parents will get so frustrated and overwhelmed that they will throw

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the baby down on the couch or shake the baby. This couple are

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determined to be good parents, but they say teenagers need help.

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frustrated at some points. I will not hurt him. I am conscious of

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what I'm doing. But it does sound like a lot a parents, especially

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dance, feel like they are still teenagers and having fun. -- dads.

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They will get frustrated and do something about it. They may regret

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it later, but it happens. Prevention could be an important

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part of the solution, but because of budget cuts, dozens of state,

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including Texas, and cutting their prevention budgets. This leaves

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millions of children without a safety net. Madeleine says it is

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getting harder to push prevention programmes. Legislators from both

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sides of love children. They are not adequately educated on the

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consequences of abuse and how they are paying for it. They look at the

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medical costs. They look at the prison cost. Remedial education.

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This is one of the most important routes of all evil in our society.

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The televised trial of a Florida woman, Stacey. She was accused of

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helping her brother to kill their parents. Prosecutors said it abuse

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they experienced in childhood was a cause of the murder. Stacey was

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found innocent and agree to talk to us about what it was like to grow

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up in an abusive home. Crying was forbidden in the house. If you

:22:28.:22:32.

cried, you got beaten more. If you made a sound when you hit, you got

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it more. If you made a sound or try to move when you rate, it last

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longer and got more violent. -- got raped. You just took it and dealt

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with it. Once you are reduced, you do not know anything but anger and

:22:48.:22:53.

violence. -- are abused. That's all you know how to live there.

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years on, she is still in therapy. Her brother is in jail for

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murdering their parents. The more damaged our children become, the

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more damaged our society becomes. We need to open doors for these

:23:10.:23:14.

kids to get help. A study done by the US Justice Department found

:23:14.:23:17.

that 68% of the inmates were abused as children. Those numbers are

:23:17.:23:23.

adding up and they are adding up in a terrible way. Across the US, many

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are trying to the cycle of violence that starts in childhood. It is a

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battle they will win only when the rest of the country acknowledges

:23:32.:23:42.

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