Looking the other Way
Some of the little girl's relatives thought something was wrong. So did workers at her Head Start school and the caseworker in charge of her family. Even the girl's school bus driver reported that she was being abused. Despite these warnings, Oregon's Department of Human Services never removed 5-year-old Lacey Folenius from her home. Lacey ended up bleeding to death from a massive blow to her intestines, and her father's girlfriend is now serving 17 years in prison after a conviction of first-degree manslaughter (although she never admitted striking the fatal blow). In "Seen, but Not Heard," Bill Bishop of The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., explores with powerful details how the system failed one girl so badly. Thank you Brian Summers for suggesting this story. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/12/17/a1.lacey.1217.p1.php?section=cityregion