...whoa.

That mother's disipline is totally un-biblical. She should have read Psalms 137:9.

How in the name of all that is good did this person become a licensed foster parent. this really solidifies my hate of DHS/CPS.

Lovesong for J. Alfred Punkrock

Dearest J,

Do you not find it impressive that an American blog can cause so much vitriol about these one-fix gear bicycles? I'm so inclined to giggle at the outburst; in fact, I think I may call Daddy in Washington D.C. to see how I may respond with civility.
Oh sweet J, say that you will come north this thanksgiving. I've read in a magazine that we can rent one of those classic Tolleycrafts for a few simple quid an hour. Oh what fun, I could break out my fly-fishing equipment. Imagine - fly-fishing off the Isle of Wight! or whatever they call it.
I know you're so terribly busy attending meetings and such. Deep down, I do find legislation on transit roads heartbreakingly romantic. But if by chance, you find yourself near Manchester in the coming weeks, please do ring. It has been a bit morbid around here - reading about the local torturing of children, observing the growing Food Bank lines. Yes, it is a pity - and we must stiffen up this Wasteland ;)
Say hello to Ezra, Whyndham, Henri, and (what is her name?) the woman who hosts the salons, the much skinnier Gertrude Stein type of tart. Yes, pass on the love.

Your modern lover,
June B.

14 years? That's it? Insanity, this woman was *torturing a kid* and she'll be out in 7 years or so. We need to empty out the prisons of drug offenders and ramp up the sentences of sickos like this.

I wish a slow, agonizing death on this woman. I hope she dies burning.

Dear DSHS, I predict a lawsuit coming your way.

To be fair to DSHS, they are grossly underfunded, and their social workers are grossly underpaid and overworked. Their caseloads are staggering.

Purely as a practical matter, wouldn't it be cheaper for the state to hire about twice as many case workers than it is to pay out millions of dollars in lawsuits like this will inevitably result in?

People who get angry at DSHS are misdirecting their anger. Case workers want to do a good job. DSHS wants to do a good job. The simple fact is that given the task they are given, the just don't have the financial resources to do a good job.

To wash this psychotic bitchwad's atrocities out of my mind and yours, I will now post another picture of a cute little pygmy goat. Awwwwww. Did you see that you can have one as a pet in Seattle now? Boo, needles in children's eyeballs! Hooray, goats!

Thanks, SDA in SEA. My thoughts exactly.

And Deidre @2, why don't you actually frickin' do something about the problem instead of griping for someone else to do about it? It's not their fault that they aren't supplied with the resources to do their job, and I don't really see that there are that many people lining up to become foster parents either...

Thank god that foster mother wasn't gay.

@7,

No, no, no, no, no. I'm not buying it. That explains why case workers don't/can't intervene in most abuse cases. Most kids don't get abused that severely, and consequently don't show any obvious signs. Most kids don't tell anyone when they're being abused.

For years, Kabbelliyaa, who also goes by Lewis, was the focus of complaints from teachers, counselors and others about the girl’s well-being, giving social workers several chances to remove her from the home…

That girl's caseworker should be prosecuted alongside Kabbelliyaa.

DAN--THIS IS SUCH CRAP.

You are not doing any good to supporters of adoption by gay couples. You seem to relish this becuase it supports some preverse belief that a child can be better off without his or her mother.

The proclivities of non-biological parents towards cruelty (e.g. the well-documented tendendcy of step fathers to be more likely to molest than biological fathers), or even the proclivities of fucked-up biological mothers who stab kids in the eye won't win you any arguments.

It is beyond question that kids need female role models. Your cavalier attitude to this important need in children (and to this kid's situation) makes you look like the selfish person the right-winger fuckwads claim you are.

I'm all about not taking ourselves seriously, but this is revolting.

I don't know what to say to this... its just monstrous.

That woman needs to be put down like the rabid dog that she is.

Damn that makes me want to vomit.

As the husband of a DSHS social worker, FUCK YOU DAN! Some times your comments on things you have no clue about are mind blowing. Did you know there is a law forbidding DSHS social workers from commenting on this. Do you really think any of them would have let this happen if they knew. Did you know that is the courts that make EVERY FUCKING ONE OF THESE DECISIONS!

DSHS doesn't do this. Its the courts. They make it fucking impossible for the social workers. My wife cried her self to sleep last night over the court decision on one of her cases because she knows the kid is being put in a really bad situation AND MIGHT DIE! But the court ordered it so it will be. And she can't go to the press about the judge or she looses her job.

What can she do. The same thing every one of those workers do. Try again tomorrow.

Do you want to make the world a better place? Become a fucking foster parent. There are never enough and the court will keep placing kids in bad homes until there is a better option.

But until then, the department will be sued, the money will come out or DSHS's budget, a hiring freeze will be put in place and then Gregoire will make another fucking mandate that will get the next kid killed.

Fuck you.

@8: Thanks for the picture of the goat, tsm! Boo, scapegoats! Hooray, pet goats!

@15: All Dan wrote was, "That’s some damn fine social work, DSHS"

And according to the article: "The News Tribune in Tacoma revealed how Department of Social and Health Services workers often took Kabbelliyaa at her word when investigating complaints and gave her the benefit of the doubt because of the reported family connection between her and the victim."

I'm sorry your wife is so upset. I'm sure she's very a very conscientious social worker and a very caring person. I'm also sure that many times it is the courts who are to blame.

But it seems pretty clear that this time it was the social workers who fucked up.

Unless your wife was directly involved in this particular case (and if so, I take back all the nice things I said), I don't see a reason to take Dan's post so personally. You guys are on the same side.

Assault charges? I'd think even John Yoo would agree that this was torture.

Unless the social worker can PROVE TO THE COURT that the abuse is happening, s/he can't pull the kid. The department can't comment when the press wants answers because it is an ongoing case (the police don't have the same problem because their part is done).

I have the same reaction to every one that makes these same shallow type of comments. Dan often gives really shallow commentary (he does give some really deep commentary sometimes too).

I'm not surprised. I've become basically a big brother to a kid who was in foster care, and there don't seem to be a lot of good families out there. This kid's abuse wasn't physical (that was left to his bio parents), but instead psychological. This kid's queeny enough that when he took his first step, I'm surprised he didn't ask where the catwalk was. Naturally, he got stuck with Evangelical foster parents who told him that if the apocalypse happened, it would be his fault. Thank God he got adopted by a nice lesbian mom.

Sick fuck.... I hope she rots in jail.

I also hope that little girl gets some loving care... how fucking sad, sick and pathetic some of us are :(

To BMA.
i'm a college student, i dont have much way to do anything about it. I'm grousing however with good reason. they needlessly harrased my family over an incident just because there were 6 kids. they ignored a family friend who needed their help. and i have never heard much good about them. most of the people i have meet wo worked for them were decent people. I was more railing at the institution as a whole.

So a better question to ask, is how and what do we need to do to fix the system so all these problems cease to occur