(no subject)
LOS ANGELES (Associated Press) -- The little boy's body was a study in pain.
He was covered in cigarette burns, including to his genitals. He couldn't fully open his hand because it had been burned on a stove. His tooth was broken with a nerve exposed. And he had been made to sit in his own urine and feces, authorities say.
As the 5-year-old remains hospitalized by kidney failure brought on from malnutrition, two county supervisors are blaming welfare and law enforcement agencies for missing earlier chances to rescue the child from what police say were months of "unbearable psychological and physical abuse."
Summoned to a county Department of Children and Family Services office, authorities say Starkeisha Brown brought her baby sitter's healthy 4-year-old son and daughter and tried to pass them off as her own.
Brown and her girlfriend ran from the office when a social worker questioned whether the child was really Brown's, authorities say. The boy was found nearby, after someone called 911 to report that a sick child with bruises had been left with a homeless person.
The child was taken to a hospital with a round belly common in cases of severe malnutrition. Police were shocked by injuries that showed the abuse was horrific and prolonged.
.............As for the 5-year-old, authorities describe him as withdrawn and shy but plays with people he trusts. He has a healthy appetite and began walking over the weekend with a slight limp. His burnt hand is healing well and regaining its range of motion.
At least this little guy has a better chance than the one in Esco a couple of years ago.