"Another Child has Died"

This 7 year old girl was starved to death by her mother in 2008. In England, where social programs abound to prevent just this kind of abuse. She was also abused by her mother’s partner. Her 3 brothers were at the point of death when finally found by the authorities. Failures at every level caused this. Everyone that was charged with protecting children in Manchester failed to act. The City has since put safeguards in place to minimize the chances for this to happen again. The mother and her partner were just sentenced to a minimum of 7 years in prison.
Does this sound familiar? It should, because it is happening all around all of us all the time. Overworked social service people, overworked teachers, staff cuts in school nursing and other support programs and nobody notices one small child evaporating before their eyes. It makes me so mad to think that right now thousands or millions of children (and old people too) are dying from neglect and/or abuse under our noses. What to do? I don’t know. Just keep your eyes open and notice things that are out of balance. Like a rail-thin child or missing granny. Pressure politicians to fund (where is the money to come from?) more social service type positions in schools and communities. Vote for someone with a conscience, not just a greedy bastard with dollar signs for eyes.
Years ago an old friend (1) of ours wrote a song called “Daniel” about an abused child that died from his abuse. The song raised the consciousness of an entire country. Australia. He gained national recognition telling the story of “another child has died”. How many more must we see killed before we collectively do something?
1. Ian Muir at: http://www.ianmuir.com.au/

Image: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298006/Khyra-Ishaq-death-preventable.html