Abuse And Neglect

KEONNA EMMONS was shaken so hard that the toddler wound up hospitalized, in critical condition, with severe head injuries. Bernice Gilmore, the Baltimore woman who was caring for Keonna and pleaded guilty in June to assaulting her, had previously lost custody of her son for throwing him against a wall. Keisha L. Carr, a depressed 23-year-old, broke the arms and legs of her eldest son, and within a year brutally killed the boy's infant brother. Sheila Avery lost custody of her son Travon because of neglect, and within a month of his return to her, she thrust the 5-year-old into a scalding bath, killing him. Five months after child-welfare workers took Sierra Swann's oldest child from her because of abuse and neglect, the runaway foster teen was charged with murdering her newborn twin daughters.

These events are scheduled at the Baltimore Convention Center, Howard and Pratt streets. April 19-20 BizLearn 2004 meeting. Estimated attendance: 800. April 20 Annual Conference on Family. Estimated attendance: 700. April 22-25 Respiratory Care Medical Convention. Estimated attendance: 2,000+. April 23-25 Charismatic Catholic Conference. Estimated attendance: 500. April 23-25 International Gem & Jewelry Show. Estimated attendance: 5,000+. Contact: 301-294-1640 April 24-25 International Association of Culinary Professionals trade show.

Prevent Child Abuse Maryland and representatives of faith denominations will present an educational conference, "The Faith Community's Response To Child Abuse and Neglect," from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, 10431 Twin Rivers Road, Columbia. Speakers will discuss the nature and complexity of child abuse, and describe community resources and opportunities. A report will be compiled to be shared with faith communities and educators in Maryland. Admission is $30, including lunch, refreshments and a resource binder.

For Susan Glorioso, the low point came late one Friday night when she had to drop off a young, abused girl at a children's hospital, all alone. "Leaving her there at 10 p.m. It just doesn't shut off," the veteran Howard County child protective services social worker said of her emotional connection to her cases. Her co-worker Iona Lewis reached the edge of her professional aplomb rushing to the hospital with a 3-month-old boy who had been shaken violently by a parent angered by the child's colicky crying.

Abuse and neglect are the dark secrets of the elderly. In nursing homes, assisted living facilities and private homes, senior citizens are beaten, robbed and left without proper food or medication, say advocates for the elderly. As a result, the Baltimore County Department of Aging has begun a yearlong campaign to urge more people to report crimes against the elderly and to teach how such acts can be prevented. The campaign - "Elder Abuse Is A Crying Shame" - began this month. The department has publicized it with billboards in Essex and Catonsville and in a brochure with a cover showing a shattered pair of eyeglasses.

The daughter of a former patient at a Pikesville nursing home has filed a lawsuit against the home, alleging that her mother was battered, scalded with hot coffee and neglected by the staff. Brenda Rhett Robinson alleges that her mother, Daisy S. Rhett, suffered as the result of a series of incidents over the course of her seven-year stay at the former Pikesville Nursing and Convalescent Center on Sudbrook Lane. The suit, filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, names as defendants Pikesville Nursing and Convalescent Center Inc. and Ruxton Health Care Inc., the Columbia firm that owns the facility.

WHY ARE more children dying from abuse? Why are more children in psychiatric distress than ever before? Conventional wisdom suggests that abuse increases when times are hard and decreases when the economy is strong. Yet while our economy surges, recent articles in The Sun report alarming increases in child abuse deaths and commitments of children to psychiatric hospitals. Both articles raise questions of possible links between welfare reform and an increase in child abuse. Our experience in Catholic Charities suggests that, indeed, a deadly connection exists between these two issues that occurs because of a reduction in the state's vigilance to investigate child abuse complaints while welfare reform progresses.

Treatment must reach parents who are substance abusersThank you for Greg Garland's article "Drug abuser care program reaches few," (Nov. 28). Parental substance abuse is perhaps the most corrosive force in our society today, causing untold misery -- broken families, birth defects, mental retardation, school failure and delinquent behavior.Without intervention and treatment, the cycle of child abuse and neglect and substance abuse often repeats itself, generation after generation.Many parents addicted to cocaine, alcohol and heroin cannot and do not raise their children.

Up on 'The Hill' at St. Vincent's, a new generation of children orphaned by abuse and neglect find a safe place to rage and to heal. Story by Rob Hiassen, photography by Perry Thorsvik.Fred is dead, although with an iguana it's sometimes hard to tell. But Fred the iguana is truly dead, and his passing requires a proper burial.In a few moments, everyone will gather behind the green dumpster at St. Vincent's Center. Its pastor, Father Ray Chase, will preside. He will find the right words. The 12 boys of Martin Luther King House, one of six cottages at the center, will join him at the grave site.

Abuse of children may not be declining in MarylandKate Shatzkin's article, "Conditions for Md. children mixed, survey finds" (April 7) was a welcome introduction to the "Maryland Kids Count Fact Book." However, I would caution anyone from concluding that child abuse and neglect are declining in Maryland.The Kids Count data only indicate a drop in the number of abuse and neglect cases confirmed by Child Protective Service workers. Children's advocates are greatly concerned that Child Protective Service workers are ruling out an increasingly high percentage of these cases.