Abuse And Neglect

New York. -- Shayna Bryant's four siblings say that when her parents wanted to punish her they gave her a choice of a beating or going without food for two days.After she was found dead on her fourth birthday on a Formica table in her family's Bronx apartment, an autopsy revealed that she had died of blunt impact wounds to her head and torso, which also showed signs of healed wounds. Her face and hands were scarred by cigarette burns. The four surviving children say the father often used his fists, the mother a shoe.

The House Judiciary Committee has never been known for enlightened thinking, particularly in social policy. But when the committee cut the heart out of domestic violence legislation this week, women members of the House of Delegates finally lost patience, letting fly with public criticism of their colleagues that carried an especially bitter tinge.The bill was a top priority for a broad coalition of women's organizations ranging from liberal groups to women's business associations. But their concerns were no match for the criminal trial lawyers who dominate the committee, whose sympathies evidently lie more with their clients, present and future, than with any female constituents who face the terror of domestic abuse.

Reports of child abuse are nearly overwhelming the Carroll County Department of Social Services. The number of reports of suspected child abuse this year is 64 percent greater than the total number of cases for all of 1992. Because state law requires all valid reports of suspected child abuse to be investigated within 24 hours, the department's staff is struggling to keep up.Whether more child abuse is occurring in Carroll today than last year or even 10 years ago is not the appropriate question.

Fifty new reports of child abuse and neglect landed on the desks of Anne Arundel County's child protective services workers Tuesday, setting a record and sending social workers scrambling."

Child abuse and neglect cases soared to record numbers in Anne Arundel County in the first five months of this year, straining child protective services almost to the breaking point and leading to stress-related illnesses among social workers.Social workers say the complaints dropped off some in June and July, but they don't expect the reprieve to last. Complaints of suspected child abuse and neglect typically decrease in the summer while school is out because a large number come from teachers and guidance counselors, said Pamela Smelser, supervisor of Child Protective Services (CPS)

Child abuse and neglect cases soared to record numbers in Anne Arundel County in the first five months of this year, straining child protective services almost to the breaking point and leading to stress-related illnesses among social workers.Social workers say the complaints dropped off some in June and July, but they don't expect the reprieve to last. Complaints of suspected child abuse and neglect typically decrease in the summer while school is out because a large number come from teachers and guidance counselors, said Pamela Smelser, supervisor of Child Protective Services (CPS)

Applications for medical assistance, food stamps and aid to families with dependent children in Carroll have increased from a year ago.The Carroll County Department of Social Services has also seen an increase in reports of child neglect and abuse, both sexual and physical, Executive Director M. Alexander Jones told his board of directors at its monthly meeting yesterday.Mr. Jones also said the number of applicants who have moved to Carroll recently from other counties and states has gone from an average of 11.5 a month by the end of 1991 to an average of a month by the end of 1992.

MONDAY SENATEBudget and Taxation: Budget hearings for Lottery Agency and juvenile services, 1 p.m., Room 100.HOUSE* Appropriations: HB734, St. Mary's College of Maryland; HB831, HB1437 University of Maryland System Board of Regents; HB844, distribution of revenues from uninsured driver penalties; HB987, contracts authority for Board of Community Colleges Trustees in Prince George's County; HB1022, light rail projects; HB1087, family practice rotations in...

If we truly care about those two little girls in the so-called "Home Alone 3" case out of suburban Chicago, we probably would return them to their natural parents as quickly as possible.True, the little girls' natural parents appear to have been unbelievably negligent. But too often the welfare of the child gets swept aside in our barbarous lust to punish negligent, or TC even abusive parents. And in our zeal, we end up substituting the abuse and neglect of the mother and father for the abuse and neglect of the system.

A new hot line has opened to take reports of suspected abuse and neglect of the elderly.The hot line is a project of Columbia resident and lawyer Charles Jerome Ware, and the Rev. John L. Wright, of the First Baptist Church of Guilford.Mr. Ware said he became interested in the issue of abuse of the elderly through his work as legal counsel for the Maryland State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which develops leadership and political programs. Through that job, he often gets phone calls and letters complaining about problems in the community.