Physical Abuse Calls For A Pro-Active Response

I have heard of child abuse since before my 40-year-old daughter was born, but it was something that happened to other people. But then, at just 5 weeks old, my grandson had his arm broken, a victim of child abuse. My daughter had a friend of hers living with her to help with the baby in exchange for rent. This woman was no kid; she was 26 years old.

She called my daughter one evening at work and told her she thought she should come home and take her son to the hospital because his arm was swollen and he was whimpering. As soon as my daughter took him to the emergency room at Valley Hospital, the staff knew what had happened. They just didn’t know who had hurt him. My grandson had a “spiral break,” almost always a sign of child abuse. Child Protective Services was called and they treated my daughter as if she was responsible, telling her she could lose her son. She was devastated and called me, crying.

When she told me what had happened, I never once suspected her. My daughter was quickly cleared of what had happened but then the person who had hurt my grandson denied what she had done. She had many excuses but we were informed that the truth would come out, and it did.

My daughter blamed herself, not for hurting her child but for letting it happen. She still has some pangs of remorse but she shouldn’t. In one of the meetings with prosecutors, we heard the lady wrote a confession, and we then read it. The baby, only 5 weeks old, wouldn’t quit crying. So she grabbed his left arm and flung him into the sofa. He could have been killed. In a lot of child abuse cases I’ve heard about, the person got just a slap on the wrist. I was hoping that this would not happen. Thanks to the Spokane County prosecutor’s office, this woman will not be in a position to hurt another child.

She took a plea bargain. It wasn’t exactly everything we wanted but at least it was a start. She was found guilty of child assault and sentenced to 12 months in jail and 24 months of community supervision. She can’t have any contact with my daughter, my grandson or me and must attend anger management classes and the domestic violence perpetrator treatment program. She’s not allowed any unsupervised contact with children under 10 years of age.

My grandson is now a happy 11-month-old. I want to thank the nurses and doctors at Valley Hospital for their kindness to him and our family.

I learned through this experience that you can protect your loved ones. And don’t be afraid to pursue - and punish - the people who abuse children.

Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.