Haleigh Poutre related, DSS watch...
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A Peabody mom is charged with murdering her baby girl who had been returned to her care after the Department of Social Services twice took custody of the child last year.
Jennifer Ward was arrested Friday in Kennebunkport, Maine, where she is being held on fugitive from justice charges, after an Essex County Superior Court indicted the mother for shaking her baby to death, said Steve O’Connell, spokesman for Essex County District Attorney Jon Blodgett.
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After the mother again worked with DSS, the child was returned for a second time. DSS refused last night to say what date they returned Jocelyn the second and final time, only that it was months before her death.
“We’re not discussing specifics,” said Nangle, who refused to say why the agency wouldn’t release the information. “It is what it is.”
DSS has come under withering fire in recent years for bungling a string of child abuse cases, including those of Dontell Jeffers, a 4-year-old who was beaten to death while in foster care; Haleigh Poutre, an abused and brain damaged girl who made a stunning recovery as the agency prepared to remove her from life support; and Rebecca Riley, 4, who died of a prescription drug overdose, though the family had numerous visits from a DSS case worker................
Mom charged with killing baby... DSS had taken girl into state custody two times
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This just in from USA Today, an article on faith and voting...
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With a bevy of candidates on both sides, serious-minded voters understandably seek to get beyond dollar-driven celebrity glitz and pandering punditry. It turns out, the same folks who brought us Christmas are happy to provide what amount to shopper's guides.
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Ever since the Moral Majority rose to prominence during the Reagan years, Christian churches in the USA have produced an array of voters' guides for the politically perplexed. Like those produced by advocacy groups ranging from the National Rifle Association to Planned Parenthood to Sierra Club, these guides often present documented and well-reasoned perspectives on issues voters should consider when choosing to support a particular candidate or party.
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Voters' guides also abound in Roman Catholic circles. "Voting with a Clear Conscience" by priestsforlife.org's Father Frank Pavone is a good example. He gained national prominence as the spiritual adviser to Terri Schiavo's parents and argues that when it comes to abortion and euthanasia, it's a matter of choosing between God and government. Then there's the group Catholics in Alliance's "Voting for the Common Good," which urges a nuanced interpretation of Catholic ethics, which might admit reproductive choice or assisted suicide under the umbrella of the greater social good......................
God enters the voting booth
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