Wouldn't it be great if all the euthanasia attempts we counter turned out so well as Haleigh's?
The Republican reports.
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More than two years ago, the state's highest court ruled that doctors could remove the feeding tubes of Haleigh Poutre - so convinced was the court that the condition of the 11-year-old child abuse victim was virtually hopeless.
Before the decision to end life support was implemented, Haleigh began to breathe on her own. The Westfield girl was transferred to a children's rehabilitation hospital in the eastern part of the state where she still resides.
In a dramatic turn of events, Haleigh, now 14, is able to communicate and may be able to testify against her stepfather, Jason D. Strickland, who is charged with assaulting the girl, according to recent court documents.
Haleigh's apparent ability to communicate coincides with Statehouse efforts toward adopting a bill that would create an "office of the child advocate" in the governor's office that would be responsible for monitoring and reviewing services for children in the custody of the state. The bill would also impose other systemic changes aimed at preventing child abuse.
The Senate voted 36-0 on Tuesday to approve the bill, which was crafted in response to Haleigh's plight. Starting in 2001, the state Department of Social Services received more than 20 complaints of abuse and neglect of the girl.
How could the DSS, which had been supervising Haleigh's adoptive mother, have failed Haleigh so terribly? That is the haunting - and central - question lawmakers have been asking as they craft a bill that will reform the state's child welfare system.
"There are still gaps in the system," Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said after the vote. "This bill goes a long way toward closing those gaps."
We expect there will be some changes in the legislation after a House-Senate committee develops a compromise bill. We applaud lawmakers for their work so far and urge them to continue with judicious speed so that no child will ever have to suffer as Haleigh Poutre has suffered.
Haleigh Poutre case impetus for change
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