Opinion: The death of an 11-year-old child found in a closet stirs outrage
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To the editor: After reading too many reports about children being severely abused and murdered, even though authorities were or should have been aware of it, I must comment.
( “Dead boy, 11, weighted just 34 pounds,” Sept. 15)
The most recent report about the dead 11-year-old child found in a closet in Echo Park, weighing only 34 pounds, is outrageous and unacceptable.
This child had previously been deemed “high” risk of abuse at least 4 times by the county. There is no excuse for this child “falling off the radar.”
Nancy Ross, Van Nuys
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To the editor: It would appear that a computer program in Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, one designed to recognize and rate in terms of severity childhood abuse, failed to adequately characterize the problems in the home of this young boy.
How many times have we heard this before? Warnings are raised repeatedly yet go unheeded.
Now, a child has died and the excuse is the computer.
It is appropriate for the community to take action when the defenseless are put at risk.
The “community” is not a computer-driven algorithm.
Louis H. Nevell, Los Angeles
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