the short, sad life of Danieal Kelly
July 31, 2008 – 9:49 pmThe state, to serve and protect our children:
Two Philadelphia social workers were among nine charged yesterday in the death of a Danieal Kelly, a 14-year-old girl who starved to death in 2006, her body eaten by bed sores to the bone.
Unveiling a blistering grand jury report today [PDF], District Attorney Lynne Abraham blasted the city’s Department of Human Services as an indifferent and callous agency that had let Kelly die needlessly.
Drawing gasps at a news conference in which she showed a photograph of Kelly’s bloody, emaciated corpse, Abraham urged the state to take over DHS - a call that was not embraced by state officials.
The grand jury report contains just one photo of Danieal after her death (be forewarned: it’s horrifically graphic), but even it cannot convey the full horror of what this young girl must have suffered, not only at the hands of her mother, but through the wanton neglect of Philadelphia’s DHS and the private agency it contracted to provide services she never received.
This may be the worst example I’ve seen of the state’s failure to perform even the minimal duties expected of it: to guard the safety of its citizens. If it fails—fundamentally fails, at every level of responsibility—in even this basic endeavor, how can anyone argue it is competent to manage our health, our children’s education, or the economy? And keep in mind, this isn’t an issue of strained resources or overwhelmed caseworkers—the DHS in Philadelphia is well-funded and staffed, and doesn’t even provide services directly to clients. It simply decides if action is warranted and then refers cases to private agencies to provide the actual services. Yet it failed even at what amounted to button-pushing.
It’s true that in Danieal’s case, a private agency demonstrated callous indifference towards her plight, even as it was busy forging paperwork and bilking taxpayers for nonexistent services rendered. But it could get away with it because its customer, the Philadelphia DHS, was complicit in its crimes. One administrator even admitted to the grand jury that falsifying and backdating reports was common practice at the agency.
This isn’t an isolated incident. You can’t find no less than nine adults, four of them social workers, responsible for a person’s death and assume this was a tragic exception to the rule. As the grand jury wrote in its report:
The fate of a sweet and promising child depended on the willingness of a number of particular adults to do the bare minimum of what they were supposed to do. Danieal’s mother, her father, DHS employees, the agency that contracted with DHS to provide services for Danieal and her family – these make up a rather large cast of characters. Yet, had just one of them performed their duty or done their job, Danieal would be alive today. The combined criminal negligence that transformed the little girl in the school portrait into the shriveled corpse in the autopsy photographs was so callous, so cruel, and so relentless, it constitutes nothing less than homicide.
Indeed. If I could, I’d charge every one of these people, with the possible exception of Andrea Kelly’s friends, with murder. And even her friends are morally if not legally culpable when they knew how badly Danieal was suffering and didn’t say a word about it to anyone.
Not that it would have made any difference, given how the city handled the case. The maggot-infested bedsores covering Danieal Kelly’s body aren’t the only things that have rotted to the bone.
15 Responses to “the short, sad life of Danieal Kelly”
As I sit here typing I can’t wipe the tears away from my eyes fast enough. At first, I just shook my head in dismay when I read the story and then I look at the postmortem picture contained in the grand jury report and I lost it.
WHY! WHY! WHY!
In this situation everyone is at fault.
Let’s start with the mother of this precious child, who inanely took away the life she gave her.
We also must include neighbors, friends and family who did nothing to intervene on Danieal’s behalf.
Last, the employees of the private monitoring agency and DHS, who didn’t even pretend to be concerned about the Daniel’s welfare.
I work in the field of Human Service’s, providing direct care for disabled adults and children and I just can’t fathom any valid reason for abusing or neglecting anyone, not to mention someone so frail.
By T. Marie on Aug 1, 2008
While you’re at it, you should also accuse the entire system with murder. An aggressive system set up to exercise authority over every aspect of a person’s life with physical punishment as the consequence of not falling in line is psychopathic. And we all know that psychopathy is absolutely incurable.
Only people, many of them working together, without conscience could have done this to a child and feel it necessary to defend their actions or not feel guilt. Too bad most court cases are just “finishing schools” for governments, where they learn where the current moral boundaries are and attempt to push them back just that much more in order to exercise more authority over the people. Again, like psychopaths who use therapy as graduate classes in psychological manipulation.
And of course, the irresponsible psychopaths at the top certainly will not be willing to take over the DHS. It would end up as one more responsibility that never gets taken care of — better to leave any political fallout at the lower levels.
By Nick on Aug 1, 2008
This is inexcusable. I can’t believe that there wasn’t a single person who saw poor Danieal and would call child protective services, and that there was a cover up like this. Bed sores do occur when someone is immobil, but they can be treated, but Danieal’s sores were so bad that it was clear that she was suffering from neglect. I read the grand jury report and saw the one autopsy photo and almost cried. I went to nursing school and have worked in nursing homes. I’ve seen bed sores. Never in my life have I seen anything like Danieal’s sores. I can’t imagine the pain Danieal suffered because of that. I’m supprised no one mentioned that.
By Hilary on Aug 1, 2008
Who lives in Philly? 2 years later and from now on is someone out there going to go find these people at DHS, and by these people, I mean those responsible and keep her memory alive? Never forget the YEARS she suffered every minute of every day, a defenceless CHILD!!!
Death is too good for Danieal’s parents, and the workers that filed false reports will be lucky if someone doesn’t give them poor Danieal’s justice some dark knight!
By california father on Aug 1, 2008
Clearly this child was never wanted by either parent. Why didn’t they give her up for adoption? Because they wanted a disability check? She would have probably spent time in the foster care system, but she may have had a better chance. There is just no reason to keep a child you don’t have an attachment to and will not take care of.
By Charis on Aug 2, 2008
HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?? WHILE READING THE Grand Jury REPORT I COULD HARDLY KEEP MYSELF COMPOSED. THE ONLY WORDS THAT COME TO MIND ARE ABSOLUTE SHOCK AND HORROR, NOT TO MENTION HOW MANY TIMES I HAD TO STOP READING TO WIPE AWAY THE TEARS SHED FOR AN INNOCENT CHILD WHOM I HAD NEVER MET. SWEET DANIEAL HAPPY IN HER SCHOOL PHOTOS, WITH THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL. MY GOD, WHAT SHE MUST HAVE THOUGHT WHILE SHE WAS IN PAIN WASTING AWAY..PROBABLY, WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME? ALL WE CAN HOPE FOR IS THAT SHE FLASHED BACK TO HER HAPPY DAYS AT SCHOOL AND THOUGHT OF THOSE TIMES AS SHE SLOWLY PASSED ON. HOPEFULLY GOD MADE HER SUFFERING A LITTLE LESS AS THE DAYS GOT LONGER FOR HER.
ALL NINE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE GUILTY OF MURDER. THEY SHOULD ALL BE PROSECUTED TO FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW. WHERE THE HELL WERE THE DHS WORKERS? WHY DIDNT THEY DO THEIR JOB?
REST IN PEACE DANIEAL, YOU ARE A SWEET AND WONDERFUL BABY AND NOW GOD HAS YOU IN HIS CARING HANDS. I WILL THINK OF YOU ALWAYS AND PICTURE YOU HAPPY IN HEAVEN, SMILING AGAIN AND SUFFERING NO MORE. YOU WERE AN ANGEL HERE ON EARTH AND ARE NOW AN ANGEL AT GOD’S SIDE.
GOD BLESS YOU BABY.
By ANGELA on Aug 2, 2008
Public stockcades and public street justice for all these people who let that child die. They will get their due in HELL
By Ron on Aug 2, 2008
You know the saddest thing is that these children love unconditionally. They don’t require much of anything to put a smile on their faces. You can see the pure innocence in her eyes. All she needed was one person to care enough to speak up. She couldn’t speak for herself. The death penalty is too good for each and every person who knew her pain and did nothing to help. An angel on earth, now an angel in heaven, such a shame she had to go through hell to get there. I am crushed–
By Wendy Mezzenga VB, Va on Aug 11, 2008
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
By Alex on Aug 16, 2008
Good post. Your posts are really interesting. To have a good blog you should not only to add something, but do it from the heart. You cope with it.
By Pavel on Aug 24, 2008
As the mother of a disabled son, I cannot fathom this. I, try as I might, also cannot find any compassion for this “mother”. In my experiences with disabled children, they are the brightest rays of sunshine. They live in the moment and have no understanding of any limitations. These children are untainted by pessimism and only desire love and affection. My son passed away in my arms of leukemia two years ago, and I would give ANYTHING to have him back. This woman chose to end her child’s life. May they put her in solitary confinement with no lights and a miniscule amount of food. I am not an evil person, I just cannot crying from the pain that this little girl went through. She can’t blame DHS. This is all on her. She was her mother.
By Alison on Apr 30, 2009