care and protection

In a single year, over 4,500 children in the United States were hospitalized due to child abuse, and three hundred of them died of their injuries, according to a new study performed by the Yale School of Medicine.  The study was published in the March 2012 edition of Pediatrics.

The study used several sources to track occurrences of child abuse, including data from child protective services agencies.  It was the first of its kind to quantiy the severity of the abuse, including whether an abused child was hospitalized.

There must be a variety of theories as to why Miranda Rifenburgh abandoned her children on January 14. But regardless of why, the more important question is what now for Rifenburgh? Criminal charges will be the least of her worries.

No doubt New Hampshire's Department of Children, Youth & Families have filed a care-and-protection case against Rifenburgh. What will follow is a case that Rifenburgh is unfit to care for her children. Then, a judge could find her children in need of care and protection, or even terminate her parental rights forever.