Today's Tuesday March 3, 2009 Oprah Winfrey Show was a shocking story of the severe neglect of a little girl who was deprived of food, water, and the stimulation necessary for healthy brain development.
Little Danielle lived on a quiet street in a tiny run down house. A neighbor saw the pale young girl looking out a broken window and called the authorities. When help arrived they found a starving six-year-old wearing nothing but a diaper. She weighed 43 pounds and was unable to speak, she communicated by grunting. The house was filthy with feces and cigarettes on the floor and infested with thousands of cockroaches.
Horrifying Living Conditions
Danielle slept on a wet, moldy mattress on the floor with the springs coming out and her hair was filled with head lice and fleas, her body covered in insect bites.
The severely neglected girl was taken out of the home in 2005 by Florida's Department Of Children and Family Services and brought to an emergency room for treatment. She was suffering from malnutrition.
Staff at the hospital said that Danielle wouldn't make eye contact and snarled at them. In order to treat her they had to put her in a caged hospital crib.
Danielle was unable to speak and she could not feed herself. She needed to be fed by baby bottle. At 6 years and 9 months of age she had the skills of a 6 month old baby.
Complaints Didn't Help Neglected Girl
The neglect itself was is a tragedy but just as tragic is the fact that child services visited the home twice in 2002 before after receiving complaints regarding Danielle. Both times child services decided that Danielle was at "low risk" and did nothing.
If Danielle was taken from the home earlier she would have had a better chance of normal brain development. Between 4 to 6 years of age the brain is completely developed. So by the time Danielle was saved her brain had already developed differently than it would have if she had been raised in a loving home.
Danielle's Biological Mother Denies Neglect
When Danielle's mother was interviewed by Lane DeGregory she said that she took care of Danielle the best she could. Not only is Danielle's mother in denial of the neglect but she feels she is a victim of bad luck and that she's only guilty of having a dirty house. Danielle's mother said she did not cause her daughter's autism. Danielle's brain is underdeveloped due to neglect and she suffers from mental retardation, not autism.
Danielle's mother's parental rights have been terminated and she was convicted and then released from jail after 26 hours. She was sentenced to 2 years of house arrest and probation. She also has two teenage boys.
Danielle's New Parents
Bernie and Diane Lierow saw Danielle's photo while attending a party to introduce prospective adoptive parents to available children. Once Diane saw Danielle's photo she knew that she wanted to adopt the little girl and her husband felt the same way.
The Lierow's who have 5 sons, 4 of them grown and one 10-year-old boy at home adopted Danielle on October 29, 2007. When Danielle first came home she had 7 or 8 temper-tantrums a day and was obsessed with food and drinks. She would eat and drink until she threw up, her adopted mother said, because she didn't know when she'd see food again.
Danielle craved the love that she never received from her family and wanted to be carried everywhere. Diane believes that Danielle remembers her old neglectful home because she suffered from nightmares at first and would wake up screaming.
Doctor's Assessment of Danielle
After being assessed by doctors it is unknown if Danielle was born with mental disabilities or if her problems are strictly from the neglect, because her mother never took her to the doctor. It is not known how far Danielle will be able to go in life but she is now safe, happy and improving in her new loving environment.
500,000 children are neglected in the United States every year. It is essential that children get the love, attention, and stimulation that fosters normal brain development. Although most cases of neglect are not as severe as Danielle's, milder form of child neglect can affect a child's full potential in life as well.
im a 7 th grader and i even think this is said im so happy i was raised in good home and had some one to care for me
Posted by: labria | March 06, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Hi Labria, it's a sad story I know, it's good that you appreciate your parents and home:)
Posted by: Administrator | March 06, 2009 at 11:01 PM
With all that is in place today, we should not have cases like this in the 21 century. This baby doll could have been rescued at 18mts. We need our DCFS operations reformed and support put toward them. Children like Dani's stories should all be in good homes. There are too many loving families praying for a baby... Dani's Biological mother should rot in jail for what she has done to ALL her children.
Posted by: Tanya | March 07, 2009 at 07:39 PM
One of the conditions for the biological mother to not go to prison should have been to be sterilized.
Posted by: chilly | March 12, 2009 at 01:02 AM