(This is a copy of the original story on the AJC site.)
Reprinted with the permission of the Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution.

[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 1.16.2000]

GEORGIA'S FORGOTTEN CHILDREN II

SPECIAL REPORTS Georgia's forgotten children II • Welfare case files show how agency failed to protect • Professionals' abuse reports often discounted • Neglect, an elusive killer, does its work slowly • Drugs play major role in children's deaths Georgia's forgotten children I • Lives and deaths unnoticed • Pam couldn't take care of herself • When workers talked about Kendall's death • Tracking system didn't save Nathan • Octavious died despite complaints • Raymond neglected in life, doctors say Terrell Peterson • Did 5-year-old Terrell have to die? HEADS LIKELY WILL ROLL Hot seat • Rising star of child welfare Ralph Mitchell, is now under fire Fulton was worst • Most files seized by the GBI were from Fulton County Editorial • Prosecuting workers isn't enough GBI SEIZES DFACS FILES Deaths probed • Governor's concern over possible 'criminal activity' 13 children • Sad histories marked by futile attempts • State under fire in 5-year-old's death • Suit wants feds to take over DFACS

By Jane O. Hansen
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Although more attention is given to physical and sexual abuse of children, most mistreated children are victims of their parents' neglect.

Among Georgia's children who died from 1996 through 1998, neglect was the reason that six in 10 of them first came to the attention of child protective services.

Typical of the neglect reports: Children are begging for food, dirty and unsupervised, not going to school, not going to the doctor, left home alone.

But neglect poses a particular challenge to child protective caseworkers. How serious must the lack of supervision be before the state decides a child is in danger? Is an unfed child the victim of neglect or poverty? What about an unfed child whose mother is a drug addict?

It is also difficult to prosecute a parent whose child dies from neglect. Is it a crime when a mother sleeps while her toddler runs into the highway and is run over? What if she were up all night holding down a second job? What if she were up all night drinking?

"Neglect has always been the hardest one to get your arms around because it's often an omission rather than a commission," said Sandra Wood, director of the Georgia Council on Child Abuse. "It may or may not be intentional. It may or may not be visible. Either because of our lack of attention to it, or our inability to recognize the red flags, sometimes we don't see it until a child is dead."

The records show that neglected children die. In severe cases, neglected babies lack the will to live or they starve to death. But even in its more subtle forms, neglect can portend danger.

In families with a history of neglect or abuse, "a climate is created where a child is more likely to be injured or killed," said Dr. Randell Alexander, director of the Center for Child Abuse at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Among the children who died in Georgia: