Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Samantha Hayes ReportingA severe case of child abuse that led to a little girl's death has outraged a community.
Anne S Freimuth: "You don't bite a child, you don't beat them with a belt or throw them against the wall. That's not punishment. That's torture."
It's murder, and tomorrow, charges are expected to be filed against the 10-year old's father and his wife, the girl's stepmother. According to police, Shelby Andrews died at the hands of the very people, who were supposed to care for her, her parents.
Neighbors say they thought something wasn't right next door, but no ever reported anything, so police never investigated. Now a community is angered this could happen.
So many people have responded to this story, and the overwhelming sentiment is, if this was happening to a child living near you, would you recognize the signs? And more to the point, how uncomfortable would you be reporting your neighbors?
In any child's life, there are adults -- teachers, neighbors, church members. Maybe they never noticed, but Shelby Andrews was in pain.
Anne S. Freimuth, Prevent Child Abuse Utah: "People don't want to get involved, afraid of embarrassing themselves because they've misjudged a situation."
Anne Freimuth's agency works to prevent child abuse in Utah. She believes many people do not recognize the signs.
Anne Freimuth: "It's usually a child who's not in the neighborhood a lot; it's usually a family that's close to themselves and don't have a lot of friends."
But so often, like in this case in Syracuse, those odd behaviors just made them seem like strange neighbors.
Skylar Stark, Neighbor: "It's always been in my mind, what was the deal over there?"
Ten-year old Shelby Andrews apparently wore long sleeve shirts to hide her bruises.
Anne Freimuth: "If children are dressed inappropriately for the weather, not in the right kind of clothes in the cold weather or don't seem to have clothes that fit, or are disheveled. Hungry and looking for food, that's one sign."
And if neighbors did not notice this, what about teachers at Shelby Andrews school? That's a complicated situation, according to Carol Lear at the state board of education.
Carol Lear, Director School law and legislation: "There are conflicting statutes that don't allow teachers to probe into the personal family situations of children."
By law, teachers are required to report suspicion of child abuse, but sometimes it's hard to find out what's going on inside the home. A state statute reads teachers are forbidden from making critical appraisals of individuals with whom the student or family member has close family relationships.
Carol Lear: "It presents a real problem when everything suggests it's something in the home."
The department of child and family services says it received complaints against the girl's biological mother; that's why she was living with her father.
There have been several severe cases of child abuse and death in the last few weeks. That leads state agencies to believe there are many more going on we don't know about. They are urging people to call law enforcement or state services if they suspect someone is harming a child.
