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I "know" this family as last school year I had the little boy on my bus. I remember getting a phone call from the mom of another student on my bus saying that her child was concerned that this little boy was being abused and wanting his address. I legally could not give it to her according to my transportation secretary. I also did not see any signs of abuse - his mom was always at the door of the trailer to see him off. She was very concerned about how he was doing on the bus - being as little as he was he had trouble staying seated complicated by the fact that he had some common health issues. I always found her very supportive whenever I contacted her. And I knew that she stayed in contact with the school as I often saw her at the school. I knew there were some cleanliness issues - clothes not clean, face not clean, etc. but I put it down to just the fact that I had gathered that the family was very poor. So to hear on the news that he had been living in such atrocious conditions and that his parents had been arrested for child neglect just breaks my heart. I feel a bit guilty for not following up more on him when the other student's parent approached me. And I ache for the turmoil the boy has got to be going through - being removed from his home and parents and thrown into a completely new situation. I also hurt for the parents as I am sure they are grieving. I don't understand how or why a parent can neglect a child's living conditions that severely - one would think they would ask for help somewhere.
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2 comments:
Oh, my heart goes out to you... I'm a school bus driver as well. You just never know the whole 'story' so to speak. I can imagine this has a huge effect on you! I couldn't believe it...in my blog profile of my own 'School bus driver' as job title is highlighted, so I click and found 246 of us with blogs! I'm so excited!I want to visit everyones :)
Certainly the system failed this child. I know your heart is breaking for this family and I pray that CPS finds him a good home, with loving people. I wish I was there to give you a big hug. Don't beat yourself up, if you had known you would have reported it. We do all we can for our kids but there will always be ones that get by our radar.
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