Opinion/ Editorial

Clarion-Ledger, The (Jackson, MS)

Section: Op-Ed

Author: Ronnie Agnew/The Clarion-Ledger

Can anyone explain to me why a 4-year-old child had to die of starvation less than an hour away from Mississippi's largest assembly of medical centers?

Is there any explanation for it? Of course there isn't. There is no simple way to explain what happened to young Austin James Watkins and what he had to endure in his short life.

Austin was buried Thursday after authorities found his lifeless body last Sunday in his family's Scott County mobile home, near Lena. He weighed 19 pounds, about half the size of a healthy 4-year-old. His 43-year-old paternal grandmother and 22-year-old aunt were arrested and held without bond at the Scott County Jail.

As horrific as it sounds, relatives are not the only ones who should face scrutiny.

Myriad questions

His death raises as many questions about our tolerance for abuses against children as it does his family's inability to raise him. The Department of Human Services removed Austin and his three siblings from their mother's home about a year ago and placed them with relatives. That's where the questions begin.

Who is this family? Who was responsible for checking on young Austin and his siblings? Why didn't the folks who talked to local TV stations call the police?

Finding a responsible adult in these children's lives isn't easy. They were taken from their mother who wasn't fit to raise them. Their father is in jail on a parole violation for statutory rape in a case unrelated to Austin's abuse.

The boy's death provides another example of the absence of a system in place to take care of kids and protect them from people who lack skills to raise them. The missing link has always been an effective safety net, which we seem incapable of creating.

Until there is a flagrant case like Austin's, little attention is given to this moral failure. We haven't a clue how many children are suffering in silence.

No safety net?

In Austin's case, think about it this way. How long was he without food or water? Was it two months or three? It was a slow, painful, cruel way to die. We execute prisoners more humanely.

"When you look at pictures of the Holocaust where the Jews had been starved by the Nazis ... this is what this child looked like," Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee told The Associated Press.

It's far too early to assess blame, but far too late to save a child's life. The aunt and grandmother haven't been convicted of killing and abusing the boy. DHS won't say much beyond a standard statement.

In the coming days, DHS should drop the secrecy and offer more details about its involvement in Austin's case. The public must be assured that procedures were followed and that state authorities were sure Austin would be safe when family were granted custody.

"The Mississippi Department of Human Services is deeply saddened by the death of Austin Watkins and our offices are cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation of the death of this child. Because the investigation is ongoing, confidentiality rules preclude us from releasing any information at this time specific to the case," said DHS Executive Director Don Thompson.

OK for now, Mr. Thompson, but perhaps someone needs to look at Austin's death as a way to stop another.