KARLY SHEEHAN: True Crime behind Karly's Law
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What we are doing for abused children in this nation isn’t nearly enough. In 2011, Miami-Dade county law enforcement officials found Nubia Docter’s ten-year-old body in the back of a truck, doused with chemicals. Her twin brother, his body also badly burned by chemicals, was convulsing in the front seat of the truck. “Systematic failure,” the term Heiser used for Karly’s case, was the same excuse offered by Florida state officials to explain how years of repeated complaints to the Department of Children & Families (DCF) were ignored, even when those complaints came from reliable sources: teachers and principals. Nubia told her teacher herself that her father was touching her inappropriately.
Nubia’s adoptive parents dismissed the laundry list of complaints—hair loss, sexual abuse, starvation, obvious bruises, reports of torture, all of it. Nubia’s adoptive mother worked at a pediatric clinic. Perhaps that affiliation made it easier for Florida’s DCF workers to conclude that Nubia’s problems were a result of her “hyper” personality.
Instead of spending the money necessary to protect the children, the state is now shelling out considerable funds to incarcerate the offenders. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the man and woman who adopted these twins and tortured them.
Yet getting people to put the dollars on the front end to prevent child abuse is a lot harder to do. “I find it amazing that we don’t have designated funding for child abuse,” Karen Scheler said. “Kids like Karly do slip through the cracks. No one wants that to happen—no one. But it’s hard when there’s no funding. I think that funding should come on a national level. I find it appalling that our federal budget includes $28 million in designated funds to sponsor NASCAR as a recruiting tool for our military but we do not adequately fund child abuse to help intervene, support and protect our children.”
Note to Readers
Please join the efforts to put an end to the epidemic of child abuse in our nation. Contact your state representatives and urge them to pass Karly’s Law in your state. Educate others by giving a copy of this book to every elected official, every childcare worker, every teacher, every doctor, every law enforcement official, every pastor, every social worker who comes in contact with children.
Learn the signs of child abuse. If you have a feeling something isn’t quite right with a child, don’t be so quick to rationalize it away. Don’t wait to ask yourself, “What more could I have done?” Instead ask, “What will I regret not having done if this child turns up dead?” Then, whatever that thing is, do it. Don’t wait on someone else to intervene, because chances are, you are the only one who can save that child.
To contact the author: karenzach.com
Twitter: @karenzach.com
zachauthor@gmail.com
For more information on Karly’s Law:
www.saragelser.com/karly
Child Abuse in America
• The U.S. has more child abuse and neglect deaths than any other industrialized nation, ranking highest in both the total number of deaths and deaths on a per capita basis.
• Nearly five children die every day in America from abuse and neglect.
• In 2009, an estimated 1,770 children died from abuse in the United States..
• Over forty percent of all child abuse is inflicted by the mother acting alone. Eighteen percent of child abuse is the father acting alone. Neglect makes up for over 75 percent of all reported abuse.
• In 2009, approximately 3.3 million child abuse reports and allegations were made involving an estimated 6 million children.
• In 2010 Children’s Advocacy Centers around the country served over 266,000 child victims of abuse.
• Nearly 80% of children who die from abuse are under the age of 4.
Signs of Child Abuse
(preventchildabuse.org)
• Has unexplained burns, bites, bruises, broken bones, or black eyes.
• Has fading bruises or other marks noticeable after an absence from school.
• Seems frightened of their parents or others and protests or cries in their presence.
• Reports injury by a parent or another caregiver.
• School attendance is sporadic.
• Begs or steals food or money from classmates.
• Lacks needed medical or dental care, immunizations, or glasses.
• Is consistently dirty and has severe body odor.
• Lacks sufficient clothing for the weather.
• States there is no one at home to provide care.
Signs of Sexual Abuse
• Has difficulty walking or sitting.
• Suddenly refuses to change for gym or to participate in physical activities.
• Demonstrates sophisticated or unusual sexual knowledge or behavior.
• Becomes pregnant or contracts a venereal disease, particularly if under age fourteen.
• Runs away.
• Attempts suicide, or expresses a desire to die.
For More Information:
NationalChildrensAlliance.org
ChildHelp.com
EveryChildMatters.org
ChildWelfare.gov
With special thanks to these musicians for ministering to me as I wrote:
The Band Perry
If I Die Young
Allison Krause
Jewels
Jesus Help me to Stand
Aqualung
Brighter than Sunshine
Johnny Cash
Jackson
Ring of Fire
Belshazzar
Celtic Woman
Away in a Manager
Chris Rice
Come to Jesus
Civil War
My father’s father
Dave Barnes
Carry me through
Dixie Chicks
I believe in Love
Top of the World
Eva Cassidy
Fields of Gold
Hillsong
From the Inside Out
Fernando Ortego
Come thou Fount of Every Blessing
Jeff Buckley
Hallelujiah
Merle Haggard
Folsom Prison Blues
MercyMe
Finally Home
NeedtoBreathe
Girl Named Tennessee
The Heat
Norah Jones
Seven Years
Nickel Creek
Sweet Afton
Nichole Nordaman
How Deep the Father’s Love
Regina Spektor
The Calculation
Author’s Note
Ann Rule told me that I should write this story. “It is your Ted Bundy story,” Ann said.
Thank you David Sheehan, for entrusting Karly’s story to me. You know how you tell me you just want to live a life that honors Karly? My hope is that I’ve written a story that honors you, the way you honor her. You have taught me more about what it means to live a life of faith than I ever learned in Sunday School. I hope Karly’s story stirs up the waters between Oregon and Ireland. I hope and pray we save another child’s life.
While this book is memoir, I did not rely on memory alone. Shawn Field’s defense attorney, Clark Willes, shared his files with me. Additionally, I did further research, conducted dozens of interviews, and had generous assistance from the staff at the Benton County Courthouse and the Oregon Department of Justice, as well as articles from the Corvallis Gazette Times, who reported the story with diligence. I have taken the liberties to alter five names: Jack, who remains in touch with Shawn Field, and Kate and Hillary, who are minors, and Chuck and Missy McDonald, Hillary’s parents, who are trying to protect her.
Mike Wells, Joan Demarest, Judge Janet Holcomb, Scott Heiser, DeLynn Zoller, Dr. Shanilka deSoyza, the jury of fifteen, the staff at the Benton County Courthouse, the staff at the Oregon Department of Justice, the Corvallis Police Department, Dan Koenig, Clark Willes, Karen Scheler and Albany’s ABC House, Representative Sara Gelser, Emmet Whittaker, Li
z Sokolowski, Bill Furtick, Rick Wallace, Noreen Sheehan, Andrea Sheehan, and the countless others who contributed to this story.
These people read early versions of this book and offered valuable feedback: Debbie Johnson, John Cole, Rick Wallace, Bob Welch, Peg Willis, Rebekah Sanderlin, Kathy Richards, Andy Meisenheimer,
Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, Eleanor Lucas and Konnie Handschuch. Thank you.
Shelby Zacharias read the manuscript countless times, paying careful attention to all the litter I’d left behind. She cleaned up after me without complaint. Thank you, Shelby. Thank you, Ashley, and also for giving me and Daddy a precious “Sinner” to adore.
Big hugs to all my Facebook and Twitter friends. You keep the lonelies away when I’m writing. Thank you for the prayers and the one-liners.
Thank you to Thom Chambliss of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and Wanda Jewell of the Southeast Independent Booksellers Association for all your tireless efforts on behalf of writers, readers and booksellers. And a huge thank you to all you Indie Booksellers.
These friends listened and encouraged me as I talked my way through the Karly story. Thank you Karin Wilson, Peggy Wright, John B. & Stacey Howell, Skip and Nancy Jones, Linda Barnes, Lynn Wilkes, Gary Nelson, Lois Breedlove, Debbie Johnson, Rick Wallace, Becky Philpott, the ladies at Wednesday morning Bible study, and my care group buddies.