commentary by Patrick H. Moore
The issue of child abuse — sexual and otherwise — is probably the number one problem facing our society today. Huge numbers of juvenile and adult criminals were abused as children, and in a more subtle way, much adult unhappiness, and all that entails, can be traced back to growing up in abusive households. When particularly egregious examples of child abuse surface, people are quick to blame the authorities for not stepping in sooner, especially if — as is often the case — the abuse had been reported to Child Protective Services. Although I certainly understand how frustrated good-hearted people feel when confronted with these glaring cases, there is no easy answer to this problem for the simple reason that the “cure”, removing the children from the abusive household and placing them in foster homes, often simply creates a new but equally bad set of circumstances.
Why? Very simple. A high percentage of foster parents are freakin’ barbarians. This was evidenced once again this past week when Union County, North Carolina sheriff’s deputies arrested two foster parents, 57-year-old Wanda Sue Larsen and her partner, 57-year-old Dorian Lee Harper, on numerous charges including inflicting serious injury, intentional child abuse and cruelty to animals.
The grim irony in this sordid tale is the fact that Wanda Sue Larsen is A CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES SUPERVISOR IN UNION COUNTY. Yes, she is in charge of protecting children from abuse yet it turns out that she and her partner, who by the way is a RN (registered nurse), are abusers in their own right.
Here’s how it happened according to WCNC.com:
A Child Protective Services supervisor in Union County is one of two adults criminally charged after police say they found a boy handcuffed to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck, according to a press release from the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers responded to the home in the 4100 block of Austin Road on Friday.
A deputy approached the house after checking out an animal complaint next door. As he got closer, the officer saw an 11-year-old boy secured to the porch at his ankle by handcuffs, as well as the chicken draped around his neck. The boy appeared to be shivering, according to the sheriff’s office.
The officer apparently announced his presence; in any event, a man (Dorian Lee Harper) came to the door and asked the officer why he was there. Undeterred, the officer asked Harper for his I.D. and wanted to know why the boy was handcuffed to the porch. Harper obediently pulled out his driver’s license but at that moment, another child opened the front door, letting several large dogs out. The dogs were anything but friendly and the deputy quickly retreated back to his patrol car.
By the time Harper had the dogs under control, he had removed the child from the porch and left the dead chicken on a barrel in front of the house.
The officer had radioed for backup which soon arrived and searched the house. Although it has not yet been disclosed exactly what the conditions were like in the house, they were apparently quite sub-standard. The deputies removed five children, ages 14, 13, 11, 9 and 8, from the home and began a criminal investigation. Dorian Lee Harper was taken into custody. Of the five children, the records show that Larsen and Harper had adopted four of them. The fifth child — the luckless soul who was handcuffed to the porch — was their foster child.
Once she was located, the police also arrested 57-year-old Wanda Sue Larson. In addition to being charged with inflicting serious injury, intentional child abuse and cruelty to animals, Larson, based on her supervisory postion with the Union County Department of Social Services, was also charged with willful failure to discharge her duty as a public official.
Both suspects were booked into the Union County Jail. Harper is being held under a $500,000 secured bond, while Larsen’s bond is set at $525,000.
Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey called the incident shocking:
“I can assure you that we have only just begun our investigation into what has happened, and we will pursue it to its fullest extent.”
“It’s just shocking,” Captain Ronnie Whitaker said on Saturday. “It’s just disturbing that anyone would treat a child in such a manner.”
It is still unclear what real or imagined peccadillo on the boy’s part prompted the use of the dead chicken and handcuffs. Captain Whitaker stated that he could not disclose details from the police interviews that are being conducted as part of the investigation.
Carolina’s Healthcare System told WBTV Harper is an RN at CMC Union Emergency Room. Captain Whitaker stated that because of the mother’s job with DSS in Union County, the kids were transferred to the care of another System.
“We got assistance from another county,” said Whitaker.
Tommy Bigham, a neighbor of Larson and Harper, couldn’t resist getting into the act, stating that facing felony child abuse and animal cruelty charges isn’t enough.
“What they need to do is get him back over there, hook him to the post, put a chicken around his neck and see how it feels out in the cold,” said Bigham. “That’s sorry.”
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I agree with Tommy Bigham that the way the child was treated is truly “sorry”. But what I am concerned about is what will happen to the children now. Five more vulnerable young people needing food, housing and appropriate care. Where is it going to come from? My heart goes out to these children and I hope that they somehow find the strength to rise above the horrific treatment they have endured and grow up to become productive citizens. The odds are, however, that at least one or two of them will one day end up in prison with all the other abused children who never had a proper chance.