Where was the mother?

Probably right there but to cowardly to protect her son.   Its messed up that this 6yr old couldn't get anyone to listen to him.  even worse it will happen again and again to other children.

lana - pay attention to the following line:

Dae'von's mother says she saw him a month ago and states that there was no evidence of abuse.

It's a harsh truth, but the reason the media isn't covering this is because the child is black. 

Just sickening! Hopefully, the SOB has/will kill himself. The mother needs to be in jail as well.  What the heck is wrong with these people today?

Sickening, as always...and I don't care if he's red, white or blue. I only wish I could see into the future sometimes, walk up to these abusers before they have a chance to kill and tell them I would be more than happy to take that baby off their hands.

And another thing, someone needs to be fired and a full police investigation of this needs to take place.  Mothers stand up for your children, regardless. But chances are he was beating her butt too!

I visited my friend in Los Angeles once and while he was washing his laundry I heard a commotion on the other side of the wall.  A foster mother was yelling for someone to "take his *beep* out of that boy's mouth!"  I was shocked.  My friend told me that they were foster parents and had a 12 year old boy and 8 year old girl in their custody.  I called CPS and the LAPD and CPS promised to investigate, LAPD came out but nothing apparently came of the issue.  A few months later when I was visiting again I saw the fat SOB "herding" the children out of the elevator and to his apartment, and I muttered "f'ing pervert" as I walked by.  The next day I was in the underground garage about to get in my car and this kid was in his foster parents' car trying to start it.  I had to take the keys away from him so he wouldn't drive off and give them to the manager.  I tried to talk to him and said if his dad "was being mean to him" (trying not to hurt his pride) that he needed to talk to the police and I asked if he wanted me to call them, he wouldn't.  It's hard to get abused kids to talk about their abuse because they probably grow up trusting no one.  When they do speak up, or when someone else calls, you deal with an apathetic enforcement agency and more lies from the parents and silence from the kids, so there's not much you can do.  I can't imagine anything worse than not believing a child's allegations of abuse, and find fault with agencies that don't exercise due diligence in investigating it.

White Oleander is a good book about what children experience in the LA foster care program, and it's so appropos to the situation I encountered that it's disheartening and depressing to think about, because there appears to be no solution.

He won't last long in prison. It's not gonna bring that poor kid back, but the abuser WILL be abused....very harshly.

ya well with shwartzy's new budget Im sure you will be reading about alot more ot these type things..babies needing to be pulled for their protection and end up dead is part of the 'New Change' we are all heading for..get used to it...

sioux......I' afraid you may be right on that soooooo....sad. I hate to children hurt

These child abusers will get their punishment. Sadly too late after children's lifes have been taken and life long damage. Our family is living a painful concerned day-to-day life, praying my grandson is not abused after the blind-ignorant judge gave the drug addict mother custody of my grandson and permitted her to move out of town. There has been numerous men in her life and the son is only 3 years old. What will he see while growing up? How do we protect them when the court system doesn't see that the mother is unstable and a psycho? CPS won't listen! Police say we need evidence and no harm has happened yet! What do you want blood and lifeless childs body?  Judges believe children should be raised by their mother, but the mother is the unstable, irresponsible parent. She cries WOLF and the judge jumps to her request. The judges/decision makers should be the ones behind bars and found guilty for these children's lifes and deaths. Guess what Judges and CPS, you are not God, look thru the child's eyes....speak up people...

FSG, Who cares! She  probably knew a month ago what was happening and was still to cowardly or screwed up on crack to do anything! Why would someone leave their child with a step dad anyway?He was probably beating on her before she left, so she just saved  herself and sacrificed her son!  Old bruises on the kid and she didn't notice...BS!

SCR- I think you may be right as well. I also think the public may start taking matters into their own hands with these child abusers, if CPS can't handle it.

Here's a picture of the poor little guy.

 And here's a picture of the monster who  killed him.    Justice will be done.

lana - you're making my points for me.

Unfortunately, LA Child Welfare has had a poor reputation for not doing their jobs for some time.  This is disgraceful!  The worst part is that this child told Mandated reporters about his abuse!  How sad!  (I suspect that the mother is in jail, or rehab.)  The State Budget cuts to all child welfare will only make it worse.  When I was working in social work, the stories about LA county Child Welfare were numerous and quite shocking.  Workers would drive by a location and enter their contact information for that month, without seeing the children or their home.  There are many cases that were big news, like the young girl that was confined to a closet for months at a time.  The State has audited many of the cases from LA before, yet, it doesn't seem to change much.  It really makes you think twice when you hear someone complain about Kern County CPS being a little overzealous.....doesn't it? 

As a former Social worker in Kern County, I saw alot of abuse cases.  Many are still fresh in my mind - and I have not worked in social work for over 7 years!  One of the areas I worked in was the court system, and have to say, there are good judges, and not so good judges. If you have a judge that listens to the facts and holds the parents accountable, then there is hope.  If the judge only has a jaded view of what the social worker is trying to say, and doesn't believe the report that is written....then, the kid is placed in the same situation that brought them to the attention of CPS in the first place.  Sad but true, there are good social workers and good judges...then, there are some that are not so good, or could care less....to those people I say, "Find another line of work that you won't alter someone's life forever!"  

Something that I remember from when I was fresh out of college and beginning my job with CPS, DHS hosted a training for all mandated reporters, law enforcement & social workers.  It was called Through the Eyes of a Child and it was truly like walking through the home of an abused child.  It really made you think about what these kids live through & experience.  Although, going out to the homes and seeing the lack of food, bugs and rodents, no beds or bedding, or seeing the pictures of the bruises, burns or injuries caused by the abusers will really make you sick.  No child deserves to be abused - period!      

My advice to mymammas, visit your grandson as often as you can.  Document, document, document - the condition of the home, food (or lack of) in the home, any mark, rash, irratic behavior you see.    You and the others around your grandson and his mother are the only ones that can bring any abuse to the attention of the proper authority.  I hope that your grandson has some sort of monthly contact with a social worker still - that should be the minimum.  At least 6 months of in home visits with a social worker, to see the conditions in which he is living and whether or not he is cared for properly.  Since he has been in the system with priors, that will be in your favor if there are future issues.  If you know the signs of drug use, be alert to those as well.  If there is drug abuse going on in the home, that will be evident when you visit.  Unfortunately, there are some judges that believe that a mother should be given every opportunity to raise their children.  However, when drug abuse or a boyfriend takes priority - that's when a mother loser her right, in my opinion.  I'm sorry for your situation.  Your story is one of many that made me want to stay at home with my children and not return to the workforce. 

The picture of that innocent little face just makes it even more sickening.  I hope the step-father is quickly brought to justice and he gets put away for life!

I know the numbers are probably much more static~ but abuse does seem to be peaking.

But what good are stats when you look at that face?

Report suspected abuse,early and often. Alert the abuser/parent that you will be watching. Do not be afraid~ that is what they count on. You do not have to  be confrontational,a softly said comment about "he must bruise" easily is enough to put the guilty on notice.

Let the child know you are there for them.

I will ditto sage's comment:  "Report suspected abuse, early and often...."  If necessary, make a pest of yourself with the people in a position to do something about this.  If you keep after them, they will take notice if for no other reason than to get you off their backs.  It's pathetic such tactics need to be used, but if it's needed, just do it. 

It seems to be open season on kids.  I have a tendency to go ballistic about the subject, and many times on these "pages" have I gone off the deep end raving and ranting about the nature of these ..... these creatures, so I won't repeat it all here.  Everybody should just follow sage's sage advice. 

I'm not even going to qualify it with a "in my opinion" here, either.  No way.