by | August 8, 2008 · 3:42 pm

The Girl in the Window

A long read, but certainly worth it. The story of finding a “feral” child and the family that is raising her.

[St. Petersburg Times via Gawker]

10 Comments

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10 Responses to The Girl in the Window

  1. Andy McEntee
    August 8, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    Holy Shit! This is an interesting turn for a blog about a flying vagina. That ‘mother’ should have been shot on the spot. Excuse me why I go and explain to my boss why I’m crying at my desk.

  2. john
    August 8, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    It amazes me that in this day and age that things like this can happen. I can’t believe that they never interviewed the girl.

  3. Craig
    August 8, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    Andy: It just goes to show how well rounded I am! That’s why you love me.

    Isn’t it a great story though? I think I held my breath the entire time I read it.

  4. Andy McEntee
    August 8, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Yeah it’s an amazing story. I’ve already sent it to casting and told them to build them a house.

  5. Nicky
    August 8, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Very tragic story. I didn’t like the writing style at all, but the story is important. Sometimes a quick call of concern can really help someone out.
    I usually get yelled at for this, but I hate blaming people when I’m not in their situation, so I’m not gonna go on about the mother’s issues. Everyone has issues and of course neglecting your child is such a horrible thing to do, but I don’t feel like any of us can really put ourselves into her shoes and saw we would have made better choices. (I’m ready for the attack. lol)
    As an English major, this def made me think of Genie (who was briefly mentioned in the article). The progress with Genie was pretty remarkable and she was able (to a certain extent) to communicate through speech eventually. I think they focused on speech with Genie more than Danielle though. But I’m glad she’s able to communicate to some degree.
    And hey, my name was in this article! Don’t come across it often.

  6. Craig
    August 8, 2008 at 6:44 pm

    Andy: Thats awesome! I love having friends in high places! If it happens, can I help? :-)

  7. Meee
    August 8, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    That is tragic. You wonder how people can do that to their own child. As a mother I just can’t fathom it and I’m afraid I don’t have much tolernce for others who do that. Call me judgemental if you will. Her new parents sound amazing, hopefully she’ll continue to improve.

  8. Chris
    August 8, 2008 at 8:33 pm

    That is a powerful story. It illustrates a serious failure of the child welfare system to intervene sooner. I fear that this just happens to be an extreme example of the far too common situation of parental apathy leading to emotional disaffection. A fractured family situation, coupled with economic hardship makes for a challenging foundation.

    Stories like these make me feel a little guilty that I don’t do more to help those less fortunate than myself. I need to work on that.

  9. Ξ_Heather
    August 9, 2008 at 11:30 am

    That’s amazing. On the one hand, it’s so sad to think of what a difference it would have made to get Dani out earlier, and on the other hand it’s so wonderful that the family adopted her. Wow.

    It’s got to be awful to be a child care worker and made decisions about when to take a child away. In retrospect, sure, she should have taken years earlier. But thank goodness a messy house isn’t a crime or about every other week we’d be in danger of losing our kids. And I’ve known situations where CPS was over-diligent and caused a horrible amount of trouble for kids who were in good homes. At least they did take the girl that last time, giving her a shot at happiness.

  10. Terri
    September 1, 2008 at 8:14 pm

    amazing story, God bless Dani and her new family. Michelle will get hers, she should be in prison. The state could have taken that little girl soone in time to make a diffrence. The deal they made with Michell is crazy, they did not need her permission to let those folks adabt Dani, she should have been a ward of the state. The state can step in and allow the child to be placed. I know because my brother just adobted a two year old. The mother is in jail and she had no say so over the baby since she was taken and become a ward of the state. The stystem failed little Dani and the stystem should be held accountable. What a shame. Again, God bless Dani and her new Family.