sad story - sadder comments

The mistreatment and death of a little girl is always a sad story.

The reader's comments on these stories is even sadder, as they show such an incredible lack of understanding of, well, most everything.

Besides the multitude of complaints against the lawyer who is representing the family, which show a basic misunderstanding of what defense lawyers do and why it is so important, there are calls for new laws and more social workers, and a number of comments asking others to write Nancy Grace so she can focus on the issue, not understanding that Nancy Grace doesn't give a damn about improving conditions for anyone but herself, and doesn't want to substitute this story for her current story involving a dead photogenic girl and her pretty, criminal mother. After all, pretty criminal women get ratings - three ugly, filthy adults do not.

There were at least a few enlightening comments about the deficiencies of bureaucracies like DSS, but no one suggested the obvious and sensible solution: letting children decide for themselves where they want to live. The social workers say their hands were tied and they couldn't take Erin out of the home, but what would have happened if they had shown up, seen the obvious problems in the home, and told Erin "We won't make you go with us, but we think these conditions are very bad, and we can help you find a better family to live with"?

No, lots of comments about how to better force adults and children alike into one mold or another, but not a peep about giving children the freedom to make any choices about their own lives.