Reilly to Investigate Beating of Child While in DSS Custody
Rips Romney’s Panel Which Cleared DSS
       Following the release of a report that cleared DSS of wrongdoing in the case of a twelve year old Westfield girl who was beaten into a coma, Attorney General Tom Reilly pledged yesterday to continue examining the circumstances of the situation.
       "It cannot and will not be the last word on what happened," Reilly told reporters Wednesday, further calling the recommendations and the governor's reaction to it "offensive."
       Haleigh Poutre was hospitalized on Sept. 11, 2005, with a damaged brain stem that authorities say resulted from blows inflicted by her adoptive mother and stepfather, Holli and Jason Strickland, who were charged with assault (with a baseball bat). The beating came after Department of Social Services received no fewer than 16 abuse or neglect reports, yet they still left Haleigh in the care of the Stricklands.
       DSS took legal custody of her, and in October, just three weeks later, had won a court order from a juvenile court judge to cut off life-support systems for her on the grounds that she was in a “Persistent Vegetative State”.
       Jason Strickland filed an appeal with the Supreme Judicial Court seeking to reverse the juvenile court ruling and keep her attached to life-support systems, but the SJC ruled in January that he didn’t have a legitimate interest in her life.
       A day after the SJC granted the Department of Social Services the right to withdraw life support from the brain-damaged girl, she began showing signs of improvement. She is reportedly now eating and alert, and is undergoing both physical and speech therapy.