Last week, I told you the story of Heaven Watkins, an eleven-year-old autistic girl with cerebral palsy who was well known to the child protection system in her home state of Minnesota. When her family moved to Virginia, however, Heaven fell off the radar of those tasked with protecting children, and despite the warnings of concerned family members, Heaven was beaten to death in May of 2018 by her mother and her live-in boyfriend.
In this episode, you’ll hear my conversation with Heaven’s aunt and kinship caregiver, Dr. Sheronda Orridge, an incredibly accomplished woman who has never stopped fighting for her special niece and whose efforts have paved the way for new laws to help better protect other children like Heaven.
This is part two of the tragic story of Heaven Watkins.
Links discussed in today’s episode:
Tammy Risen’s book, In the Best Interest of a Child
H.R.485 – Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
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This podcast is researched, written, hosted, edited, and produced by Laine.
For more stories like this one, visit Suffer the Little Children Blog.
Music for this episode is from Audio Jungle.
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