Danieal Kelly Should Not Have Died This Way

If you’re squeamish, don’t read this post. It’s about maggots and feces and a hot, airless room where a young girl of 14, weighing only 42 pounds and begging for water, died.

Danieal Kelly was under the care and protection of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. The department’s social workers, along with Danieal’s mother, and family friends, watched this young girl, who suffered from cerebral palsy and had maggot-infested bed sores, die on a putrid mattress in her mother’s home. The floor was covered with feces.  

So, are you grossed out, yet?

Are you enraged, yet?

I am. I am just so pissed off that I just about can’t speak!

This young girl’s story is one that everyone who cares about kids should know about. I should have learned about it. You should have been told about it.  Certainly people in Philadelphia should know about what goes on right under their noses. Danieal died two years ago, in 2006.

I came across this horrendous tale two days ago, in an Associated Press story that was buried on page 5 of The Virginian-Pilot. A 258-page grand jury report that was released last week charges nine people–Danieal’s parents, four social workers, and three family friends–in her death.

Reportedly, Danieal’s mother, Andrea Kelly, was embarrassed by her disabled daughter and didn’t want to touch her, change her diapers, take her out in public, or even provide her fluids. Andrea Kelly has been charged with murder.

These are troubled times, and, as always, there are not enough child welfare people to take care of those who need their help. But this story, Danieal’s story, is beyond troublesome. It is a barbaric way in which a child was put to death.

This kind of stuff has to stop.