TUCSON – The Tucson Police Department makes two new arrests in the child abuse death of a baby girl. They arrested Kiyana Higgins a week ago. One day after her infant daughter, Za’Naya died and her 3-year old son was hospitalized. The death prompted Child Protective Services to take custody of Higgins’ three other children. Thursday night, Tucson Police made two more arrests. The accused killer’s mother and sister were picked up for not reporting the alleged abuse.

FRANKFORT, KY. — In a sharply critical decision, a judge has ordered a state agency to pay $16,550 in fines and $56,663 in legal costs to three newspapers for illegally withholding public records involving child-abuse deaths and serious injuries.Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd also rejected efforts by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to heavily redact, or remove, information from such documents. He said the cabinet was continuing its “efforts to blanket the operation of the child welfare system under a veil of secrecy.”

AN INTERNATIONAL karate champion from York has been jailed for five years for child abuse against a 13-year-old girl. Liam O’Grady, was sentenced today at York Crown Court, after being convicted by a jury last month. O’Grady, 30, of Osbaldwick, has taught hundreds of children karate at after-school clubs and won gold at World and European level. A jury had heard earlier that he sent sexual texts and pictures of himself to the girl and sexually abused her in his house, his car and men’s toilets

In 2010-11, 1000 more children were identified as victims than in the previous year. Protection services have seen a 15 per cent rise in children reported to them, while cases of abuse and neglect have hit the highest level in six years. Victoria has bucked a national trend of a 13 per cent drop in notifications, and stable numbers of substantiated cases, according to the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report.

After listening to testimony for more than a week, a Clark County District Court jury began deliberating this morning in the child abuse murder trial of a Henderson man accused of killing his girlfriend’s 16-month-old daughter in 2010. Jurors returned at 9:30 a.m. today to sift through the evidence in the trial of Cody Geddings, 26, who has been accused in the death of Addison Weast on March 31, 2010, in his home in Henderson.

Rick Calhoun choked back tears Thursday after a jury found a Genesee County man guilty of killing his 4-year-old grandson. “Our family’s been dead for two years …” Calhoun said. “Now, we’re going to get to start living again, enjoying ourselves together as a family.” Brandon Hayes, 26, of Argentine Township, was found guilty of 10 charges, including first-degree murder, child abuse and torture in the death of Dominick Calhoun.

Oneida, New York – Kaila Lohr, a 23-year-old central New York woman was jailed Tuesday after officers reportedly found cocaine in her baby’s crib. According to Oneida police, officers executed a search warrant at Lohr’s apartment around 6:00 a.m. and found a package containing 8.5 grams of cocaine hidden in a crib where a child […]

The body parts of a missing teenage girl have been found scattered across a field, authorities confirmed. The girl had been staying with a family friend when she went missing in Fannett, Texas, a small town of around 100 people, an hour north of Houston. A rancher called authorities three months later to report he had found a human skull in an empty canal on his property close to the town. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed last Friday that the remains were of Sharon West, who had been identified using dental records.

SUNSHINE COAST, Australia — A 37-year old woman has been sentenced to 4 years in jail for raping her daughter under the pretense of teaching the 11-year-old about sex.
The mother of four used her cell phone to videotape herself repeatedly raping her young daughter. And this was just one of many “lessons” the mother gave as part of a “bizarre sexual education,” the presiding judge said.

Seven teenagers have been charged with the beating and robbery of a 17-year-old high school senior that was captured on video and posted on the Internet. Only one of the teens, Raymond Palomino, 17, of the 3500 block of South Hoyne Avenue, was charged as an adult, with one count of robbery and one count of aggravated battery for the attack that has gone viral on YouTube. Judge Israel Desierto set bail for Palomino at $100,000 over the strenuous arguments of the youth’s attorney.

Anyone can report suspected child abuse or neglect. Reporting abuse or neglect can protect a child and get help for a family—it may even save a child’s life. In some States, any person who suspects child abuse or neglect is required to report. To see how your State addresses this issue, read the Information Gateway publication, Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect.

THE number of reports of child abuse received by the Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR) has grown by more than 1,000 per cent between the registry’s establishment in 2007 and last year when it received the highest number of reports in a one-year period — 7,000 cases. The registry recorded its lowest number of cases in 2007, 455. Last year’s figure represented an 11 per cent jump from the 2010 figure of 6,330. In 2009, the registry received 6,439 reports, a 62 per cent increase from the 3,973 cases it received in 2008.

WASHINGTON, January 17, 2011— Human trafficking often involves prostitution and forced labor of victims. But in Uganda, traffickers buy and sell children against their will to use their genitals, heads, and blood for ritual sacrifice. The U.S. Department of States recently reported 9000 children missing in Uganda over the last four years. Traffickers transport children both inside Uganda and to other countries for use in ritual sacrifices.

FIFTEEN men have appeared in the District Court to answer more than 100 sex-related charges. Among the barrage of allegations heard in the unrelated court listings yesterday was a man charged with 20 various child-sex offences and another accused of sexually abusing his adopted son. Others centred on child pornography and rape, with some offences dating back to the 1960s. Included in the allegations was Alan Gordon Maxwell, 42, of Hackham, who faced court on five rape charges.