The South Florida mother of five kids whose father is accused of beating them with a machete has also been arrested. Latoya Richardson, 27, faces aggravated child abuse and child neglect charges related to the incident that happened earlier this month. Richardson, police say, failed to protect her kids from bad dad Miky Sinaise, 29, who beat the kids, aged between 8-months old to 8-years-old, with the flat side of a machete.

A bubbly, extroverted young girl who had been popular with classmates suddenly becomes withdrawn in the middle of the school year.

Her demeanor changes. She stops going to school. Her grades drop.

“She starts going into her little shell,” said Chris Barnhill, executive director of Williamson County CASA.

School officials suspect something is up, and after her fifth unexcused absence, a court-appointed special advocate is asked to look into the girl’s home situation.

The advocate discovers the girl is being abused by her father.

She is taken out of the home and parental rights are terminated.

Her father goes to prison. Her mother loses custody because it is discovered that she was aware of the situation and did not intervene.

Not merely a difficult scenario, this is a true story. The girl is now in foster care and is awaiting adoption. It all happened in Williamson County.

PHOENIX — Arizona authorities are searching for a Nevada woman and her young daughter, reported missing in the Flagstaff area.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office says 31-year-old Suellen Roberts and her 12-year-old daughter, Lexis, were visiting the Bearizona Wildlife Park in Williams last weekend and they may have been accompanied by a man.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — A grand jury has indicted a young mother accused of providing marijuana to her 2-year-old daughter and using her cell phone to record the child smoking the drug.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said Wednesday that 21-year-old Jessica Gamble of Springfield Township in suburban Cincinnati was indicted on child endangering and other charges.

LOS ANGELES — A ninth baby in California has died from whooping cough, and state health officials say the epidemic is on track to break a 55-year record. Some 4,017 infections have been reported statewide this year. Health officials say the nine deaths occurred in babies too young to be fully immunized against the illness.

An Elmhurst woman was charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery of a child and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after she allegedly attacked her 9-month-old grandson with a knife.

Elmhurst police said they responded Saturday to the 100 block of Willow Road in Elmhurst after a report that an infant had been stabbed.

An Atlanta man who repeatedly raped his stepdaughter and forced her into prostitution will spend the rest of his life in prison, a judge decided Monday.

James Howard Johnson, 49, was convicted of 17 felony counts stemming from his abuse of the child, which began when she was 7 years old, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.

The list of charges against Mr. Johnson includes rape, statutory rape, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated child molestation, pimping and pandering, and enticing a child for indecent purposes as well as furnishing alcohol to persons under 21, officials said.

ST. PAUL, Minn.– St. Paul police confirm that a Columbia Heights man is in jail for the alleged rape of a 4 year-old girl.

The 29 year-old man in custody is the boyfriend of a woman who was taking care of the child.

The girl’s mother dropped her off at the friend’s home in the 200 block of Wilken Street, as the women often take turns caring for each other’s children.

Lawmakers blasted Craigslist at a hearing Wednesday on domestic sex trafficking, arguing that the site, and more generally the Internet, have exacerbated the problem of child prostitution.

“Websites escape liability when an ad on their site results in [a child’s] rape, prostitution and even death,” said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), a witness at the House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee hearing.

A Jackson man charged with raping a 5-year-old girl more than six years after the incident pleaded guilty today to two counts of child rape and has been sentenced to 20 years without possibility of parole, according to a court officials. Jackson police charged Darius Amontee Cole, 20, with rape of a child after DNA evidence matched him to the rape, police have said.

A Clinton Township man was sentenced to 5-15 years in prison today, a month after he pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in the February 2009 death of his girlfriend’s 21-month-old daughter.

Carlos Raymore, 22, also was sentenced to 2-4 years in prison on second-degree child abuse, the other charge to which he pleaded no contest in Macomb County Circuit Court. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

Murder and first-degree child abuse charges were dismissed during his sentencing before Judge Peter J. Maceroni. Raymore received credit for 570 days served in the county jail.

Channel 4 News has compiled the first map of Catholic abuse detailing some 37 cases across England and Wales where Catholic priests have committed sexual offences against children.

Click here to see the interactive map

Over the last few months more evidence has emerged of systematic child abuse within the Catholic church from around the world, writes reporter Antony Barnett.

So what about the Catholic Church in England and Wales? What is the true scope and scale of the child sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests in England and Wales?

EDMOND — The fifth annual Kelsey Briggs Run Against Child Abuse will be Saturday at Stars and Stripes Park at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City. This year the run includes a half-marathon (13 miles) and a 5K on a sanctioned track.

Participants can register online at www.signmeup.com/69392 or register the morning of the event. Registration fees are $45 for the half-marathon and $20 for the 5K. Registration begins at 6 a.m. and the run will start at 7 a.m. Cash prizes will be given for top male and female winners. Medals will be given to the top three runners in each age group. This is a USATF Sanctioned Event on a newly certified course and will be timed by Don Garrett Productions.

For more information about the foundation and other events go to www.kelseybriggsfoundation.org.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The death of a 7-month-old boy has been ruled a homicide and his father, Keith Skinner, has been arrested and charged with his murder. Autopsy results released Tuesday by the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner state Triumph Alexander Skinner’s manner of death as homicide. When the little boy was brought to the hospital, doctor’s noted he had suffered a perforated bowel and a severely fractured skull. They also added he had multiple fractured ribs in various stages of healing. He would die while in surgery.