Local Newslinks

'Three Strikes' for Abusive Parents Proposed

Bill Would Get Foster Children in Permanent Homes More Quickly

3/3/2005

'Sirita's Law' Stalls In Senate   A bill aimed at protecting children in abusive families is not going to make it into law this session, but lawmakers hope to bring it up again next session. 3/29/2005

Stepmother Pleads Guilty To Murdering Little Girl   Sirita Sotelo's stepmom struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to manslaughter; she's accused of beating the little girl to death. 3/23/2005

Stepmother Charged In Death Of Sirita Sotelo KOMO 4 News has learned that prosecutors have just charged Sirita's stepmother, 25-year-old Heather Ewell, with manslaughter. 3/14/2005

'It Is Too Late For My Little Girl'   The foster father of a girl who died after being returned to her biological father testified Tuesday in support of a bill that would limit how many times a child can be returned to abusive parents. 3/2/2005

Remembering Sirita Sotelo People placed roses on the little girl's gravesite to commemorate what should have been her 5th birthday; she was beaten to death last month. 2/12/2005

'We've Got An Amber Law, Maybe We Need A Sirita Law'   Sirita Sotelo's foster father hopes state law is changed in the wake of her death to protect foster children if they are given back to their biological parents. 1/28/2005

Slain Child Was Subject Of Extensive Child Welfare File State officials say the 4-year-old girl was checked a number of times as a potential abuse or neglect victim before being returned to her family. 1/27/2005

4-Year-Old Died A Violent Death   The medical examiner says Sirita Sotelo died of homicidal trauma; her death is being investigated as a murder. 1/27/2005

Young Girl's Death Investigated As Homicide   A Lake Stevens woman called 911 Friday night to report that a 4-year-old girl was not breathing and unconscious, but she died before deputies arrived. 1/26/2005

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Interview on Live from Seattle with Thor Tolo, Feb. 16, 2005 *

Archived Senate Floor Debate

April 6, 2005:  Debate on HB2156 is at the beginning

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Archived Broadcast of the Senate Human Services & Corrections Committee

March 29, 2005, 10:00AM: HB2156 Sirita's Law

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Archived House Floor Debate

March 10, 2005:  Debate on HB2156 runs from 2:09 to 2:26

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Archived Broadcast of the House Children & Family Services Committee

March 1, 2005, 6:00PM: HB2156 Sirita's Law

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Child Protection: Talk is way too cheap
Sunday, April 3, 2005. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD. In Olympia, everyone talks about protecting children from abuse. But paying extra for safer kids may be something different. Several tragic deaths last year created considerable momentum for lawmakers' efforts to toughen state laws regarding child protection. Even so, the fate of proposed improvement
Last modified: April 1, 2005

Bid to toughen child abuse laws falters
Thursday, March 31, 2005. Judges and state workers continually place children back in unsafe environments'. By CLAUDIA ROWE. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER. In the past year, two babies starved in Kent with cans of food sitting in their mother's kitchen, a 4-year-old girl in Lake Stevens was killed by her stepmother and other children were shaken to death - all by families long k
Last modified: March 30, 2005

seattlepi.com / KOMO 4 News
Stepmother Pleads Guilty To Murdering Little Girl. By KOMO Staff & News Services. Sirita Sotelo's stepmom struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to manslaughter; she's accused of beating the little girl to death.2005 Fisher Broadcasting. Requires Free QuickTime Player.
Last modified: March 24, 2005

Murdered girl's stepmother pleads guilty
Thursday, March 24, 2005. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF. The stepmother of 4-year-old Sirita Sotelo pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter for killing the girl in January in a death police have termed "homicide by abuse. Heather Ewell, 25, struck the Lake Stevens girl so brutally that the child's skull was fractured and her liver severed, according to court papers filed by the
Last modified: March 23, 2005

Woman charged in death of girl, 4
Tuesday, March 15, 2005. By CHRISTINE FREY. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER. Sirita Sotelo's stepmother was accused yesterday of killing the 4- year-old Lake Stevens girl, hitting her so severely that she fractured the girl's skull and severed her liver.Court documents filed in Snohomish County paint a picture of a young woman who struggled to deal with Sirita's addition to th
Last modified: March 14, 2005
 
No regrets as departing DSHS chief reflects back
Monday, March 14, 2005 · Last updated 5:34 p.m. PT. By REBECCA COOK ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER. OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington state won't solve the problem of child abuse until it reduces the number of poor, single women having unplanned pregnancies, Department of Social and Health Services chief Dennis Braddock told The Associated Press
Last modified: March 14, 2005

House approves child-protection bill
Saturday, March 12, 2005. Measure is named for girl who died in father's custody. By CLAUDIA ROWE. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER. Sirita Sotelo lived most of her four years shuttling from one foster home to another, unnoticed except by a few caregivers connected to her case.In January, however, her story attracted widespread attention after Sirita, who had been returned to
Last modified: March 11, 2005

Cause of girl's death found
Friday, January 28, 2005. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF. Sirita Sotelo, the 4-year-old girl who was found dead at a Lake Stevens home Friday, died of blunt-force injury to the head and torso, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office said yesterday.Sheriff's deputies are investigating her death as a homicide. No arrests have been made.. Sirita's aunt called 911 to report that the girl Last modified: January 27, 2005 
 
State had 'big file' on child who died
Thursday, January 27, 2005. Case of 4-year-old in Lake Stevens is investigated. By CLAUDIA ROWE. AND. CHRISTINE FREY. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS. A 4-year-old who died last week at her Lake Stevens home had repeatedly come to the attention of state child welfare workers as an alleged victim of abuse or neglect and spent time in foster care before being returned to live
Last modified: January 26, 2005

Girl's death is now a homicide investigation
Wednesday, January 26, 2005. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES. LAKE STEVENS - The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office is investigating the Friday death of a 4-year- old Lake Stevens area girl as a homicide.Sirita Sotelo was unconscious and not breathing when sheriff's deputies arrived at a residence on the 2500 block of 101st Avenue Northeast around 11:3
Last modified: January 25, 2005

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