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by Dennis Shaughnessey, The Valley Dispatch

I called my wife from work the other day and asked her one question:

“Hi Honey. Hey listen, how would you feel about adopting a little boy?”

There was extended silence on the other end of the phone.

“Honey? You there?”

Diane and I are probably past our child-rearing years, but there’s this helpless, little boy from Middleboro who has probably never known a single day of love in the seven years he’s been alive.

I know I could give this kid a good home. I know that Diane and I could love him. I know that Kathleen and Rory would love him. Rory would be a great big brother. Kathleen would dote on him. My wife’s three older kids would all treat him like family, too. So would Diane’s parents, who live right next door.

Of course, I’m talking about the little guy who was tortured by his mother’s boyfriend for an extended period while the forelock-tuggers at the Department of Social Services did nothing to protect him. The boyfriend, 22-year-old David Privette, has been locked up, finally. So has the boy’s mother, 30-year-old Michelle Henry. I hope they throw away the keys. I hope she never gets to see her son, and his little 3-year-old sister, again. And I also hope that the counselors from the Department of Social Services have trouble sleeping for a very long time. I hope they think about him when they sit down to dinner with their own kids.Harsh? Well consider this. The DSS knew back in 2002 that Michelle Henry was having, shall we say, issues with being a mother. She was neglecting her kid, who was only a year old at the time. What did the DSS do back then? They signed her up for parenting classes. Officials say she “responded well to the training.” Isn’t that the same terminology used when trying to house-break a dog? But the DSS concluded that she was a regular June Cleaver so they left the boy with her.

She’s had string of boyfriends who came and went, including someone who fathered a baby sister three years ago.

Then she met Privette. He’s eight years her junior and just did time for possession of crack cocaine and assaulting a police officer. He has a history of violence and drugs, a regular prince of a guy.

Around December, the boy is acting up in class. He said he doesn’t want to go home after school. He tells the school nurse that his mother’s boyfriend is hitting him with a belt. They said they’ll call the home. The little guy pleads with them not to and starts to cry. “I don’t want no more whippings,” he said.

DSS goes to the house. Spends probably five minutes there and “suggests” that corporal punishment not be used. That ought to do the trick.

On March 4, the boy again tells school officials that he doesn’t want to go home because his mother’s boyfriend is using his genitals as an ashtray. He has cigarette burns on his private parts. Mommy’s boyfriend also urinated on the boy’s head and face while the little guy was taking a bath. School officials indeed found burn marks on the boy’s genitals and welts on his back. Again, DSS was called. Again, they visited the home and left. I’m sure the mother and the boyfriend got a good talking to.

An official with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said there is no indication that anybody from DSS actually “physically looked” for burn marks on the boy.

I guess the third time’s a charm because on March 17, when the boy said he was beaten again, school officials contacted the DSS who finally called the police.

Now you can try to convince me that the DSS workers have heavy case loads. I’m not buying it. They were at the house three times. They stopped short. They didn’t do their job and they allowed a little boy to be tortured. I wonder if they have kids. I wonder if any of them feel like I do.

I want to put my arms around this little guy. I want to teach him to play baseball. I want to teach him to fish. I want to buy him a huge ice cream cone and if it melts all over his shirt and pants, who cares? He can always take a bath. Nobody is going to bother him.

Dennis Shaughnessey’s e-mail address is dshaughnessey@lowellsun.com.

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