A Times Editorial

When shaken babies survive

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001

If anything is as wrenching as the death of a child by a violent shaking, it's the life of a child who survives in spite of one.

When we hear about "shaken baby syndrome" these days -- as we do with agonizing frequency -- it is usually after a baby has died, most often at the hands of a raging father or, if only occasionally, an English au pair. Rarely do we learn of those shaken babies who leave the emergency room to a life completely, and senselessly, altered. Yet, for every shaken baby who dies, two live.

Florida's Christina is one of the latter.

"Six-year-old Christina is a shaken baby who continues to remain in diapers and is non-verbal. Christina communicates through sounds."

I recently saw Christina (from cyberspace, that is) while perusing the state's "Adopt a Child" Web site. If you have access to the Internet, you can see and read about her, too, at www.state.fl.us/cf_web/adopt. Beware. Christina will melt your heart with her smile -- then break it with her dossier.

"Christina has spastic weaknesses in the right upper limb and left lower limb. She is fed through a bottle."

Beneath that angel of a child is a living reminder of the harm that shaken baby syndrome delivers long after the moment of abuse has passed. Forceful shaking -- committed most often to stop a baby from crying -- causes bleeding and swelling in the cavity between the brain and skull, putting pressure on the brain and causing lasting damage. A leading cause of death by abuse, shaken baby syndrome also leaves hundreds of American children every year with permanent blindness, mental retardation or other severe mental or physical disabilities. Many -- like Mia, another adoptable child on the state's Web site, who is 10 but still in pull-ups -- are left paralyzed for life.

"Christina enjoys humming Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and rocking herself in her toy car. She also enjoys looking at books. Christina is a developmentally delayed child that needs adoptive parents to attend to her needs."

Life is to be cherished, and babies who survive the horror of violent shaking bring unspeakable joy to their families -- including the exceptional people who reach out to adopt them -- and affirm the resiliency of the human spirit.

All the same, they represent what was not supposed to be and, worse, what could easily have been avoided had one fuming adult handled his responsibilities -- and the gift that is young life -- with greater care.

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