FACSAFOUNDATION.ORG SHATTERING THE SILENCE TOUR DOCUMENTARY PROJECT Volume 2 January 2015 | Page 42

classes and stay away from his wife. Convinced he had changed, his wife
allowed him to return to the home.
She said the next official contact between the family and Montana child
services came more than six weeks later - the day of Mattisyn's funeral.
The system also failed Ethan Henderson, who was only 10 weeks old but
already had been treated for a broken arm when his father hurled him into
a recliner so hard that it caused a fatal brain injury.
Maine hotline workers had received at least 13 calls warning that Ethan or
his siblings were suffering abuse. The caseworker who inspected the
family's cramped trailer six days before Ethan died on May 8, 2012, wrote
that the baby appeared 'well cared for and safe in the care of his parents.'
Many factors can contribute to the abuse dilemma nationwide: The child
protective services system is plagued with worker shortages and a serious
overload of cases. Budgets are tight, and nearly 40 percent of the 3 million
child abuse and neglect complaints made annually to child protective
services hotlines are 'screened out' and never investigated.