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Toddler Severely Burned, Two Charged With Abuse
January 19, 2013
An Escambia County toddler is recovering from severe burns at Shands Hospital for Children in Gainesville, and two people are being charged for her abuse in Escambia County.
The child’s father, 25-year old Andrew Gonzalez, and his girlfriend, 23-year old Kristine Belanger, are both charged with child cruelty and neglect. Both remain in the Escambia County Jail.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home on Fairfield Drive Thursday after receiving a tip that a child had been abused. Deputies discovered the three-year old girl had severe burns on her back, chest, arms, head and face. Deputies said she was burned by hot water in a shower on Tuesday, but Gonzalez and Belanger failed to take the child to the hospital.
Two other children in the home are now in the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Comments
25 Responses to “Toddler Severely Burned, Two Charged With Abuse”
Sad, very sad! The innocent shall suffer, always seems that way. Sad, very sad!
Those people should not even allowed to have children!! They should get burned themselves and they should not get to go to the hospital !!!!!!!!!!!
You no I think they should be burnt just like they done her. A friend of mine boyfriend was burnt very bad and that was sad and then her son also got burnt and that the first thing they done was go to the DR a Doctor…. people like this make me sick it is ashame these babies have to go through a painfully and terrible thing like I said it make me sick
REGARDING:
“A WATER HEATER SET ONLY AT 120 DEGREES WOULD STILL BURN A THREE YEAR OLD !!!”
Per The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5098.pdf
“Most adults will suffer third-degree burns if
exposed to 150 degree water for two seconds.
Burns will also occur with a six-second
exposure to 140 degree water or with a thirty
second exposure to 130 degree water. Even if
the temperature is 120 degrees, a five minute
exposure could result in third-degree burns.”
Per the Burn Foundation for similar numbers
http://www.burnfoundation.org/programs/resource.cfm?c=1&a=3
“Hot Water Causes Third Degree Burns…
…in 1 second at 156º
…in 2 seconds at 149º
…in 5 seconds at 140º
…in 15 seconds at 133º. “
Both agree temperatures above 108 degrees Fahrenheit would be painful. Back, chest, arms and face don’t sound right for just a shower, but I could be wrong.
David for unburned children
A WATER HEATER SET ONLY AT 120 DEGREES WOULD STILL BURN A THREE YEAR OLD !!!
This is why all hot water heaters should be set no higher than 120 degrees. I am not going to get into all the other ramifications of this situation. Any home that has children or the elderly should make sure the hot water is set at 120 degrees. In most areas this is the code setting for a hot water heater.
Jonathan Smith,
Making excuses for stupidity? If anyone is badly injured, especially a THREE YEAR OLD, seek emergency help. Not having money is not an excuse. So, let this child suffer from burns all over her body because they don’t want medical bills?
YOU SICKEN ME. Id like to order a house call on you just to see what is exactly going on in your home. Please god let your children be okay. You are whats wrong with everything. You need to seek help… fast especially if you have children!
If you have half a brain you take your kid to a doctor regardless of how the burn got there. If u have no money or no insurance then you should have already been on some type of government insurance/welfare. There are no excuses for this period!
O M G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE ANIMALS ????????????
IF THEY DON’T LOVE THESE BABIES GIVE THEM TO PEOPLE WHO DOES.BOTH OF THEM SHOULD BE PUT IN HOT TAR AND FEATHERED.
There seems to be a whole lot of facts missing here. Getting burned in the shower, the child may have turned the water to hot instead of cold. But, where was parental/adult suprevision? Medical insurance or not, if my child needed ER be it known they would GET it, and deal with the bills later. Something is wrong with this story. I don’t believe all the facts are out you. I feel bad for the children – they all deserve better than this. I definitely don’t believe the children are better off with the state. Just a very sad story. GEE people, and guns weren’t even involved (sarcasm) – go figure.
Whether the burns were intentional will be settled in court. The story sounds fishy though.
Not knowing the complete circumstances maybe we should wait and see exactly happened. That said, it is against the law to not provide medical care for children. This article clearly states that the child had to be taken to Gainesville for treatment and that is a clear indication that the Sacred Heart Childrens Hospital did not have the resources to provide the medical care the child had. But, if it is still the Mission Statement of The Department of Children and Families for “re-unification of the family” One can just about bet that after a few counseling sessions this unfortunate and neglected child will be returned to the parents. With the state of the world being as it is I wonder if there are any good answers to solve either ignorance or just plain meaness in some people. It really does’t matter if this little girl goes back to boyfriend and girlfriend or foster care, she and she alone will have to live with this for the rest of her life.My kids are raised and when one of them calls me and asks about one of my grandchilden that is ill my stock answer is take them to the doctor. Intentional or unintentional one would think people this old would know that burns this serious need professional care. So did they have something to hide or were they just stupid – guess we will never know. I do know that DCF and the State of Florida should think long and hard about “re-unification of some families”.
Where does this article say the burns were intentional? Three year olds do a lot of crazy things.
The article does say that the child was not taken to the hospital. Perhaps the parents lack health insurance. I know that I do, not that I would be stopped from taking my kid to the ER if she was burned, insane medical bills or not.
This whole thing is starting to turn into a witch hunt. Every time my kid does something foolish against my admonitions and stubs their toe I feel some over-zealous fool is going to call child services on me.
Sounds like we have two sick puppies here, God is watching you !!
I failed to see in the article where the girlfriend was the biological mother of the child. While this does not lessen the severity of the abuse, it makes me wonder why some are calling for neutering.
@ Carolyn, you are absolutely right. They will probably end up having another child as well.
Lord that hurt my heart. The child didn’t ask to be here. You brought her in this world. So it’s your responsibility to take care, love, protect her. I hope those sweet Angeles don’t return back to you. I hope they go to a loving home. Keeping them in prayer.
Our children are a Gift from God.the love that they have for a parent is so innocent & they trust & depend on their parents for nurturing ,love & protection. I pray that this child and many others can recover physically, emotionally & most of all mentally. What would ever posses a person let alone a parent to do this to a child? So much talk about “gun control” what about “Parental Control” ???
I agree Carolyn–but not only NOT get the children back, they should be neutered and spayed to prevent them from ever having the opportunity to do this again.
These two need to be put away for a very long time.
Do the same (burn them and dont take to hospital) to these “people”.
TAKE THE CHILD AWAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really hope they keep them in jail. I am sorry that the child was injured. I hope th other kids get help and that the state doesn’t let the parents anywhere near any of the kids.
This is so sad makes u wanna cry.an wonder how in the world someone can be so sick in the head.prayin this girl recovers good
Oh heck. They’ll maybe get some jail time and then have the opportunity to get those kids back so they will collect money and maybe mistreat the kids again. I don’t think after you’ve intentionally burned a child you should ever have the opportunity to get the child back.
This story makes me cry