Across the nation, people tried to imagine what her last few days were like. Tied to a chair, beaten, starved and made to feel worthless at the tender age of seven made even the most hardened heart sigh with sadness. Nixzmary Brown must have suffered terribly before her death and now the nation wondered why. What happened that she was not protected? Why did the calls to social services not save her from her life and fate? What on earth were the child welfare workers thinking when they failed to remove that innocent child from such an evil environment? These are questions that are asked every time the news lets the nation know that another child has been murdered by a parent or other loved one. As the nation still reels from the murder of Nixzmary attention turns not only to the child abuse laws in New York state but in other states as well. Medical science has made such advances in this nation that people are living longer than ever before. The boom in technology has taken society to places never before thought possible and today, people who previously could not hear or see are doing both because of the advancements of America. Why is it the nation cannot seem to prevent the horrors of child abuse inflicted on its young? Before child abuse will stop the laws need to become much stricter and the government needs to invest in additional workers so that no cry for help ever goes unanswered again. .

             NIXZMARY.

             For one to understand the magnitude of the problem of child abuse prevention in America, one need look no further than the recent murder of Nixzmary Brown who lived in New York with her mother, stepfather and siblings(Mfuni, 2006). .

             While several groups believe the problems that led to the child's death are severe staffing shortages with additional responsibilities added to those who are working, others believe it is a basic problem in the laws themselves that caused Nixzmary to fall through the cracks and die.