Pregnant 11-Year-Old Prompts Agencies Questions
By Susan Silvers
Originally published in the Connecticut Post, April 21, 2002
BRIDGEPORT — Did anyone suspect anything was wrong? A neighbor? A relative? And if so, why didn't they do something?
These are some of the questions that haunt state Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein as facts emerge in the case of the 10-year-old girl apparently impregnated by a 75-year-old Harborview Towers resident.
Meanwhile, police on Friday executed a search warrant at Summit Women's Center, an abortion clinic where the girl was counseled, as the investigation continues into why medical figures familiar with her condition didn't notify authorities promptly, as state law requires.
Details of the warrant will be unsealed May 3, said police spokesman Joe Gresko.
Police already have charged the man, Jimmy Kave, with an assortment of sexual-assault crimes.
Meanwhile, as the state Department of Children and Families investigates why the shocking details were not reported sooner, Milstein said she wonders who might have made a difference in the case.
"Somebody must have known something," Milstein said.
While any neighbor wary of the girl's visits to Kave—convicted in a 1984 child sexual assault in New Haven—might not have had a legal responsibility to report suspicions, "we all have a moral obligation," she said.
The police said the matter was brought to their attention by the girl's mother, after her pregnancy was confirmed by Dr. Mukesh Shah and he referred her to Summit Women's Center.
"I am astounded in this day and age that doctors would not take their responsibility seriously," DCF Commissioner Kristine Ragaglia said Friday.
She also called for the prosecution of anyone failing to comply with the reporting requirements.
For a third day, Shah—who has an office on Main Street —did not return phone calls.
And the Summit Women's Center has said the responsibility to report the abuse lies with specified professionals on its staff and not the center itself.
Meanwhile, DCF said its immediate priority is the care of the girl—now 11 years old and six months pregnant—who was taken by the DCF from her mother. She is in what is called a SAFE Home, undergoing an assessment of her physical, psychological and educational needs, the DCF said.
"We're now focused on taking care of her," said Gary Kleeblatt, a department spokesman. He added DCF wanted to find "a good, and appropriate permanent home for this young girl."
The child's mother said the girl met Kave through what she believed was an "Adopt-a-Godfather" program at the Bridgeport Housing Authority-operated apartment complex.
But BHA officials have denied the existence of the program.
Milstein said parents need to scrutinize such programs to see who is running them and that appropriate background checks are conducted on any personnel.
"Parents have a responsibility to make sure their kids are in programs that are safe and appropriate," she said.
