Christine Stanton

An 11-year-old girl gave birth at home in Muskogee County, Oklahoma. There was no doctor, no nurse and no proper medical care. The child who should have been protected had been left to face pregnancy and childbirth alone. Her mother, Cherie Dawn Walker, has now been sentenced to seven life sentences after a jury found her guilty of allowing the horrific abuse of her daughter. According to the case presented in court, Cherie’s husband, Dustin Walker, began sexually abusing the girl when she was just 10. By the age of 11, she was pregnant with his child. She had received no prenatal care and had not been attending school, leaving teachers and other professionals with no opportunity to notice what was happening. When she went into labour at around 36 weeks, she gave birth inside the family home. A paediatrician testified about the serious dangers pregnancy and childbirth pose to a child so young. Yet the girl had been left without the medical care and protection she desperately needed. After the birth, the adults denied knowing she was pregnant. A family member initially suggested that a 13-year-old boy was responsible, but DNA testing established a 99% probability that Dustin Walker was the baby’s father. And the abuse was not the only suffering inside that home. Six children were living in appalling conditions, with no running water or air conditioning, inadequate food, and serious hygiene and dental problems. The evidence revealed a household where children were being neglected while the adults responsible for their care failed them. Dustin pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child under 12 and six counts of child neglect. In June, he was sentenced to life in prison plus 42 years, with the additional years to be served before the life sentence. A presentence investigation reported that he continued to blame others for his actions. His attorney later filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Cherie was tried separately. After hearing four days of evidence, a jury found her guilty and recommended life sentences on all seven counts. The judge imposed those sentences. The grandmother, Michelle Justus, who lived across the street, has also been accused by prosecutors of knowing about the situation and failing to report it. She faces six felony child-neglect counts, and her case is separate and remains before the courts. There is an uncomfortable question at the centre of this case: how could so many children suffer for so long without anyone stepping in? The six children have now been removed from that home. They are no longer living in those conditions, but the damage they have endured cannot simply be undone. The little girl should have been protected. She should have been in school, playing with friends and enjoying her childhood—not facing pregnancy, childbirth and abuse at an age when she still needed adults to look after her. All six children deserved better. And every one of the adults who had a responsibility to protect them should have taken that responsibility seriously.