Gov. Baker: Boy Allegedly Starved, Beaten Should Recover
BOSTON (CBS/AP) — Gov. Charlie Baker said a 7-year-old boy allegedly starved and beaten by his father is on a ventilator, but should recover.
Baker said Friday that he received a one-hour briefing on the case. State child welfare officials say they've been involved with the family.
"By all accounts at this point, the message we're getting from the clinical folks is that he will be OK," Baker told reporters outside his office.
The Department of Children and Families said Thursday that an agency social worker had visited the Hardwick home of Randall Lints, 26, and the boy, Jack Loiselle, as recently as late June.
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The agency took custody of the boy on July 14 and took him unconscious to a hospital, where he remains in a coma. Authorities say the boy weighed 38 pounds — about 10 pounds below the average for a boy that age — and appeared to be starved and dehydrated. He had bruises to his forehead and jaw and apparent bleach burns on his hands and knees.
Amber Loiselle, Jack's mother, says she last saw her son two weeks before he went into the hospital and he appeared happy.
The agency first got involved with the family in February.
Lints is being held without bail after pleading not guilty to assault and endangerment charges. A police report said that the boy was rarely out of his father's sight and that Lints has a history of limiting food and liquids.
Baker said he's anxious to see the results of an ongoing review of the case when it's completed.
"DCF deals with enormously complicated cases all the time and this one, based on what I know about it and I think what's been written about it, certainly falls into that category," Baker said.
Baker added that the case "isn't the kind of situation where no one was paying any attention at all."
"There was a lot of traffic, a lot of eyes on the child, that had taken place from February forward," Baker said.
Baker made the comments at his first press conference after returning from a week spent out-of-state, including attending meetings of the Republican Governors Association.
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