Emergency medical personnel responding to a call of a child with difficulty breathing discovered a horrific case of neglect--a 5-year-old girl weighing only 19 pounds. For comparison, the average 5-year-old girl weighs 40 pounds; the average 9-month-old girl weighs 19 pounds.

The girl was transported to St. Francis Medical Center in Tulsa for treatment; her mother was arrested and booked into the Tulsa County Jail.

Doctors at St. Francis determined that the girl was extremely malnourished and dehydrated, and they found that she suffered a number of medical conditions and complications likely related to malnutrition and chronic neglect.

DHS workers say this is not the first time they have investigated the girl's mother for abuse. They say that Christina Calhoun, 25, is involved in pending child abuse investigations, and at least one claim of child neglect involving failure to provide nutrition and medical attention was substantiated earlier this year. Authorities claim that Calhoun refused offered services and attempted to hinder DHS investigations by covering the girl with a blanket so that child welfare workers could not see the degree of malnutrition.

Calhoun was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on a complaint of child abuse, and she is held on $100,000 bond.

Child abuse, neglect, exploitation, and sexual abuse are prohibited and penalized under 21 O.S. § 843.5. Under Oklahoma law, child abuse or neglect and enabling child abuse or neglect are punished equally. Anyone convicted of abusing or neglecting a child, or allowing the abuse or neglect of a child, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Authorities have indicated that in the case described above, there may be other individuals who had seen the child's condition and failed to report the chronic neglect. They say further arrests may be forthcoming.

Oklahoma law defines child neglect in 10A O.S. § 1-1-105 as a failure to provide for the basic needs of the child, including "nurturance and affection, food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, hygiene, or appropriate education; medical, dental, or behavioral health care; supervision or appropriate caretakers; or special care made necessary by the physical or mental condition of the child." It also includes failure to protect a child from exposure to illegal drugs or sexual activity or materials that are not age-appropriate. Abandonment, except in the case of a newborn surrendered according to the Oklahoma's Baby Safe Haven law, is also grounds for a child neglect charge.

State law defines "heinous and shocking neglect" as follows:

  • chronic neglect that includes, but is not limited to, a persistent pattern of family functioning in which the caregiver has not met or sustained the basic needs of a child which results in harm to the child,
  • neglect that has resulted in a diagnosis of the child as a failure to thrive,
  • an act or failure to act by a parent that results in the death or near death of a child or sibling, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or presents an imminent risk of serious harm to a child, or
  • any other similar aggravating circumstance.