When a 45-year-old staff member placed her full body weight on little 12 year old Shirley Arciszewski it became time for the little girl to die as she couldn't breathe due to the massive weight of the staff member on her chest. She was strangled.
Face down restraints were considered dangerous even back then but in many states facedown restraints continue to be used.
As for the staff member the authorities ruled that she showed poor judgment but that her actions were not criminal. As a little sorry to the family left behind by the death of the girl the group home was shut down by the authorities.
So none were to blamed for her death. Certainly such a decision was met with criticism in the public but should have been more upsetting was the continued neglect of proper supervision of group homes, boarding schools and other residential solutions for minors.
This death should have resulted in legislation but it didn't. This is not the only entry for Missouri we sadly have to put in this blog.
Shirley Arciszewski would have been a young women who would have started out on her adult life this year, but her life was taken from her. May she rest in peace.
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