There Once Was a Girl Named Roxie
By Elena Matyas
As we sat in the trauma room next to Roxie’s lifeless body, we knew something went terribly wrong at Summerkids. We know our girl. We know her joy, her enthusiasm, her desire to please. Roxie was a rule follower. She was not a daredevil.
How did this beautiful, effervescent child, who was supposed to be cared for, die within 45 minutes of being under the supervision of the DiMassa family, a family who prides itself on treating their business as “an extension of their family?”
We had no idea of the magnitude of the “terribly wrong.” An unlicensed child care provider. Bogus lifeguard certifications. Substandard training. An effusively unregulated industry. Health department officials and government employees who don’t believe children’s health and well-being should take priority. Lobbyists and camps peddling profits over kids’ safety.
As we confront those responsible for the terrible wrongs which led to Roxie’s death, the truth is very uncomfortably received. Summerkids’ false narrative that Roxie died due to a “medical issue” was much more palatable.
Parents must face the vulnerability and reality that what happened to Roxie can happen to their children.
The DiMassas, Jaimi Harrison & the young adults who work at Summerkids must accept that their gross negligence led to Roxie’s death.
The American Red Cross, the county of Los Angeles, the California Departments of Public Health and Social Services, and all state legislators and governmental gatekeepers must accept gaps in their systems resulting in fatal consequences.
Those responsible for Roxie’s death are scrambling to preserve their reputation, their power and their money. They trivialize Roxie’s death to protect themselves.
In our efforts to change the terrible wrongs, tell the truth, deliver facts and science and ensure no other child suffers Roxie’s fate, we have been accused of “going scorched earth” and “character assassination.”
Are money, power and reputation more important than a child’s life? Roxie is no longer on this earth. She never had the chance to ride a bicycle without training wheels, revel in the delight of a first kiss or don a cap and gown at graduation. And we’ll never feel the joy of watching our baby experience each rite of passage.
A little girl’s life should be the focus of righting wrongs, not the preservation of misguided adult values.