OCR Text |
Show Theft Reveals Child's Hunger Girl Stole Food Because Little Sister Was Unfed PLATTSBURG, N. Y. "My little lit-tle sister's hungry." That was the tearful explanation a frail seven-year-old girl gave when caught stealing food from her schoolmates' lunch boxes. County welfare officials decided to investigate Joyce La Fountain's story. What they found was the most shocking case in their memory. mem-ory. Joyce's little sister, Patricia, WAS hungry. The two-year-old child weighed only 14 pounds, less than half the normal weight for a child of her age. She had not learned to talk. Her sunken eyes were sad and rebellious. Welfare workers said they never had seen a more emaciated child. They say she resembled pictures of starving children in wartime Europe. The two little girls and their four little brothers, the eldest aged 9, are the children of a $35-a-week laborer, in jail on a non-support charge, and his 26-year-old wife, Helen. wh Is expecting another baby. 'Helen wouldn't feed the girls," the father told investigators wh questioned him in his cell. He said he wanted them placed in foster homes. Joyce already has been placed in a foster home, welfare officials said. Patricia Is In Champlain Valley hospital. Since she was hospitalized hospital-ized she has gained 1 pounds and is responding to treatment |