Lawmakers were inspired to pass new legislation to protect vulnerable children after hearing about the abuse a young girl suffered during her short life.

Heaven Watkins died in Virginia last year after she was beaten to death by her mother Latoya Smith and Smith’s boyfriend Demont Harris. Prior to their arrival in the South, child protection officials in Minneapolis, Minnesota, removed the 11-year-old from her mother’s home because they suspected she was being neglected as well as physically and sexually abused, according to KARE. Authorities also believed Smith didn’t do enough to ensure her daughter, who had cerebral palsy and developmental delays, received proper assistance.

Watkins was eventually sent to live with Sherronda Orridge, her aunt, for a year. Before she moved in, Watkins had behavioral issues.

“She had a whole bunch of outbursts,” Orridge said in November. “You know, hitting, biting, scratching.”

While she was in Orridge’s care, the little girl began to improve.

“If you pay attention to Heaven, and you talk to Heaven, Heaven was very teachable,” she said. “All it took was patience.”

Sadly, the emotional scars remained and Watkins asked her grandmother a haunting question.

“She used to ask me all the time, that I won’t let no one kill her,” Raola Watkins recalled.

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Heaven’s question foreshadowed her fate. When she returned to her mother and they moved to Virginia, it wasn’t long before authorities in the state got involved. In February 2018, hand was burned so badly she had to be hospitalized and received a skin graft. Heaven was beaten to death four months later. Smith plead guilty to felony homicide charges and is awaiting sentencing. Harris is still awaiting trial.

It is unclear if Virginia’s child protective services knew about Smith’s history but Congress wants to ensure the lines of communication are opened across state lines, reports WUSA.

Congress is working on the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, or CAPTA, which will establish a database through the Department of Health and Human Services. The National Interstate Data Exchange System would allow state agencies to share information from their child abuse and neglect registries with each other.

“By breaking down barriers to information we can prevent children like Heaven from slipping through the cracks,” said Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia. Scott is the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, which oversees the health and safety of children.

Scott believes this system could have saved Heaven’s life.

“Had this data exchange system been in place last year, it is likely we would have prevented the tragic death of Heaven Watkins,” he stated. The bill is headed to the House floor for a vote.

This is the second time Heaven’s story has inspired legislation.

Viriginia Governor Ralph Northam signed “Heaven’s Law” in March. The law requires state workers to check with agencies from other states while they’re conducting a child abuse investigation.

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Heaven Watkins

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