REMEMBERING IRDESSA

Irdessa Vazquez was only four months old. She had barely begun her life. At four months, Irdessa should have been spending her days learning the faces and voices of the people around her. She should have been discovering her hands, reaching for toys, smiling when someone familiar entered the room and changing a little more with every passing week. She should have had an entire childhood ahead of her. Instead, Irdessa lived for only a few months. Most of what remains publicly available about her life comes from records describing the circumstances of her death and the child welfare system that had already received concerns about her family. But those records are not who Irdessa was. She was a baby. She was a daughter. She was a little girl whose life had only just begun. Her name was Irdessa Vazquez. And her four months of life mattered.

IRDESSA'S STORY

In June 2011, four-month-old Irdessa suffered devastating injuries while in the care of her father, Guillermo Ascension Flores. Irdessa was taken to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Despite efforts to save her, she died from her injuries. The Marion County Coroner's Office determined that Irdessa had suffered blunt force trauma and ruled her death a homicide. Her father was subsequently arrested in connection with her death. Irdessa was only four months old.

WARNING SIGNS & SYSTEM FAILURES

Irdessa's death later became one of several Indiana child fatalities examined because the children had previously come to the attention of the Indiana Department of Child Services. Before Irdessa died, concerns regarding her care and treatment had been reported to the agency responsible for investigating child abuse and neglect.

Her case was eventually highlighted alongside several other Indiana children whose deaths raised questions about whether additional intervention by DCS might have protected them. The cases differed from one another, but they shared a devastating fact: concerns about each child's safety had reached the child welfare system before the child died. For Irdessa, whatever opportunities existed to protect her ended far too soon. She was four months old. She could not tell anyone what was happening.

She could not leave. She could not protect herself. Every part of her safety depended upon adults.

JUSTICE FOR IRDESSA

Guillermo Ascension Flores was arrested following his infant daughter's death. He was ultimately convicted in connection with the fatal abuse of Irdessa. In July 2012, Flores was sentenced to 20 years. However, only four years of that sentence were ordered to be served in prison. Sixteen years were suspended, and he was also ordered to serve eight years on probation.

Guillermo Ascension Flores
Relationship to Irdessa: Father
Conviction: Child abuse related offense resulting from Irdessa's fatal injuries
Sentence: 20 years, with 16 years suspended; 8 years probation

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Irdessa Vazquez was four months old. Four months. She had not celebrated a first birthday. She had not taken a first step. She had not spoken a first word. There should have been years before any of those milestones became memories. There should have been birthdays. First days of school. Friends. Holidays. Teenage years. Graduation. Adulthood. There should have been enough time for Irdessa to become whoever she was going to be. Instead, the public record of her life ends almost as soon as it begins. A hospital. An investigation. A homicide ruling. A criminal case. Those things tell us how Irdessa's life ended. They do not tell us who she would have become. Irdessa was not a case number. She was not simply another child included in a report examining failures within Indiana's child welfare system. She was somebody's baby girl. Her name was Irdessa Vazquez.mAbuse Angels remembers Irdessa Vazquez the four-month-old baby girl whose life had barely begun and who depended completely upon the adults around her to keep her safe. We remember Irdessa. We speak her name. And Irdessa Vazquez will not be forgotten.