Comatose Westfield girl moved to rehab facility

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --The 11-year-old Westfield girl who was close to being removed from life support after allegedly being beaten into a coma by her adoptive mother and stepfather has been moved to a rehabilitation hospital in Boston.

Haleigh Poutre was discharged Thursday from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and admitted to the Franciscan Hospital for Children. She has been hospitalized since September, when authorities say she was beaten into a coma.

A statement issued by the Franciscan Hospital said: "It is our hope that her stay at Franciscan will afford her the opportunity to maximize her potential for gains in her recovery."

The hospital advertises itself as the largest pediatric rehabilitation facility in New England.

Hospital officials and officials from the Department of Social Services, which has custody of Haleigh, refused to discuss her medical condition because of privacy laws.

Haleigh's move comes less than two weeks after DSS won approval from the state's highest court to remove her from life support. A day after the Supreme Judicial Court ruling, Haleigh started showing signs of improvement and was weaned off her ventilator.

DSS received a second opinion on her medical condition this week from two pediatric neurologists and a medical ethicist, agency spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said.

"Based on the second opinion, it was decided that we should get her into rehab to get her assessed and working on some specific issues," Monteiro said.

When Haleigh was hospitalized in September with severe brain injuries, her doctors said she would never recover from her vegetative state.

Agency officials say Haleigh now is able to move her eyes in the direction where a sound is being made.

"There's so much absolute hope now," Monteiro said. "She's full of miracles and she's a fighter."

DSS won approval from a Juvenile Court judge to remove Haleigh's feeding tube and ventilator about three weeks after she was first hospitalized. But her stepfather, Jason Strickland, appealed that decision to the Supreme Judicial Court. Strickland has been charged with assaulting Haleigh, and could face a murder charge if she dies.

The SJC ruled against Strickland's appeal earlier this month, saying he has no right to make decisions for the girl. A day after the ruling, DSS officials reported changes in Haleigh's condition.

Haleigh's adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, was also charged with assaulting the girl. But Strickland, who was also Haleigh's aunt, died alongside her grandmother in an apparent murder-suicide about two weeks after Haleigh was hospitalized.

During the last three years, DSS was aware that Haleigh had suffered injuries. But social workers and doctors believed that the girl's wounds were self-inflicted, and thought Holli Strickland was trying to help her adoptive daughter.

DSS Commissioner Harry Spence has defended his agency's treatment of the case, but criticism of how it was handled has sparked a legislative investigation. Gov. Mitt Romney said he will appoint an independent panel to probe the case.

Haleigh's birth mother, Allison Avrett, would not comment on her daughter's case. Avrett let her sister adopt Haleigh in 2001 after deciding she could not properly care for the girl.

Avrett's lawyer, Wendy Murphy, would not comment on Haleigh's condition and wouldn't say if Avrett is considering trying to regain custody of her daughter.

"The most important issue is Haleigh's well being," Murphy said. "That's the focus for now. She's very sick, and that's what Allison cares about the most."