The unearthing of Erica Parson’s remains from a shallow grave in South Carolina last week should trigger a review of how well Rowan County protects vulnerable children. Erica may have been the victim of an evil that no one could stop, but the story cannot end there.

Erica disappeared in 2011 at the age of 13, and so far the cause of her death has not been revealed. Court testimony in the fraud trial for one of her adoptive parents, however, included descriptions of Erica being beaten, isolated and otherwise abused to such an extent that it begs the question: Why didn’t someone help this child?

Sadly, not many people knew Erica existed. She was home-schooled, supposedly, and kept on such a tight rein that some neighbors never laid eyes on her.

Rowan County’s awareness of child abuse became heightened in 1997 after  three children died at the hands of their caretakers, and a teen was shot dead. The county formed the Rowan County Child Abuse Prevention Task Force, which developed new protocols to make sure suspicions of abuse were reported and shared with other agencies. The safety net that failed those four children was mended and reinforced.

Nearly 20 years have passed since the searing experiences of 1997, though, and the households where child abuse happens  today know nothing of protocols and task forces. Many of those households know addiction, though, as well as mental illness, poverty and other problems that endanger children. The Child Abuse Prevention Task Force ended its annual meetings last year and is now folded into a Community Child Protection Team. Surely the team will review Erica’s case to see if opportunities to detect her suffering and help her were missed.

Meanwhile, if you see any sign of child abuse or neglect, state law requires that you report it to the local Department of Social Services; professionals who fail to report abuse can be penalized. Twenty-five children died at the hands of a parent or caregiver in North Carolina in 2013, the latest data available.

Rowan agencies work well together to safeguard the lives of children, but somehow Erica Parsons slipped through. an investigation into how that happened — and how it might have been prevented — could save others.