3-million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States, and experts estimate that the actual number of incidents of abuse is 3 times greater than reported.

Everyday, 4 children die as a result of child abuse.

After the tragic death of Seth Ireland, many are now looking for ways to better protect kids, and ways to fix what they call a broken system.

Its something, one family law critic out of San Diego says she's been pushing for, for years.

In this interview conducted Wednesday afternoon with Joseph Hudson, the father of murdered 10-year-old Seth Ireland, Hudson blames police, the courts and child protective services for failing to protect his son, from the man who's accused of beating him to death, Lebaron Vaughn, the mother's live-in boyfriend.

Joseph Hudson, Victim’s Father: “My son slipped through the cracks. He was not protected like he should have been."

But Catherine Huerta, who oversees the county's child protective services, says they did the best they could.

Catherine Huerta, Department of Children and Family Services: "Am I confident my social worker was working the case? Was she investigating to the best of her ability? Yes she was."

Since August of 2008 Hudson had been involved in a bitter custody battle over his son.

But did Seth Ireland really slip through the cracks, or is it that our system was so broken, little Seth never fared a chance?

Bonnie Russell, familylawcourts.com: "Ffalling through the cracks means the system is working fine. The system is not working fine, except for people who are getting paychecks in the system. It benefits the workers, not the children who are presented to the workers."

Bonnie Russell started the website, familylawcourts.com back in 2001, when she began noticing problems in the judicial system.

Russell is considered an expert, she says, in the field of how family court doesn't work and why, and parental alienation.

Russell: "You want the judge to speak directly to the child, but the judge doesn't want to do that, so they order experts."

Experts, who she says many times, aren't professionally trained to evaluate the mental state of a child.

Because of this she says, children who are being abused, many times, end up back with the abuser themselves.

She says for this reason alone, children must be given a voice in the courtroom.

Russell: "A child is a credible source, but that stops the litigation train if the child speaks up. Its not that the children are slipping through the cracks, they're the marketing tool. Parents are the fuel source and the top of it is the child."

At the end of August, CPS launched a child abuse investigation and although they received numerous referrals of abuse, up until Seth Ireland was killed, they say they were never able to gather any conclusive, physical evidence that he was being abused.

For this reason, Seth could not legally be removed from the home.

Family law critic, Bonnie Russell says, in addition to children being given a voice in the courtroom, immunity should be taken away from social workers, so they themselves can be held responsible in a court of law for any mistakes they've made.

For Preston Phillips’ full story, click on the video link above.

For Preston Phillips' bio click here.