Berthe and Francis Climbie have been told how their daughter was beaten and starved.
They are listening to details of their eight-year-old daughter Victoria's "lonely and miserable" death on the first day of a public hearing into her murder.
The child died last year while under the care of an aunt and her partner, despite the involvement of social services, police and the NHS.
Opening the inquiry, chairman Lord Laming says what happened to Victoria will be an "enduring turning point for securing proper protection of children in this country".
As Victoria's parents sat with heads bowed, counsel to the inquiry Mr Neil Garnham QC painted a picture of a bright and loving child described as "a little ray of sunshine".
He told the packed south London inquiry she would "go twirling down the hospital ward in a white dress and pink wellingtons, given to her by the staff because she had no belongings of her own. Mr Garnham says staff at the North Middlesex Hospital where Victoria was first admitted in 1999 described her as a delightful and affectionate child.
On February 24th 2000 she was taken to the accident and emergency unit at the hospital by her aunt. She was malnourished and covered in cuts and scars, Mr Garnham says.
Victoria was admitted to London's St Mary's Hospital in a critical condition and died the next day following a cardiac arrest and multiple system failure.
The Inquiry coninues.