Child Abuse...

 

There have been three recent cases where child abuse has either been accused, or parents have been convicted; that just really gets to me when there are many kids that are really being abused.  We, as a society, focus on the petty and let the horrendous continue. 

Wrote a blog post about it.  Like to read it? Here it go....

First we have the couple that used soap to wash out their daughters mouth, she then had an allergic reaction, so they took her to the hospital.  Ok, so I admit, if the account that I read of that incident was correct, leaving the soap in her mouth ten minutes for a bad word was overboard.  I got my mouth washed out with soap as a child, and I threw up from it as well, and was made to clean up my own mess...

But, I have a hard time meshing the fact that they were charged with child abuse and parents who are doing horrendous things, like raping their own children, are not even being charged.

Then we have the family that pulled the publicity stunt of faking that their 6 yr old had accidently flown off in the hot air balloon.  Ok, now they apparently are risk takers and media whores, so it is not surprising that people are not concerned about the well being of their children.  Apparently they take them on storm chases and dangerous outings, ok that I get!

What I don’t get is that their lawyer, David Lane, stated; 

"Do not do the perp walk for media consumption and arrest these people in full view of their children. That's child abuse. That's traumatic for kids."

Ok, I get that having the parents arrested in front of the kids is traumatic, but did he have to go as far as to say it is child abuse?

Again, I have a hard time meshing the fact that having parents arrested in front of their kids, in any situation, could be considered child abuse; when we have parents abusing their kids to death...literally.

I read today that ‘Nearly half of all Texas kids killed by abuse were in families with CPS histories’.  Yes, I do realize that is only one state; but with all the child deaths in the news all over the country, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more states with a percentage in the same range.

Which leads me to the final case that has gotten alot of media attention, while those of children being horribly abused are still suffering.  Apparently the social service workers in Italy had nothing more pressing to do, because they charged a mom with child abuse for being overly protective.  Well, they charge the grandparents as well.

This mom didn’t beat her son, or put cigarette’s out on his body, or scald him with water.  She didn’t let grown men come to her house to rape her son.  So, what did she do?  She cut his school snacks into bite sized pieces.  He is 12 years old, so that is going a bit too far, in my opinion.  But, is that really child abuse?  Why were they even investigating her one would wonder.

According to the article:

The parents divorced soon after the boy's birth and the father claimed that he wasn't permitted to see his son for nine years. Concerned about the child's welfare, he finally contacted social services and prosecutors opened an investigation into the mother and grandparents.

Ah ha!  So, there we have it, his father was concerned.  Ok, I buy that.  But, didn’t the social service workers have more pressing cases?  Maybe not, I don’t live in that country so I can’t speak with any first hand knowledge of what their child abuse rates are.

What is getting me with this is the media circus surrounding these three cases, when we have so many horrific cases going on that are not being reported.  In WI there is a current case of a daughter not wanting to visit her father, presumably because he is abusive and neglectful of her basics needs; such as a bed at his house. 

She has also disclosed sexual abuse, and was with her father when he was arrested for a DUI (which he went to jail for the DUI).  But he isn’t in jail or being charged with child abuse like the parents in the stories above.

Where’s her media circus?  Better yet, where is her JUSTICE?  She can do without the circus.

Oh, and there is another case that I have mentioned here before.  The daughter was taken from her mother and custody was granted to her father; this child isn’t even allowed to visit her mom.  That mothers name is Kristin Hanson, I will not publish the child’s name.  Why did this mom loose custody?

When her daughter was 8 years old she (the daughter) disclosed that she was being sexually abused.  Her daughter refused to go visit her dad because of this (understandably so), her mother felt she could do nothing else to protect her besides run with her.  She was caught.

That girl, now 14, is still after six years living with her father. 

Again, I can not mesh these stories to the ones above.  After having spent several days fuming over all of this, I think I have figured out a portion of why CPS fails to do their job in some of the worst cases, yet in others tend to over-charge parents for doing lesser offenses.

Could it be that CPS workers are afraid of the REAL child abusers?