Tag Archives: abuse

The Kitchen God’s Wife – Amy Tan

Amy Tan’s writing is rich with beautiful imagery, taking the reader and placing them right in the heart of China. With everything from the words she uses to the way she strings them together, she creates a tale so overflowing with atmosphere, you feel as though you’ve left America and traveled the world in your mind, immersing yourself in a culture rich with tradition and heritage, which may be different from your own but yet welcomes you as a visitor and guest. In “The Kitchen God’s Wife,” we meet mother and daughter, Winnie and Pearl. Pearl is in her forties … Continue reading →

Bill To Make Spanking A Crime Dropped

Here’s an update on a blog I did about California Assemblywoman Sally Lieber’s proposed bill banning spanking. On Thursday, the effort was dropped after Lieber conceded that the bill had little chance of passing. If the bill had passed, California would have become the first state to make spanking of a child under the age of 3 a crime. Lieber ran into opposition from lawmakers, many of who felt a law banning a parent’s right to spank their own child would not only be intrusive but unenforceable. Lieber said that allowing parents to continue to spank their kids was a … Continue reading →

In the News: Jealousy gone Frighteningly Wrong

Sure, people get jealous from time to time. We’re human. Still, what about a guy that gets insanely jealous before the marriage even gets started? What do you say about a man who is so insecure concerning his soon-to-be young wife that he decides to make sure others know she “belongs” to him? A man in his mid-fifties preparing to marry a woman in her early twenties is not unheard of. Feelings of insecurity in such a relationship are not shocking either. What this man did about it, however, is absolutely appalling. Reports indicate that the night before the wedding … Continue reading →

Stockholm Syndrome and Attachment Disorders: My Thoughts

It might seem odd that I find a connection between Stockholm Syndrome and Attachment Disorder but, for some strange reason I do. In our walk as adoptive parents I have found many who doubt the true depth of an attachment disorder, and tell us they simply don’t understand what the problem might be with a child who can’t accept and love parents after living a difficult life. Yet, these same doubters are willing and able to accept the fact that a well adjusted person could be kidnapped and abused into bonding with their captors? Stockholm Syndrome is a term used … Continue reading →

Child Neglect: An Update

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Yesterday, I reported that two young girls had been found aimlessly walking the streets. The children, one and two years old respectively, were naked. Police picked the girls up. On returning them to their home, officials found that the home was in such bad shape that the girls, along with two siblings ages six months and seven years, were all placed in foster care. State investigators had visited the home in March and found nothing wrong. More facts have come out today. The mother, who is 25 years old, suffers from extreme depression and seems to be unable to take … Continue reading →

Child Neglect: A Growing National Problem

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There are stories of children being abused and neglected almost every day in any newspaper. From my child sensitive point of view, this is a national tragedy. We live in a rural area outside of a major city. The country folks out here seem to smoke a lot. I can’t tell you how much it pains me to see a mom with a cigarette in her mouth fastening a child in a car seat. Little babies are getting their lungs filled with second-hand smoke all the time. It’s hard for me not to say something, but it would not accomplish … Continue reading →

The Child Protection System is in Trouble

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We can read about child abuse cases almost every day in the newspaper. The cases that are publicized are just the tip of the iceberg. I will give two examples that I know about that will not get any publicity. We are friends with a state social worker. She had the responsibility for two children placed in the same foster home. She kept noticing that the baby was very thin. The family would always have a lot of clothes on the child which made the worker more suspicious. She took the child out of the home and had him examined … Continue reading →

Adoptive Couple Kept their Special Needs Children in Cages

I was recently reading a story in the CBS News Archives about an Ohio couple who were the adoptive parents of eleven special needs children ranging in age from 14 to 1. Some of the disabilities of the children included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. Apparently, this couple had been keeping the children in cages at night. The cages were reported to be homemade, constructed of wood and chicken wire, and were approximately three feet by six feet wide… but the exact dimensions are in dispute. There was no bedding in the cages, and some had locks or were blocked … Continue reading →

Was Sexual Violence Awareness Month Successful at Families.com?

As Sexual Violence Awareness Month in Queensland draws to month’s end, so too does my incessant blogging on focused issues of a sexually abusive nature. Despite this culmination of focus, I urge you all to stay vigilant and conscious of predators and their sneaky ways of operating. You may recall in The Grooming Process of a Child Sexual Predator, I highlighted that “Darkness to Light suggests that an average serial perpetrator may abuse 400 children in a lifetime”. This equates to an extremely high number of children at risk of being abused in future. None of us can be lulled … Continue reading →

Disclosures of Sexual Assaults often lead to Dissociation

When somebody makes a public disclosure of a previously private abuse they are indeed extremely brave. A multitude of fears run through their mind and body: will I be believed, will I be blamed, will I be in trouble. These faulty cognitions are the result of societal constraints of allowing people to tell the truth and the powerful dynamic of control that predators use against a victim, even many, many years following the abuse. Following a disclosure, a victim frequently feels re-victimized and they are hypersensitive to other’s reactions. When support networks say nothing, it can leave the victim second-guessing … Continue reading →