Tag Archives: child abuse

Another Homeschool Tragedy in the News

“Wasn’t she homeschooled?” Shrieked Nancy Grace in a question as she covered the news story of a Texas girl who along with her boyfriend and other friends killed the girl’s family members. The story truly is a tragedy. Apparently, the daughter met a guy at high school who her parents did not like. Her parents tried to break them up. They reportedly took the girls cell phone. It looks like the father hacked into the boyfriend’s myspace page. They did not make the romance easy. The mother, and two younger brothers were killed in their sleep and the father barely … Continue reading →

Munchausen by Proxy

When a parent, usually the mother, consciously attempts to make her child sick, while at the same time seeking medical attention for the child, this is known as a case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. These sad cases often make the news, as deliberating harming one’s child is a form of child abuse. Yet in this syndrome the mother seems to be very caring. So caring, in fact, that she may fool medical authorities, often for years. The mother typically makes her own child sick so she can bask in the attention that the intervening medical attention provides her. She … Continue reading →

Talking About Tough Issues: Child Abuse

The key message here is that birthparents probably love their children, but some have reasons why they just cannot keep a child safe. For preschoolers: “Your birthparents probably loved you, but they couldn’t keep you safe. All children need parents who can keep them safe, so that’s why you came to grow up with us.” Talking About physical abuse: For early elementary-age children, or a child who remembers being abused: “Do you ever feel angry with your friends or with Mommy and Daddy (siblings, etc.)…sometimes you yell and hit even though you love us. But you are learning not to … Continue reading →

Talking About Tough Questions

Adoption, under the best possible circumstances, involves loss. Few birthparents deliberately plan to have a child they will have to let someone else parent. Adoptive parents, like all parents, want to shield their children from sadness and from things they think may be damaging to their self-esteem. However, the loss of trust in their parents that secrecy creates is potentially more damaging than the original losses. Books such as Lois Melina’s Making Sense of Adoption and Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child, by Betsy Keefer and Jayne Schooler, recommend age-appropriate ways of conveying a child’s story to … Continue reading →

The Lottery Rose – Irene Hunt

Irene Hunt is one of my favorite young adult historical fiction authors, and I looked forward to starting “The Lottery Rose.” It was completely different from what I expected, but I can honestly say it is one of the most impacting books I’ve ever read, and certainly the best so far this year. Georgie Burgess is a seven-year-old boy who is being severely abused by his mother’s boyfriend, with his mother’s full knowledge and sometimes cooperation. She’s an alcoholic who depends on her boyfriend for whiskey, and neither of them care much to have Georgie around. His physical abuse partially … Continue reading →

Homeschoolers and child abuse

I just read a heartbreaking story from a young woman who felt homeshooling should be outlawed. You see, she was abused throughout her entire childhood by parents who hid their actions under the guise of homeschooling. What her parents did to her was awful and incomprehensible, but to make homeschooling illegal because of one case, would do a disservice to the many homeschooled children who are reaping great benefits. Abusive parents are abusive parents. Whether they are going to put their children in public school, private school, or homeschool them, they are first, and foremost, child abusers. Whether or not … Continue reading →

The Violence to Young Children Continues

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It’s getting so bad that I do not want to read the latest news. A mother left her two year old girl and an almost one year old boy with her boyfriend. He had agreed to bring them to meet her in the store parking lot where she was employed when she got off work. When they picked her up, the mother apparently realized that the little girl was seriously injured. They took her to a local hospital. The hospital immediately “life flighted” her to a trauma center where she died that evening. The cause of death was a brain … Continue reading →

Father Tries To Poison Kids

Here’s an example of one of those sad but true cases of parents gone mad. A 41-year-old Atlanta man has admitted that he poisoned soup and fed it to his two young kids in order to extort money from the Campbell Soup Company. He has plead guilty to communicating false claims. After placing “life-threatening foreign substances” in the soup and then forcing his kids to eat it, the man then called the company and claimed the soup was contaminated. The man’s children are 3-years-old and 18-months-old and unfortunately this is not an isolated case of his abuse. The kids were … Continue reading →

Another Example Of Bad Parenting

It’s always disturbing to read about parents who don’t take their responsibilities as a parent seriously. I wanted my first blog of the year to be about something happy, but this is far more important an issue to me. This past Sunday yet another parent was negligent in her responsibilities as a mother when she allowed her 3-year-old to escape from their second floor apartment and wander off, ultimately finding his way to a busy interstate. According to police reports, the 3-year-old Indianapolis toddler was found playing on the busy highway, wearing nothing but a diaper and t-shirt, while his … Continue reading →

Legal System Fails Child in Horrible Abuse Case

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The legal system has failed to protect a 15 month old girl, who had the misfortune to be born into an abusive home. State investigators were first in her home in late July in response to reports of injuries to her five year old brother. His most serious injury was a broken ankle. Authorities took no action because the child insisted that he had sustained the injury while skateboarding. On October 4, police were called to the hospital when his sister, A’Anya Cantley, was brought in by her mother’s boyfriend with second degree burns to her face and torso. The … Continue reading →