Why Is There So Much Child Abuse?
 

I'm watching the news and there are stories about these "adults" abusing children..in some cases it's their own and in another case, the mother had a health problem and left the young girls in this man's care.

Wish I had a bat!:mad:

In some cases that I've seen, it seems that VERY young mothers allow themselves to get out of control when their baby or child just won't stop crying, or won't "behave". In these cases, I don't believe that abuse is intentional, but just as tragic.
In a lot of cases, I think that women are settling for losers because they're lonely and need adult companionship and are being irresponsible and reckless about who they leave their children with.

Part of it is the casual attitude towards sex, and the unplanned pregnancies that result.

Add in the single mother, and absent daddy/sperm donor (In GA, 60+% of minority births are to unwed mommies).

Since no planning went into conceiving the kid, it wouldn't be expected that any planning/effort will go into raiising the kid.

And then add in the low wage govt. people in the Children Services Dept. who are under-trained, possibly over-worked, and useless.

As RR said, their is no easy answer, but there is a simply answer - no babies until you're married, you're employed, and you're housed.

I honesty don't think that there is all that much more abuse going on... just more reporting as society becomes more aware and interolant of any child abuse.

I can think of two such cases in just the past week here in my area. This story is from the January 11 edition of The Baltimore Sun and made me feel ill when I read it initially:

Medical examiner says baby died hours before 911 call
by Annie Linskey
An 18-month-old girl who police say was fatally beaten by the mother's boyfriend in Annapolis had been dead for about 12 hours before she was taken to a hospital, according to the state medical examiner's office.

Gerald E. Parker, 25, of Bens Drive in Annapolis was charged yesterday with first- and second-degree murder and related charges in connection with the death Friday of Azakia Tynadra Mitchell, city police said.

Parker had faced identical charges that were dropped yesterday because of "a procedural issue," said Kristen Riggin, a spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County state's attorney. Parker was being held, pending a bail review, in the county detention center yesterday.

According to charging documents, Sharmaine Williams, 21, left her baby and her 4-year-old daughter with her boyfriend Friday while she was at work. Parker was not at the apartment when Williams returned at 11 p.m., but he had left a note saying, "I'll be back ... I had to leave for a second." Aaaaargh! :mad: - KR

Williams kissed both children goodnight, believing the baby was sleeping, according to the documents. The 4-year-old responded, but the baby did not, according to documents. When Williams awakened the next morning, her boyfriend of three months was not back, according to Williams and police. She tried to wake the baby about 10:30 a.m. and found her cold and blue, according to the documents. Williams called 911, and the child was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The medical examiner's report says the baby had "multiple head injuries, multiple internal trauma injuries and none of the injuries could have been caused accidentally.

"The trauma injuries were so severe that any one of the injuries could have caused death," police said in charging documents.

Records filed with Circuit Court show that Tyrone Mitchell, the baby's father, tried to gain custody of her as recently as four weeks ago. The 4-year-old girl was in the care of protective services yesterday, police said.


:o

With trauma that severe, wouldn't there be bruising? And a baby sleeping in until 10:30? Wouldn't you check on a baby way before that? Sorry, I find it hard to believe that the mother wouldn't have noticed something was wrong if she were close enough to kiss the baby goodnight.

A little girl, Nixzmary Brown, was murdered by her stepfather earlier this week in NYC. It is so tragic because her teachers called ACS, but someone dropped the ball. Now a seven year old is dead after being tortured, starved, sexually abused, and beaten. There ought to be a special place in hell for someone who does this to a child.

Now there is all the finger pointing and demands to fix the system. This is what happened after Lisa Steinberg was murdered as well as a few other little girls.

ACS is the Administration for Children's Services.

Here are links to a few articles about this sad case.http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=...ch&sa=N&tab=wn

this is horrible.

My question about this case is:
where in the hell is the mother?
why would she let a man do this to her kid?

If she turned a blind eye to it, she is just as guilty as the perp...if not more

Sorry, this hits a little close to home for me

Jill, you're not the only one asking questions. Where were the school, her mother, her father, her case workers, the police? How did this child slip through the cracks when the cracks were supposedly filled the last time a little girl was brutalized this way? I have no idea what the answers are. This story is so sad. It's been on the news ever since they found her poor malnourished and battered little body. I actually thought this thread was started because of her murder, but I think it might just be a local news story at this point.

I just hope this causes some changes to be made in the way child abuse cases are handled. I hope Nixzmary's death is not in vain.

I honestly thought that I was too much of a badass to be brought to tears by reading a newspaper story but I guess I was wrong.

That poor baby. I'm glad she's in a place where that bastard and that spineless bitch of a mother can't hurt her any longer.

Everytime I hear about one of these stories I think of my niece and nephew and HOW COULD SOMEONE DO THIS to an innocent child? It breaks my heart.

eta: I just realized that sounds like they were abused. I just think of how precious they are and why would someone want to hurt something so delicate.

I know how you feel:(

Did anyone catch "For the Love of a Child" on Lifetime??? I couldn't stop but crying, especially when you saw the little boy (I think his name was Michael) turn around and he had "Bad Boy" burned into his back - I know it was a movie, but just to think that things like that happen all the time-it just sickens me:(

I think you get dumber with every passing day. Not to mention more racist.

There's been PLENTY of child abuse (physical and mental) in homes with a married mother and father who are both making huge amounts of money.

Cooper's right....there's not any more than there used to be....just more reporting. There's probably LESS than there used to be.

Here is one that gave me a total kick in the stomach. A mother recieved hush money from a convicted sex offender not to go to the police after he abused her disabled daughter.

Mom Accused Of Taking 'Hush Money'

I have devoted my life to children and I can't even imagine someone thinking of doing this!!

I doubt that this child abuse is anything new. It's just that the news picks up such stories, and we all tend to think that it's widespread.

Kind of like the concern a few years back about being shot at school -- does anyone here really believe that school shootings just stopped happening? Or is it that the news programs have found better ratings-grabbers?

Actually child abuse and neglect has always been an issue in the United States. There are currently 124,000 children in the foster care system due to child abuse and neglect. School-aged children are more likely to be abused by their parents at a higher rate than babies and toddlers. African-American and Latino children are disportionately overrepresented in care than their White counter parts. White children are found to enter care because of physical abuse from a parent, where as African American children are found to enter care due to neglect most often as a result of poverty.

I'm sorry, but where have you been Miss Missy??? How the have you been doing??? I haven't heard from you in a month of Sundays, gwirl??? What's been going on? Oh sorry, this should be on the PM...

Gurllll!!! I have a new job that keeps me beyond busy. I've been lurking but not posting, I can only take so much of GC! ;) I felt a need to respond to this thread since child welfare is my field and I can't confirm or deny the information (Stats) used in last Sunday's new program came from my office. How ya been?

^Clean your PM box :)

LOL, I will!

The line was aroud the block tonite at her wake on 1st Ave btwn 2nd & 3rd Streets. I happened to be in the neighborhood & stopped briefly as I walked by to stay a little prayer. What a sad sad story.

As a teacher in the city myself, my co-workers and I have all had experiences with ACS. We do our job as first reporters if we see child abuse & it's just frustrating to hear how badly this case was handled. I'm sure her teacher is feeling guilty about the way this turned out & s/he is in my thoughts as well.

I agree with the person who said that there may actually be LESS child abuse than there used to be. After all, with all of the different social welfare networks in effect today, a potentially abusive parent knows that anything more than a minor spanking could be reported by teachers, social workers, etc. Plus, we're much less likely to keep what we know about friends and neighbors to ourselves.

Apparently, Nixzmary Brown's mother says that she was being abused herself. This doesn't surprise me...if it is, after all, the truth.

So her daughter is only worth 10K? What a bitch. Can't she just sell her daughter and get it over with? :rolleyes: :mad:

That heffa needs to be under the jail (not to mention never being able to have another kid).

Ya know they say that a mother protecting her young is the most dangerous thing in the animal kingdom.

I guess that doesn't apply to some humans.

I see that Nixmary's mother is also charged. Sorry but IMO she deserves to be punished more than the stepfather. Because she ALLOWED her child to get beat and didn't do a F*cking thing to stop it :mad:

Supposedly, she's getting threats that other women at Riker's will kick her ass for what she did.

I really hope they do.

I love jail house revenge.

Do female inmates take bitches or whatever like the men do?

-Rudey

I hope they do too! And Rudey, from what I heard from an acquaintance who happens to be a prison guard in Cali, inmates will kick her ass and make that woman their bitch!

I think they should lock her in a room for 5 minutes with inmates who want to see their kids but can't because they are locked up...

They will tear her apart

There isn't less child abuse than before. The way in which it is being reported has changed. Also having clearer definitions on what is considered child abuse and neglect has seen an increase in reporting and preventing abuse. Keep in mind states track child abuse and neglect differently.

Awesome. Good. She deserves it. I hope to G-d I never, ever end up in prison and if I do it's one of those country club kind where I don't have to worry about getting shanked.

-Rudey

Hey y'all. A lot of you know I am a Social Worker. (Not in child welfare, thank God). In any event, I know for a fact that a lot of people who work for ACS are NOT trained Social Workers but random people who take a test to become a "Case Worker". That first off, is a big problem with the system and unfortunately my field in general. Not only that, but the huge caseloads these people carry, but I am not going to go on about that. What I do not understand is I heard on the news that the School Social Worker (who didn't work for ACS) actually went to the home and the step-father would not let her in. I don't understand why then she didn't just call the police if she suspected child abuse? It makes no sense to me, especially as a practicing Social Worker. I work with adults, and if we can't get in touch with one of our ADULT clients and think they are at risk, we call the police!!!!!

Actually in regards to child welfare it depends on the state as child welfare is not federaly regulated. Many states require Workers to have MSW's and be licensed, I believe this happens in most states. Sadly you are correct about the high caseloads and the burnout which leads to high turnover of many on the front lines in child welfare. I try to stay away from forming an opinion on what the worker should have done or qualifications, because first we never know the true circumstances of a particular cases.

That's true. I left my last job because I just couldn't take getting blamed by anyone and everyone because my client's who were they way they were for YEARS weren't doing what "they were supposed to". It is so easy to place blame on the Social Workers, meanwhile, it is our motto that you can only help people who want to be helped, and if you start having to do all the work for the client, then there is definately a problem.........