Why Is There So Much Child Abuse?

[AGDLynn]

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!

[MTSUGURL]

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.

[hoosier]

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.

[RACooper]

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.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by MTSUGURL
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.

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! - 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.

[MTSUGURL]

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.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

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

[Jill1228]

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

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
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

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by Jill1228
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.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
A little girl, Nixzmary Brown, was murdered by her stepfather earlier this week in NYC.

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.

[PM_Mama00]

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.

[pinkiebell1001]

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

[33girl]

Originally posted by hoosier
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 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.

[kansas13]

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!!

[Kevin]

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?