Category Archives: Neglect

Public Awareness

Recent Pennsylvania verdicts re: the cover-up by Catholic Church officials of pedophile priests, and repeated betrayals of trust by a former Penn State assistant coach have put abuse in the headlines.

Raising public awareness is vital to the prevention of child abuse.  So is public involvement.

Even as I write this, abuse continues.  Locally, news reports indicate a 6 year old boy in the advanced stages of starvation when first hospitalized, was twice returned to the custody of the very parents who had neglected him.

As a community, we are responsible for the welfare of our children.  However welcome guilty verdicts against predators may be, the criminal justice system can only seek to remedy past injury. Prevention is the ideal.  No child should bear these scars.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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Filed under Abuse of Power, Child Abuse, Justice, Law, Neglect, Religion, Sexual Abuse

Feral

Outside Houston, two children – a 5 year old boy and 11 year old girl – have been found living in an abandoned school bus.  The bus is fitted with running water, heat, electricity, and plumbing. It sits on property covered in garbage.

The children were left in the care of an aunt more than a year ago, when their parents were convicted of fraud. It is unclear whether this aunt shared the bus, or merely stopped by with food. The children seem never to have been schooled, and have no shoes.

Psychologists call a child isolated from human contact from a young age a feral or wild child. Such children are deprived of loving care and exposure to ordinary social behavior.  Many experience severe abuse before being discarded.

The terms “feral” and “wild” are an insult to animals everywhere. Only humans would do this to their children.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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Filed under Child Abuse, Justice, Law, Neglect, Physical Abuse