Category Archives: Physical Abuse

April 21, 2013 · 7:07 pm

Even Solomon

New Jersey police recently found two children, aged 5 and 10, living in an unheated storage unit. The situation came to light when the boys’ mother was arrested for allegedly slashing her boyfriend’s tires.

How are those of us concerned with the welfare of children to respond?  If these children are placed into the foster system, we cannot be sure of the quality of care they will receive.  Clearly, their mother would benefit from counseling – not to mention employment training.  And what of their father?  Does he bear no responsibility?

Social workers wrestle with such imponderables daily.  Solomon would be at a loss to supply an answer. All the rest of can do is support programs that benefit abused and neglected children, in the hope one life may be salvaged at a time.

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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September 21, 2012 · 7:03 pm

Boundary Violation

No matter how far we may have come in our recovery, as abuse victims we retain scars.  Many of us, for instance, are vulnerable to boundary violation.

Since our boundaries were not respected, the ability to defend ourselves (especially against someone who “should” be trustworthy) may be diminished.  When that line is crossed – even in adulthood, even in a non-sexual context – we are often flooded with shame for having “failed” to protect ourselves…as if the fault were ours.

It is worth reminding ourselves that we live in the shell crater, the aftermath.  The scars we retain are evidence of that – not evidence of our supposed defects.

But we need not let that reality defeat us.  We have value and purpose.  And lives yet to live to the fullest.

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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September 12, 2012 · 6:49 pm

Abuse and Murder

Last October, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a stay of execution for death row inmate Terry Williams, the childhood victim of severe physical and sexual abuse, acknowledged to have killed two of his abusers as a teen.

The Williams case raises questions about the death penalty, because of prosecutorial misconduct. It, also, illustrates the complexity of issues facing jurors in cases of abuse.

No one has argued for Williams’ release, merely that he be shown the mercy his abusers failed to exercise toward him.

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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March 9, 2012 · 1:00 am

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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February 16, 2012 · 1:00 am

Crimes Against Children

There are multiple stories of child abuse in the news, almost too painful to address.

Three children testified their grandfather denied them food and water, choked, and kicked them during a 19-mile hike in the Grand Canyon with temperatures over 100 degrees.

A two year old Wisconsin boy died after being thrown to the ground by his adult sitter. Another Wisconsin couple starved their daughter, allowing her to be molested from the age of ten by her brother. Child protective services were several times alerted, for all the good that did.

Here in Pennsylvania, Msgr. William Lynn is being charged with clerical abuse for his failure to turn multiple pedophile priests over to police.

We cannot alter these crimes, but we can bear witness to them and seek whatever redress is still possible. Our children deserve no less.

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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