Child Abuse

In the past year there've been several reports of child abuse in this country. The amount and types of abuse is mind boggling. People either rape their children, pimp them out to other rapists, neglect, abandon, kill, beat, torture, etc. You name it. Someone's done it.

The one thing that I've noticed is the ages of the abused. For girls, the abuse is never ending. For boys, the cutoff age for abuse is 13.

This calls into question the roles of Child Protective Services (CPS), teachers, and family members. If you see a child who's suddenly withdrawn, but used to be outgoing and happy, as a teacher, are you required to report this to CPS, the police, anyone? What's your responsibility if you're a family member of the abused?

Who's responsible when these abused kids become violent teens and then violent adults? Can past abuse victims sue the state for deriliction of duty? Can family members be sent to prison for allowing the abuse to go unchecked? Should either of these options be sponsered as legislation?

I ask these questions because I've been following the "Precious Doe" case. For those of you not in the know, this is the little girl whose head was found in a garbage bag in Kansas and went unidentified for four years. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/05/precious.doe If not for the persistance of her grandfather, this case would still be pending. It turns out that her mother's boyfriend beat her and left her to die and her mother did nothing to help; other than help dispose of the body.

The mother and her boyfriend were caught. It turns out that the mother had 9 children (1 deceased) and the boyfriend is full of rage. I don't want to think about how badly they were abused as children.

Where were the people that they depended on when they were children. Are they responsible for the actions of these people? How did this woman's moma, daddy, aunt, uncle, grandmother, allow her to have 9 children? How did this man's mom and dad allow him to become so full of rage? Where were the neighbors while they were children? Where was CPS?

I'm not making excuses for their behavior. They're grown folks who made their choices and must live with the consequences of their actions. There are millions of abused children who become model citizens. My question is, are we our brothers keeper?