Stopping Child Abuse – Part 1

     Everyone knows about child abuse in America, but where is the public outrage? 

With all of the hotlines, mandatory reporting laws, caseworkers, family court systems, etc., the rampage still continues and has never slowed down. 

    

     As I’ve said before, the three most unsafe places for a child are their home, school, and church. And too many people fear the government’s intervention into what they call “family problems.” There are two sets of laws in the United States—one for inside the home and another for outside the home. 

     If I don’t like something you said and slap you across the face, I could be arrested for assault. And yet, parents who slap their children across the face, as often as they wish, are “disciplining” the child. The difference is I have a voice; the child doesn’t. 

     Society pays the price for domestic violence centers, prostitution, substance abuse treatment centers, juvenile delinquency, the homeless, criminal justice, and suicides as the majority of these populations have a history of child abuse. The move recently has been, believe it or not, to decriminalize pedophilia because as their supporters say, “When they are convicted, they carry a stigma and they have suffered enough.”

     Tell that to the tens of millions of their victims and see what they say. Child abusers are not all “sick” people who require treatment.[1] In fact, they fall into three basic categories: Parents who are inadequate—that is, those who have never learned how to be parents. Such individuals benefit greatly from both rehabilitative and preventive services.

     Parents who are mentally ill—that is, those whose mental disorders prevent them from reaching minimal standards of parenting. Parents who are evil—who physically or sexually exploit their children for profit or pleasure or both. Child abuse is a crime. The public, however, generally doesn’t view it that way—and that, in and of itself, is a crime because the participants who are either committing or witnessing the psychological and/or physical crippling of children are not being punished. 

So this crime against humanity continues into the next generation. [1] “Are You Going to Hurt Me Too?”, Andrew Vachss, Parade Magazine, October 13, 1985 Truth That Hurts...... c/o Toni L.Vossen 2010