You Hear About Rape Or Domestic Violence... But What About Child Abuse In Our Country?

Whether it's because parents are having financial problems, they are getting a divorce, are fired from their job... It doesn't mean that they should take it out against their children!

Unfortunately, many parents do take it out against their children. Some simply don't care, are stressed out, have alcohol problems, or the parents themselves need counseling! But this shouldn't be an excuse for abuse.

• From 2008 to 2012, overall rates of victimization declined by 3.3 percent, from 9.5 to 9.2 per 1,000 children in the population. This results in an estimated 30,000 fewer victims in 2012 (686,000) compared with 2008 (716,000).
• Since 2008, overall rates of children who received a CPS response increased by 4.7 percent, from 40.8 to 42.7 per 1,000 children in the population. This results in an estimated 107,000 additional children who received a CPS response in 2012 (3,184,000) compared to 2008 (3,077,000).
• Nationally, four-fifths (78.3%) of victims were neglected, 18.3 percent were physically abused, 9.3 percent were sexually abused and 8.5 percent were psychologically maltreated.
• For 2012, a nationally estimated 1,640 children died of abuse and neglect at a rate of 2.20 children per 100,000 children in the national population. 

Keep in mind that these figures are between 2008 and 2012. New figures might reflect higher or lower abuse. By law, no individual or family should abuse their children under any circumstance!

If you are aware of children abuse around your area, you should immediately notify the "Children's Bureau: An Office of the Administration for Children and Families".

Dana Perino's Comment About Domestic Violence Victims

Recently the Fox News commentator when talking about the murdered girlfriend of NFL player Joyan Belcher, mentioned that these abused women should, "Make Better Decisions".

Dana Perino - Fox News

I was surprised that an intelligent woman like Dana Perino, from Fox News, would make such a statement. As usual, it was the woman's fault! How dare she accuse women for the violence inflicted upon them. The only way that women can defend themselves against bigger and stronger men is by perhaps taking steroids and building muscles! Abused women need counseling and guidance, not absurd accusations. Most of the time these women are stay at home mothers and unfortunately depend on their abusers for shelter and food.

This is why we need to treat girls like we do boys and encourage them to get a good education and a job. If we keep treating women as if they were second class citizens and pay them less than men, this sort of thing will keep repeating itself.

Instead of Dana Perino mentioning in Fox News, such a scandalous remark, she should have mentioned that domestic violence victims should seek help with sources such as The Allstate Foundation or The R.O.S.E Fund. These organizations help victims build their confidence and even offer grants and scholarship money. One of the organizations actually offers facial reconstructive surgery for women who have been disfigured due to domestic violence.

If you know someone that is being abused and needs help, let them know about the organizations mentioned above.

October is Also Domestic Violence Month

Breast Cancer sometimes overshadows the fact that this month is also dedicated to the domestic violence problem we have in our country. 

Photo by -mrsraggle-

Just like rape or sexual assault is an epidemic in our nation, so is domestic violence. There are very few people in our country that have not been exposed to this problem, either through their parents, relatives or neighbors. It's a family problem, because if children are present, it's their problem as well. Many times, economic issues drive up the amount of cases, and just worsens the outcome of these situations. Children do poorly in school and most of the time, the wife is the focus of abuse. Plus, lets not forget that in a few cases, the husbands are the ones being abused...

Fortunately, there are many shelters in our nation for violent abuse episodes and women can escape before it's too late. We found a website that actually helps women and offers tips on how to prepare for themselves and their children's escape, from these domestic violence situations. It's called, "THE HOTLINE" and while a woman reads through the site, it actually has a link constantly on the website, that a woman can select, if their abuser peeks over their shoulder, to find out what she is reading about… It's call the "QUICK ESCAPE". She can just click on it and the "Google Search" website shows up instead! Plus, there really is a phone hotline on the site; 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). It too, is present at all times while searching through THE HOTLINE website.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence, please let them know about THE HOTLINE website, for planning her escape to safety.

Over 5,000 Boy Scouts of America Cases of Sexual Abuse

Recently, the Los Angeles Times posted the Boy Scouts of America files, dated between 1947 to 2005. It shows names of accused individuals, dates, city, state, unit number and many detailed documents of the sexual abuse that took place.

Reading thru some of the cases was overwhelming and the horrific information database, spans thru decades! Most files contained information of about 5,000 men and a few women that were accused of sexual abuse and expelled from the Boy Scouts of America. Such as their physical description, profession, if married or single, children they had, etc. Also included in most, is the correspondence that took place inside the organization and outside as well, like information from the police or family members of the victims. Many individuals had long histories of police records, as well!

You can search through the Boy Scouts of America database by year, city, state, etc. There is even a map you can click on, to narrow your search. To go to the database and for more information, click HERE.
 

Survivors of Domestic Violence, Rape or Similar Abuse

Photo by bioxid

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and when we read of these horrific domestic violence or abuse cases in the news, we normally think it can't happen to me or any of my close friends. What we don't realize is that there is so much stigma related to this topic that it usually is not mentioned in our social circles and therefore we rarely find out of someone we know that is or was sexually assaulted or abused in the past. This is why we posted the names below. Even though the list is probably not someone you know personally, we feel the women included here, might be someone you can relate to...

Survivors of Domestic Violence or Sexual Abuse

Alice Walker (author/activist) abuse
Angie Dickenson (actress) emotional abuse
Anne Heche (actress) incest
Billie Holliday (singer) childhood rape
Christina Aguilera (singer) unspecified child abuse/secondary domestic violence
Connie Francis (singer) rape
Eleanor Roosevelt (former First Lady) unspecified child abuse
Ella Fitzgerald (singer) abuse
Farrah Faucett (actress) domestic violence
Halle Berry (actress, model) domestic violence
Marilyn Monroe (actress) child physical & sexual abuse/childhood attempted rape (according to IMDB.com)/domestic violence
Maya Angelou (author, poet) childhood rape
Nicole Brown Simpson - domestic violence (very likely murdered by OJ)
Oprah Winfrey (talk show host) child sexual abuse
Pamela Anderson (actress) rape/domestic violence
Queen Latifah (rapper/actress/model) child sexual abuse
Rita Hayworth (actress) incest
Rosanne Arnold (actress) child sexual abuse
Rosie Perez (actress) child sexual abuse
Sandra Dee (actress) incest
Tina Turner (singer) domestic violence
Tori Amos (musician) rape
Virginia Woolf (author) incest

Try to volunteer or donate to a women's crisis center near you and spread the word about this violence that can only be resolved if we take action.

Source:
As Waters Passing By

Mother of Boy Locked in Closet has Previous Record

LaRhonda Marie McCall, 37, first made news this year because her 14 year old son had escaped from his home and informed police that he had been abused. McCall had basically kept her son a prisoner for 4 1/2 years. He was kept mostly in his bedroom closet and was not sent to school. Neighbors were not aware of his existence. The malnourished, bruised and covered with scars boy, escaped and managed to go to the police last week.

New information from yesterday came in that the child abuser, LaRhonda McCall, was previously convicted in her connection with the death of her 2 year old daughter. In 1995, when this occurred, LaRhonda went by a different name; LaRhonda Pressley. She has 6 other children and lived with her boyfriend Steve Hamilton, 38. Both LaRhonda and Steve were arrested on 20 complaints, each of child neglect and abuse and were jailed last Wednesday on $400,000 bond. Police information showed that both adults confessed to abuse by beating the boy multiple times and even using a tire jack while hitting the boy over the head.

How the neighbors of these child abusers never heard any disturbance or called the authorities is beyond us. Child abuse seems to be getting worse or we are just getting more informed. Either way, this is unacceptable and the perpetrators of crimes as extreme as these, should be locked up for life. LaRhonda was sent to jail and put on probation for her daughter's death. It is not clear how long she served. This would not have happened if she would have been given life in jail.