"One of the deep, dark secrets of America's past has finally come to light. Starting in the early 1900s, hundreds of thousands of American children were warehoused in institutions by state governments." An early part of the American experiment with Eugenics, the Walter E. Fernald State School inspired scores of similar institutions across the country, and more recently, one of the definitive histories of the era. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb on Feb 21, 2012 - 37 comments

The Beardslee, Shellrude and Darr families left North America for West Africa during the 1950s. They followed what they believed to be “God’s Calling” – to spread Christianity throughout the world. Their children however - starting at the age of 6 – were required to attend the boarding school in Mamou, Guinea, run by the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Cut off from their families for 9 months out of the year and without any reliable means of communication, the children quietly suffered emotional, spiritual, physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of the all-missionary staff. All God’s Children tells the personal story of the first boarding school for children of missionaries to be investigated for abuse at the hands of the parents’ missionary colleagues. The survivors and parents share their journey of seeking justice, redemption and healing. [more inside]
posted by PeterMcDermott on Jan 30, 2012 - 9 comments

In 2004, Texas Judge William Adams beat his 16-year old daughter with a belt for downloading music and computer games. Unbeknownst to him, she filmed the whole thing. Seven years later, fed up with the continued harassment and abuse from her father, she uploaded it to YouTube (warning: graphic language and violence, NSFW). Less than 24 hours after hitting Reddit, the video is all over the news. Hillary Adams says on Twitter that she hopes her father will receive help, not condemnation.
posted by miskatonic on Nov 2, 2011 - 660 comments

Auroville Funded by Governments all over the world, the city of Auroville is an ongoing experiment 'whose stated purpose is to realize human unity in diversity' through yoga. Unfortunately, it seems the 'rule free' society has attracted some of the least welcome of humanity's outliers, namely child sex tourists. [more inside]
posted by asok on May 27, 2008 - 16 comments

http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/ Personal stories and cartoon self-help tools. "maps" link to adobe bbs
posted by longsleeves on Jul 22, 2005 - 22 comments

KXLY News 4 Mayor Jim West of Spokane Washington has been accused of sexual abuse of a male child. Mayor West announced in the local Spokesman Review newpaper that he plans on staying on as Mayor.
posted by Ignition on May 7, 2005 - 43 comments

12 year old Aboriginal girl described as being "sexually aggressive" by Judge Fred Kovatch in a Saskatchewan court yesterday. Since the girl was raised in an abusive home, the judge concluded that she was partially responsible for three young white men picking her up, giving her beer and sexually assaulting her on a desolate country road.
posted by KathyK on Sep 12, 2003 - 65 comments

Parents charged in death of girl forced to drink water - Forcing a 4 year old to consume large amounts of water seems like an odd way to promote family bonding. Death by over watering can happen, but this sounds more like an episode of Law & Order.
posted by MediaMan on Sep 18, 2002 - 20 comments

Father forgot boy for two hours in mid-80s heat, San Jose police say.
posted by christina on Jul 24, 2001 - 43 comments

"The Bible says to let a secret between friends die with you. You make it your business to keep your mouth shut." Perhaps they missed the part about the Bible not recommending you kill your three year old. (Sorry if someone already posted this, but I went back to the 14th, and saw no mention of it, so here it is now.) This really isn't the kind of thing I know how to comment on, but I thought it needed mentioning. It supposedly has something to do with email snooping, but I haven't been able to find out how.
posted by Ezrael on Jul 20, 2000 - 14 comments