MetaFilter posts tagged with childabuse

Turning one's back on Buddha

acb — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:05:13 -0800

At 14 months, Spanish infant Osel Hita Torres was brought by his parents to Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama decreed him to be the reincarnation of the recently deceased Lama Yeshe. Torres became Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche, and spent most of his life growing up in a gilded cage in the Tibetan exile capital, venerated as a living deity and isolated from the corrupting influences of the world. But then he escaped. Torres is now 24, is studying film in Madrid and has little love for the Tibetan Buddhism which deprived him of a normal childhood and adolescence. "They took me away from my family and stuck me in a medieval situation in which I suffered a great deal," he says. Among things he grew up with no experience of were football, television, dancing, or any movies other than Eddie Murphy's The Golden Child.

Report of Child Abuse in Irish Industrial School Published

KirkJobSluder — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:03:48 -0800

The Irish Comission to Inquire into Child Abuse published their full report documenting systematic abuses by Catholic-run industrial schools and schools for the disabled. Collecting data from over 1,500 witnesses, including survivors, government officials, and school staff, the report includes more than 70 years of incidents. It also documents the history of the laws that supported the schools. The executive summary damns both Church organizations and government for the abuse, but gives no names and falls short of recommending criminal proceedings. Reactions: Survivors are angry the report fails to name the people involved. Donahue claims distortion. Irish legislators debate a 2002 settlement. Newly-installed English Archbishop Nichols: "And I'm glad it's a scandal. I would be very worried if it wasn't a scandal."

Would you like to know more?

incomple — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:14:48 -0800

Johnny Rico, lead character in the hit movie Starship Troopers, is suiting up once again to fight back against the evils of the galaxy. Hollywood actor Casper Van Dien has reprised the combat savvy character for Childhelp to talk about fighting a different war – the war against child abuse. (via Ain't It Cool News, embarrassingly enough.) Though the PSAs were produced with no doubt entirely noble intentions, one cannot help but consider the parallels between these and the propaganda films and recruitment shorts peppered throughout Starship Troopers, as both are warning against a shadowy, largely unseen threat (and, needless to say, fashioned after fascist propaganda shorts of the past).

The short life of an aquatot

stupidsexyFlanders — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:36:21 -0800

Russell Tongay cheerfully dropped his preschoolers into the Mississippi River. Two-year-old Kathy made it five miles before he pulled her out. Her five-year-old brother Bubba finally staggered to shore after 22 miles. Merely a warmup, their beaming father told the media gathered on the St. Louis riverbank, for what would be his children's crowning achievement: to swim the English Channel, England to France, a crossing that in 1950 had been completed only four times. And so began the short, sad celebrity of the Aquatots, another chapter in America's morbid fascination with children pushed by parents and coaches beyond overachievement into the realm of abuse and endangerment. Although the appalled British and French refused the Tongays permission to attempt the Channel swim, America reveled in the performances of the prodigies. By 1953 it was all over, Kathy dead of internal injuries suffered in a high dive, her father convicted of manslaughter in her death, and son Bubba, forever bound to the water, destined for a (not unblemished, scroll to the bottom) career as a lifeguard

The right to do wrong

asok — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:17:37 -0800

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. Auroville is the biggest employer for the impoverished local Tamil population, which some would argue makes it likely that the local police might not be inclined to investigate abuse claims very thoroughly. Aurovillians pay no tax and benefit from 2/3 of the profit from any commercial enterprise, as well as receiving a maintenance grant from the government which is more than the locals earn by working a full day. Is Auroville simply an extension of the usual colonial european behaviour in Asia, or a bold experiment? It was quite difficult to find any online information about Auroville that was not directly attributable to an Auroville resident. Subsequently, the links are not un-biased. Thanks to hadjiboy for the 'Bizarre Childhood' link.

Response to a national emergency? Cynical election year stunt? Land Grab?

mattoxic — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:14:52 -0800

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has declared that the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory is a national emergency. He has announced a sweeping takeover of powers from the Territory Government in response to the crisis outlined in the Little Children are Sacred” report [6mb PDF] Some say knee-jerk and ill thought through, some say return to the bad old days of white paternalism, yet say there are many other issues confronting Aboriginal people. Why act now after 10 years in power, and a host of similar reports? Could it be an approaching federal election?

Real-time Internet abuse case

russilwvong — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:09:42 -0800

Arrest in real-time abuse case. "An undercover police officer in Toronto's child exploitation unit, who says he's seldom surprised what he sees any more, was shaken to the core Sunday when a suspected pedophile he was chatting with on-line allegedly began sexually assaulting a preschooler and sending images of the attack over the internet to him in real time." Detective Constable Paul Krawczyk: "My heart just started going, sweating, and I felt like throwing up." Police tracked down and arrested the man within an hour and a half.

Crying babies

spock — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 10:08:29 -0800

Jill Greenberg is a Sick Woman Who Should Be Arrested and Charged With Child Abuse . The "End Times" exhibit in question. And then there is Ms. Greenberg and her husband's response(s). Somebody's over-reacting.

babysitter of the year

445supermag — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:20:18 -0800

How not to get children to go to sleep. In fact, when asked by police how many times he bit the children, he couldn't say for sure, adding that he "bit the s--t out of them,"

I hope they burn.

schroedinger — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 19:40:25 -0800

"A distressing example of the breakdown of moral and social values . . ." 62 of the 66 accused were convicted and sentenced in France's largest child sex abuse case to date. From 1999 to 2002, 45 children in Angers, aged 6 months to 12 years, were prostituted by their own families in exchange for as little as a carton of cigarettes. Most of the families were monitored by social workers and reports of abuse began in 1999, but an in-depth investigation did not begin until three years later.

Each next news article reveals more horrifying details. Three children were raped by over forty adults; parents would be ". . . smoking cigarettes in the next room while men raped their children and the children were crying". And ". . . one girl was forced to perform oral sex so often that she cannot eat in the company of adults".

It can take a lifetime to recover from being raped once. A nine-year-old who's been raped by forty people, including her parents and grandfather? I pray her psychologist is better than her family's social worker.

Emerging Epidemic?

longsleeves — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 18:59:36 -0800

http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/ Personal stories and cartoon self-help tools. "maps" link to adobe bbs

The gay

brandz — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 18:51:49 -0800

Father kills toddler over gay fears a man has appeared in US court accused of killing his baby son because of an irrational fear that he would become gay.

Stop the abuse

growabrain — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 07:52:17 -0800

Blogger Steel Turman is losing patience with a world full of senseless crime against children, and wants to become an activist. Any specific suggestions for him?

Child Abuse: Forensic Pediatrician Faces Misconduct Charges

peacay — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 17:33:34 -0800

In the emotive world of child abuse, Professor Sir Roy Meadow became a celebrity in the last 25 years. He described Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy in which parents were said to have confabulated symptoms in their children in order to obtain medical treatment. Among child and health workers, Police and Social Workers, his eponymous law held that multiple childhood deaths in individual families were indicative of abuse and infanticide.
He was of course a popular forensic expert and his testimony resulted in murder convictions and removal of at-risk children from their families. But the Court of Appeal in UK has found that Prof. Meadow's statistical assertions and scientific reasonings were themselves confabulated and there have been a number of convictions overturned. He is now fighting for his professional reputation before the General Medical Council in London. [More Inside]

Love In Action Redux

OhPuhLeez — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 12:11:21 -0800

A followup to this story from June 10th, The state of Tennessee is FINALLY investigating allegations of child abuse at Refuge, part of Love In Action International, Inc. But will this investigation actually do anything? And what has happened to Zach? No one seems to be talking...

Republican Mayor accused of gay sexual misconduct

Ignition — Sat, 07 May 2005 20:59:46 -0800

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.

Breaking updates!

shepd — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 12:18:47 -0800

Updating this mefi story here where a set of extremely abusive parents who abused their children into their teens were sentenced to only 9 months prison. A judge now deems that sentence "demonstrably unfit" and resentences the mother and father to 5 and 4 years in jail, respectively. Thanks to t r a c y for the update.

Proud to be Canadian!

shepd — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 20:41:53 -0800

Illegally imprison children for 13 years, make them do degrading things, deny them food to the point of degrading them further, force them as teenagers to wear diapers, tie them up, even give them mental problems! Get 9 months in a prison yourself. That's an expense rate of just about 17 : 1! Why not come to Canada and enjoy these exceedingly low rates today before they're gone?

Capturing the Friedmans

suprfli — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 08:59:26 -0800

Jesse Friedman's Web Site from the incredibly powerful and amazing documentary Capturing the Friedmans. A "documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes." When watching the film from start to finish I went back and forth on their guilt or innocence and when the film was over I'm still not sure. In the time of the mass media hysteria and questionable police tactics what would you have done?

12 year old Aboriginal girl described as being

KathyK — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 06:11:50 -0800

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.

From garbage bag to garbage bag ...

Jos Bleau — Fri, 18 Jul 2003 19:21:01 -0800

From the NYT (reg req.'d) This is the saddest story I can imagine. "It was only a week ago that the tiny body of Stephanie Ramos was found in a plastic bag in a garbage truck in the Bronx, discarded by a foster mother who told the police that she panicked when the severely disabled girl died. It was an ugly ending by any measure, but particularly cruel in this case because the little girl's life began the same way: wrapped in a plastic bag and discarded on a New York City byway." Has anyone ever been a foster parent? A foster child? Are things often this bad - and this good? (That'll make sense when you read the story.)

Busithoth — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 20:19:16 -0800

How sick are we as a nation when this is done is public and no one notices. Of course, the coast was clear, as the mom checked before she launched this attack. But then, to read that the family, seeing the videotape of the beating, still protects their daughter, I have to come close to burning rage inside. Enough to make me wish she gets caught and prosecuted in Texas, where she has some links.

MediaMan — Wed, 18 Sep 2002 08:57:09 -0800

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.

donkeyschlong — Tue, 03 Sep 2002 10:50:15 -0800

"A court found 19 inhabitants of the same village guilty of systematically raping or sexually abusing an eleven-year-old girl who had been prostituted by her own father."

Third-world litany? Try Belgium.

luser — Thu, 09 May 2002 09:24:28 -0800

'"Would you state your name for the record?'' the man whose visage has now graced the cover of every national newsweekly was asked at the start of yesterday's session. 'Yes,'' the cardinal said. ''My name is Bernard Francis Law.'' Wonderfully written analysis on yesterday's deposition from my favorite paper.