Archive for the ‘Child Welfare’ Category

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High School Fitted with a Shooting Range

August 11, 2013

 

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A terribly irresponsible idea indeed:

When North Atlanta High School in Georgia opened its doors on Wednesday, students were greeted by a number of unusual features: a 900-car parking deck, a broadcast and video center, and an indoor shooting range.

The high school recently switched locations at a cost of $147 million, making it the most expensive public high school ever built in Georgia, according to The New York Times. While the 11-story school offers state-of-the-art facilities, the specific decision to put in the shooting range, which will be used by the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and the rifle team, has elicited media attention and some parental concern.

“I’ll probably question it a little bit just to get a better idea,” said parent Donna Jones, according to local outlet WSB-TV. “Like I said, I didn’t understand why they’re going to be doing that, but I think they’re going to be very careful in protecting the students.”

Others are confident that the shooting range will be safe. “I can see why they would be concerned, but I know they go through lots of training and they’re heavily supervised,” high school senior Turner Hume told WSB-TV.

 

Click on the link to read ‘Harrowing’ YouTube Video of an 11-Year-old Escaped Child Bride

Click on the link to read The Call to Lower the Age of Consent in Order to Protect Pedophiles is a Disgrace

Click on the link to read Mother Forced Her 14-Year-Old Daughter to Inseminate Herself with Donated Sperm

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

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‘Harrowing’ YouTube Video of an 11-Year-old Escaped Child Bride

July 22, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDh2fF4ccwI

Thanks to this incredibly brave and independently-minded 11-year-old, we will have greater awareness of the abhorrent practice of forced engagements of minors:

A harrowing video has been posted on online of an 11-year-old Yemeni girl who claims she ran away to escape an arranged marriage.

Nada al-Ahdal says she was only saved from the forced engagement after her uncle intervened.

‘Go ahead and marry me off – I’ll kill myself,’ she warns in the video, dated July 8, and posted on YouTube.

‘Don’t they have any compassion?’ I’m better off dead. I’d rather die.’

She continues: ‘It’s not [the kids’] fault. I’m not the only one. It can happen to any child.’

‘Some children decided to throw themselves into the sea, they’re dead now. They have killed our dreams, they have killed everything inside us. There’s nothing left. There is no upbringing. This is criminal, this is simply criminal.’

In the video filmed in a car, she explains why she does not want to leave her family home saying: ‘I would have had no life, no education,’ she says in the video.

Click on the link to read The Call to Lower the Age of Consent in Order to Protect Pedophiles is a Disgrace

Click on the link to read Mother Forced Her 14-Year-Old Daughter to Inseminate Herself with Donated Sperm

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

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The Call to Lower the Age of Consent in Order to Protect Pedophiles is a Disgrace

May 9, 2013

barb

There is a reason why the age of consent is not at 13. It is largely to ward off manipulative and controlling men from young and vulnerable girls. If considered of legal age to engage in sexual activity, a 13-year old would be less likely to make informed choices and be more likely to be pressured and cajoled beyond her own comfort limits.

What makes this suggestion even more astonishing is that it was proposed in order to make legal the alleged actions of possible pedophiles:

The age of consent for sex should be lowered to 13-years-old in a bid to end the ‘persecution of old men’ in the wake of the Savile sex abuse scandal, a top female barrister has argued.

Lawyer Barbara Hewson described the arrests of celebrities such as Rolf Harris, Dave Lee Travis, Jim Davidson and PR guru Max Clifford under Operation Yewtree as a ‘grotesque spectacle’ adding it had ‘nothing to do with justice or the public interest’.

(more…)

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Who Buys a Rifle for a 5-Year-Old?

May 2, 2013

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The “My First Rifle” concept is absolutely abhorrent! Gifting a rifle to a 5-year-old achieves no discernible purpose whatsoever. The result of such negligence can certainly lead to tragedy:

A 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother while he was playing with a child-size rifle given to him as a gift, authorities in Kentucky say.

Caroline Starks, a blonde, blue-eyed girl, was fatally shot in the chest by her brother’s .22-caliber rifle only minutes after her mother says she stepped outside their home in Burkesville on Tuesday.

The single-shot weapon fired is a rifle specifically marketed to children as ‘My First Rifle’ by company Keystone Sporting Arms, according to authorities.

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It was given to the 5-year-old as a gift last year, Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the Lexington Herald-Leader.‘It’s a Crickett,’ White identified the weapon used. ‘It’s a little rifle for a kid. …The little boy’s used to shooting the little gun.’‘Accidents happen with guns,’ he continued. ‘They thought the gun was actually unloaded, and it wasn’t.’‘It was god’s will. It was her time to go, I guess,’ Caroline’s grandmother, Linda Riddle, told Lex18 on Wednesday.

‘I just know she’s in heaven right now and I know she’s in good hands with the lord,’ Riddle said.

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The company, Keystone Sporting Arms, produced 60,000 Crickett and Chipmunk rifles in 2008, according to its website.It also makes guns for adults, but most of its products are geared toward children. The smaller guns come in all sorts of colors, including blue and pink.

The company’s slogan is ‘my first rifle’ and its website has a ‘Kids Corner’ section where pictures of young boys and girls are displayed, most of them showing the children at shooting ranges and on bird and deer hunts. The smaller rifles are sold with a mount to use at a shooting range.

The shooting highlights a cultural divide in the gun debate. While many suburban and urban areas work to keep guns out of the hands of children, it’s not uncommon for youths in rural areas to own guns for target practice and hunting.

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Click on the link to read Mother Forced Her 14-Year-Old Daughter to Inseminate Herself with Donated Sperm

Click on the link to read The People Who “Liked” This Should be Struck Off Facebook

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

Click on the link to read Don’t Look for Rolemodels from Our Sporting Stars

Click on the link to read It is Shameful to Claim that Paedophilia is NOT a Crime

Click on the link to read Dad’s Letter to 13-Year Old Son after Discovering he had been Downloading from Porn Sites

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Mother Forced Her 14-Year-Old Daughter to Inseminate Herself with Donated Sperm

April 29, 2013

Ordeal: The girl apparently miscarried at 14 but regularly inseminated herself with sperm bought online by her mother and later had a baby at 16 (posed by model)

What a horrendous story! I can’t believe the sentence was so small for such an awful act:

A 14-year-old adopted girl was forced by her mother to inseminate herself with donor sperm to provide her with a baby, it was revealed today.

The ‘domineering’ woman had been stopped from adopting any more children when she forced her virgin daughter to carry out the procedure.

The girl is believed to have miscarried at 14 – but regularly used the sperm bought online by her mother and later gave birth when she was 16.

A formerly-secret court judgement revealed the details which have sparked fears over rules governing the buying of sex cells, reported the Guardian.

The mother, who had already adopted three children as babies from other countries, was sentenced to five years in jail after admitting child cruelty.

The divorced woman had decided against giving birth herself because she had a health condition and was sterilised, reported the Guardian.

However when she failed in her attempts to adopt a fourth child, the mother tried to force her adopted daughter to have a baby for her.

The insemination was planned when the girl was aged just 13 and the daughter ‘became pregnant at her mother’s request’, the judgement said.

When the newborn arrived, midwives were shocked by the ‘pushy and insensitive’ mother who tried to stop her daughter breastfeeding.

She told her daughter: ‘We don’t want any of that attachment thing’ – and even tried to take the baby, before child protection officers were called.

The court heard the local authority was told four times of fears about the mother’s behaviour but found no cause from concern on each occasions.

The siblings were home-schooled and their adoptive father did not know where they lived and had not seen them for a decade, reported the Guardian.

The mother put the girl through a ‘degrading’ and ‘humiliating’ ordeal, making her inseminate herself seven times over two years in her bedroom.

She also was forced to use painful acidic douches and eat a special diet – because her mother said this would make her more likely to have a girl.

 

Click on the link to read My Heart Bleeds for Children Who Are Exploited

Click on the link to read The People Who “Liked” This Should be Struck Off Facebook

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

Click on the link to read Don’t Look for Rolemodels from Our Sporting Stars

Click on the link to read It is Shameful to Claim that Paedophilia is NOT a Crime

Click on the link to read Dad’s Letter to 13-Year Old Son after Discovering he had been Downloading from Porn Sites

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In Case of a School Massacre the Whiteboards Will Make it Out Unharmed

April 24, 2013

Bulletproof Whiteboards Minnesota

Let’s not beat around the bush, bulletproof whiteboards is a stunt rather than a genuine idea. It is designed to give parents a false sense of comfort during difficult times. Whilst there is nothing particularly wrong with that, I would rather see them get a real sense of comfort instead.

Schools investing in these whiteboards would be better served in focusing on ways to make their school inviting and relevant to each and every student. This includes making any existing bullying and cyberbullying a issue of first priority. This also includes making every student feel valued, cared for, important and necessary.

Schools which can earn the respect and trust of its students have a lot less to worry about than schools with reinforced whiteboards:

A Minnesota school district where two students were killed in a 2003 shooting unveiled a new device Tuesday aimed at adding a last-ditch layer of safety for teachers and students: bulletproof whiteboards.

The Rocori School District has acquired nearly 200 of the whiteboards, made of a material touted by its manufacturer as stronger than that in police-issue bulletproof vests. The 18-by-20-inch whiteboards can be used by teachers for instruction and used as a shield in an emergency.

Police Chief Phil Jones demonstrated the whiteboards Tuesday in a school gym by leveling a karate kick at one, whacking it with a police baton and stabbing it with a knife – all with no apparent effect.

Jones didn’t fire his gun at the whiteboard, saying it would have been unsafe and inappropriate at the school. But he said he’d tested it earlier by firing several rounds at it.

“We put this board to the test, and quite frankly, that was the day I became a believer,” Jones said.

 

Click on the link to read My Heart Bleeds for Children Who Are Exploited

Click on the link to read The People Who “Liked” This Should be Struck Off Facebook

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

Click on the link to read Don’t Look for Rolemodels from Our Sporting Stars

Click on the link to read It is Shameful to Claim that Paedophilia is NOT a Crime

Click on the link to read Dad’s Letter to 13-Year Old Son after Discovering he had been Downloading from Porn Sites

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Vivid Photographs Depicting Child Labour

April 9, 2013

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These landmark photographs helped bring in laws protecting youngsters:

 

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Click on the link to read My Heart Bleeds for Children Who Are Exploited

Click on the link to read The People Who “Liked” This Should be Struck Off Facebook

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

Click on the link to read Don’t Look for Rolemodels from Our Sporting Stars

Click on the link to read It is Shameful to Claim that Paedophilia is NOT a Crime

Click on the link to read Dad’s Letter to 13-Year Old Son after Discovering he had been Downloading from Porn Sites

 

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Teacher Gave Razors to Student as Part of Sanctioned “Self-Harm” Supervision

March 31, 2013

hurt

How on earth is this in the ‘best interests’ of the child?

A school in Surrey, England for students with Asperger’s syndrome and higher functioning autism is under investigation regarding a policy that allowed teachers to give a student supervised access to razors, despite a history of self-harm.

The student at Unsted Park School was provided sterilized blade kits and escorted to the bathroom to “carry out self-harm in safe and controlled manner,” getSurrey.co.uk reported. The teachers would check on the student periodically and then staff would clean and bandage the wounds.

The policy was allegedly coordinated between the school and the student’s mother, according to the Telegraph.

BBC News reported that the incident occurred in January 2012. The Department of Education became fully aware in December that year, and an emergency inspection was carried out.

The Priory Group, which runs the school, confirmed that the policy did exist but said it was short-lived.

“This was a short-term, local procedure introduced by the head teacher and school principal who genuinely believed it was in the best interests of the pupil,” a Priory Group spokesperson said.

According to getSurrey, several faculty members protested the policy, and it was abandoned after only six days.

Now, the school’s principal, Steve Dempsey, and head teacher, Laura Blair, could be brought before England’s Department of Education’s Teaching Agency to address allegations of unacceptable professional conduct.

The Surrey police were notified by Social Services when the incident first began to happen, the Daily Mail reported, but decided there were no criminal offenses to investigate.

“A senior strategy meeting, which was attended by Surrey Police, was held on January 19, 2012, to ensure that safeguarding practices were put in place,” a police spokesperson said. “This was done to ensure that the practice did not continue at the school and was not put into practice at any other school.”

 

Click on the link to read Children as Young as 5 are Self Harming

Click on the link to read Children as Young as 7 are Cutting Themselves

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My Heart Bleeds for Children Who Are Exploited

March 28, 2013

seven

These pictures of a seven-year-old child in Syria say it all. I am so relieved that I can bring up my children in a country where this would never be allowed to happen.

smoke

 

Click on the link to read The People Who “Liked” This Should be Struck Off Facebook

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

Click on the link to read Don’t Look for Rolemodels from Our Sporting Stars

Click on the link to read It is Shameful to Claim that Paedophilia is NOT a Crime

Click on the link to read Dad’s Letter to 13-Year Old Son after Discovering he had been Downloading from Porn Sites

Click on the link to read Mother Shaves Numbers Into Quadruplets Heads So People Can Tell Them Apart

 

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The People Who “Liked” This Should be Struck Off Facebook

March 23, 2013

child

Aside from the fact that this material should never have found its way onto Facebook in the first place (where posting innocent pictures of breast feeding can get you banned), what kind of sick individual would press “like” to a video containing a girl being sexually abused?

Facebook has sparked fury after a graphic child abuse video went viral on the social network, reportedly being ‘shared’ over 16,000 times.

Thousands of users logged onto their accounts last night to find the horrifying footage appear on their personal news feed and instantly took to Twitter to vent their disgust.

According to users who saw the clip, apparently of a young girl being abused by a grown man, it had already been shared over 16,000 times and received almost 4,000 ‘likes’.

Even more disturbingly, users then began uploading and sharing screen grabs of the video on Twitter in an apparent bid to alert fellow Twitterati of the horrifying content.

Of course the people that “shared” this video are even worse. They should get the same treatment from the law as any other who disseminates child porn on the web.

 

Click on the link to read How Giving Your Children a Bath Can Get You on a Sex Offender Registry

Click on the link to read Don’t Look for Rolemodels from Our Sporting Stars

 

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