How We Can Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

This just arrived in my inbox from the Massachusetts Citizens for Children Enough Abuse Campaign. It is well worth repeating here: An Open Letter to Massachusetts Citizens About the Penn State ScandalHow We Can Prevent Child Sexual Abuse in Our State While the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal and cover-up grab national attention, the fact is that cases of child sexual abuse continue to be exposed with unrelenting regularity in every state and community across our country. In Massachusetts alone just in the past six months, we have learned about the decades-long sexual abuse of boys treated by renowned pediatrician Dr. Melvin Levin of Children...

It’s Open Season on Children in Pennsylvania

As anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows, there's something rotten in the state of Pennsylvania when it comes to protecting children. From Masha Allen (who was adopted from Russia by a pedophile with the help of one of Pittsburgh's premier adoption agencies), to the Luzerne county kids for cash scandal, to high school students being spied on at home by school administrators; the list of woe goes on and on. Now Hank Grezlak, the editor-in-chief of The Legal Intelligencer—Pennsylvania's influential legal daily—has articulated what many of us have known for years: It's Open Season on Children in Pennsylvania. In this ...

Lawyers at the Center of the Penn State Rot

According to this post in the AmLawDaily blog, numerous lawyers—including a mysteriously disappeared district attorney—are at the center of the widening Penn State child molestation scandal: Curley and Schultz stepped down from their respective posts Monday, not long after news of the charges levied against them and Sandusky broke over the weekend. Sandusky himself retired in 1999, but remained active with The Second Mile children's charity, which he founded in Penn State's hometown of State College, Pennsylvania, in 1977. Prosecutors, led by Pennsylvania attorney general Linda Kelly, claim that Sandusky met the eight boys he is ...

Corporeal Punishment for the Masses

The rise of corporeal punishment theory is a troubling cultural phenomenon which really takes us back to the dark ages of unquestioned rule by authority. The link between spanking and conservative Christianity is insulting to the vast majority of believers who do not condone religiously inspired child abuse. It also creates a strange affinity between Catholicism—where child sex abuse has run rampant for years—and evangelicalism—where beating children has seemingly become the God-given norm; the Catholics get the sex and the Evangelicals get the hide. Where can a godly child find religion without loosing their heart and soul? This ...

Court Rules Attorney-Client Privilege ≠ Colorado GAL-Attorneys

Last week, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the attorney-client privilege does not apply to conversations between guardians ad litem and the children they represent in child abuse, child welfare and custody cases. In Colorado, a guardian ad litem is an attorney appointed to represent a child who has been abused or neglected or is in foster care. They are also appointed for children are accused of crimes or involved in a custody fight. In a very controversial 5-2 decision, the Court held that “because a child who is the subject of a dependency and neglect proceeding is not the client of a court-appointed guardian ad litem, neither the ...

Social Worker Justice – going to jail for CPS

Last spring, the Brooklyn district attorney took the unprecedented step of charging NY child welfare supervisor Chereece Bell with criminally negligent homicide. This is just one of a few cases nationwide where child welfare workers have been charged with a criminal act for doing--or not doing--their job. In June 2010, Philadelphia caseworkers Julius Juma Murray, Miriam Coulibaly and others pleaded guilty or were found guilty of fabricating reports and destroying documents to hide the fact that caseworkers skipped hundreds of home visits to dozens of clients, including 14-year-old Danieal Kelly who starved to death in 2006. New York Magazine recently ...

No Neglect by Mother who Mistakingly Left Child Home Alone

Last month the New Jersey Supreme Court in Dept of Children & Families, Div. of Youth & Family Servs. v. T.B. held that a finding of neglect was improperly entered against a mother who left her four-year-old child unsupervised for two hours under the mistaken belief that his grandmother was in the home. Susan and her then four-year-old-son, John, were living with Susan’s mother, Mary, and step-father, Jim, who assisted in caring for John on a regular basis. Although Susan and John lived downstairs, the entire house was accessible to John and he moved freely to the upstairs portion of the home where his grandparents lived. On Sunday, March 25, ...

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