‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics

- ‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
- Horrific ordeal of ‘Girl D’ who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
- We the People
- Plan to stop child sex tourism

‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics

The basement where the women were held had chains coming from the wall, and dog leashes attached to the ceiling, according to police sources
Description comes as lawyers for Castro announce that he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges
The women were restrained with them and duct tape in ‘stress positions’ for long periods that left them with bed sores and other injuries
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were in worse condition than Amanda Berry with the source saying: ‘There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda
Abductor would duct tape the women over all parts of their faces, even their eyes, only leaving an opening so they could breathe
Former daughter-in-law Monica Stephens says Castro always gave her ‘the heebie-jeebies’
The women, especially DeJesus and Knight, were now exhibiting signs of malnutrition as Ariel Castro used food as a means to torment them

By Reuters Reporter
15 May 2013

Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, two of the women imprisoned in a Cleveland house in conditions described as similar to a prisoner of war camp, have suffered from severe malnutrition.

The women will require long-term therapy for injuries such as hearing loss and joint and muscle damage, two sources with direct knowledge said.

The harrowing details come as Castro’s attorneys claim he’s not the ‘monster’ depicted in news reports – and he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges….

Castro appeared to treat Berry – his ‘favorite’ – better than the other two, the sources said.

‘There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda,’ said one of the sources, referring to the condition of DeJesus and Knight.

Knight told investigators she fell pregnant five times, but lost the baby each time. She said that Castro starved and repeatedly punched her in the stomach to force her to miscarry.

Police sources told the National Enquirer that Castro had no interest in having children with Knight, because she was only 4-foot-7 and believed her to be ‘mentally disabled.’

The magazine’s source added that he was grooming his 6-year-old daughter with Amanda, Joselyn, as another sex slave because the other captives ‘were getting to old for him.’….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324731/It-like-prisoners-war-Cleveland-women-suffer-injuries-severe-malnutrition-including-hearing-loss-muscle-damage.html

Horrific ordeal of ‘Girl D’ who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour

Mohammed Karrar plied girl with drink and drugs and raped her
She then became his ‘property’ and a sex slave
Was loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour

By Arthur Martin   14 May 2013

The ordeal for one of the victims began after she became desperate for love and attention because she was forced to care for her sick parents.

So when Mohammed Karrar entered her life, bought her perfume and treated her like an adult, she believed in him. But the ‘nicey-nicey honeymoon period,’ as she described it, would last barely a year.

After grooming her, Karrar made sure she was ‘out of it’ on drink and drugs before raping her on his sofa.

From that moment she became his ‘property’ and a sex slave loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour.

Over five years she was repeatedly attacked in what she described as ‘torture sex’. Injected with heroin, she was sold to groups of Asian men who violently gang-raped her in bedsits and guesthouses around Oxford and elsewhere.

The victim identified as Girl D for legal reasons, frequently broke down in tears giving evidence via videolink as she described her horrific ordeal….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324621/Horrific-ordeal-Girl-D-raped-injected-heroin-branded-sold-sex-600-hour.html

We the People    James Haven  Honorary Senior Advisor on Global Issues at Harvard; Founder, CoreCause Foundation 05/10/2013

….66% percent of adults in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.

80% of young adults who suffered child abuse or neglect, met criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder by age 21, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

42% percent of children who are molested are suicidal by their teens.

Abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal behavior as an adult.

Sentencing in crimes against children typically carries 25 percent of the sentencing if the same crime was committed against an adult.

Child abuse and neglect in America is growing at a very high rate. And the most vulnerable is 0-6 in age. Thousands are being exploited and millions are in poverty and living on our streets across the nation.

124 billion is the minimum annual cost to the U.S. directly related to child abuse… Healthcare for mental illnesses and substance abuse… Child welfare and protection… Law enforcement and court systems to handle juvenile and adult criminal cases.

Those are very sobering statistics. But they also prove the most important statistic of all. That as Fredrick Douglas once said, “It is easier to build strong children than it is to fix broken men.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-haven/we-the-people_4_b_3254727.html

Plan to stop child sex tourism
May 15 2013 By BARBARA COLE

Durban – South African hotels are signing up to help protect children from sex tourism and are on the lookout for suspicious guests who try to check in with underage companions.

South Africa has the right combination of factors, such as poverty and violence against women, which put children at risk of exploitation.

In a move to stop South Africa becoming a child-sex tourism or trafficking destination, there were certain factors that created an environment for the exploitation of children, said Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, a non-profit organisation and the local representative of the Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct. The code is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Some of these realities are explained as follows: “The inflow of tourists, the ease with which people can cross (the) borders, societal beliefs that tolerate violence against women, high levels of poverty, and growing inequality since 1994 suggest that tens of thousands of children are at risk of sexual and other forms of exploitation.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/plan-to-stop-child-sex-tourism-1.1516301

Wales child abuse: Report finds evidence of 140 allegations – Operation Pallial, A Child Without Dreams, Teen dies after being ‘beaten’ at camp that ‘makes men out of boys’, Why Christie Blatchford Is Wrong About My Daughter Rehtaeh

Wales child abuse: Report finds evidence of 140 allegations   29 April 2013
An independent investigation examining claims of historical child abuse at children’s homes in north Wales has found “significant evidence of systemic and serious sexual and physical abuse”.

Investigators in Operation Pallial have found evidence of 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. Seventy six new complainants have also come forward and 84 suspected offenders been identified.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22339417

Wales child abuse: Operation Pallial inquiry finds evidence of 140 claims  29 April 2013

An independent investigation examining claims of historical child abuse at children’s homes in north Wales has found “significant evidence of systemic and serious sexual and physical abuse”.

Investigators in Operation Pallial have found evidence of 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. Seventy six new complainants have also come forward.
The claims centre on 18 homes involving offences against boys and girls aged between seven and 19.  A total of 84 suspected offenders have been named – 75 male and nine female. Of these, 16 have been named by more than one complainant….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22306588

A Child Without Dreams
Marian Wright Edelman  President, Children’s Defense Fund 04/26/2013

Every day four children in America are killed by abuse or neglect.  More than 750,000 children are abused or neglected each year.  Even when children survive or after physical scars heal, the emotional damage left by child abuse and neglect can last a lifetime just as the post traumatic stress left by gun violence leaves deep scars in countless children.

Joseph Miles has essentially been on his own since he was 13 years old — the year his mother tried to kill him.  Until then, he would say, he cried for love.  After that he gave up on hoping ever to find it.  Today Joseph is in his forties and has been incarcerated since he was 28.  When he came to prison he couldn’t read or write. It was only recently that Joseph realized he missed out on something crucial besides love in early childhood:  he didn’t even know he should have had dreams until it was much too late….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/a-child-without-dreams_b_3165763.html

Teen dies after being ‘beaten’ at camp that ‘makes men out of boys’
A 15-year-old South African boy died after he was kept chained to his bed, beaten with planks and hoses at a training camp that boasted of “making men” out of its young recruits, a court has heard.   By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg  24 Apr 2013

Raymond Buys, who had learning difficulties, was admitted to hospital and put on life support two months into a three-month training course run by Alex de Koker’s Echo Wild Game Rangers in the bush an hour south of Johannesburg.

He was severely emaciated and dehydrated, had brain damage, a broken arm and bruises, and cigarette burns all over his body. His mother was told that the chances of him surviving were “virtually zero”. He died two weeks later.

“I sent my son on this course to make him a better man, to give him a better future,” Wilma Buys told The Daily Telegraph. “I trusted Alex de Koker with his life.”

Mr de Koker, 49, and employee Michael Erasmus, 20, are currently on trial for charges of murder, child abuse and neglect, along with two cases of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm in relation to Mr Buys’ death.

His death is alleged to have been the third among the mainly Afrikaans children who attended the R22,000 (£1,500) courses run by Mr de Koker, who was reportedly a member of murdered white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche’s Iron Guards movement.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/10015978/Teen-dies-after-being-beaten-at-camp-that-makes-men-out-of-boys.html

Why Christie Blatchford Is Wrong About My Daughter Rehtaeh – Father of Rehtaeh Parsons
Glen Canning 04/26/2013

This morning I woke up and read an article in the National Post about Rehtaeh’s case. I’m not upset or mad. A little disappointed maybe. The writer, Christie Blatchford, makes a few statements I would like to address….

“What they had was a complainant whose evidence was all over the map…” Rehtaeh was intoxicated at the time and she has always stated she couldn’t remember much of what happened. What she did say was all over the map and that is exactly what one should expect it to be from a 15-year-old girl who remembers very little but is being swamped at school and online with slut stories about what took place.

“…independent evidence that supported the notion that any sex was consensual, and no evidence that Rehtaeh was so drunk that she couldn’t consent:” The two boys involved in taking and posing for the photograph stated Rehtaeh was throwing up when they had sex with her. That is not called consensual sex. That is called rape. They also stated they had to get her dressed when they were finished. She was passed out. That is the story they told to anyone at Rehtaeh’s school who would listen. That is their account of what happened. There are numerous people who heard that and shared that. No evidence she was so drunk that she couldn’t consent? How drunk does someone have to be? Drunk enough to get sick or drunk enough to not remember?….
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/glen-canning/rehtaeh-parsons-christie-blatchford_b_3164434.html

The Benefits of Positive Parenting, Children’s Memory May Be More Reliable Than Adults’ In Court Cases

The Benefits of Positive Parenting
By DAVID BORNSTEIN  February 20, 2013

Is there a science to parenting?

For all the current discussion in the United States about gun violence and mental illness, there has been little attention paid to root causes. Any effort aiming to reduce gun violence — or child abuse, intimate partner violence, suicide or sexual abuse — must include a serious discussion about how society can improve the quality of parenting.

In 2010, children’s protective service agencies investigated 1.8 million referrals of child abuse and neglect pertaining to 3 million children. Although only 20 percent of these were substantiated, researchers report that physical abuse, including harsh physical discipline that is equivalent to abuse, is vastly underreported and may be 20 times more prevalent than is reflected in official statistics. (In other countries, including Spain, India and Egypt, harsh punishment is even more prevalent.) In Philadelphia, this behavior has recently been linked to the recession and the rate of mortgage foreclosures. When lenders put people out of their homes, one unforeseen consequence is that more kids end up with traumatic brain injuries.

It is now well accepted that children’s protective service agencies is not only less effective than other non-coercive methods, it is more harmful than has often been understood — and not just to children. A review of two decades worth of studies has shown that corporal punishment is associated with antisocial behavior and aggression in children, and later in life is linked to depression, unhappiness, anxiety, drug and alcohol use and psychological maladjustment. Beyond beating, parents can also hurt children by humiliating them, labeling them in harmful ways (“Why are you so stupid?”), or continually criticizing their behavior….
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/helping-the-parents-to-spare-the-children/

Children’s Memory May Be More Reliable Than Adults’ In Court Cases

Mar. 17, 2008 — The U.S. legal system has long assumed that all testimony is not equally credible, that some witnesses are more reliable than others. In tough cases with child witnesses, it assumes adult witnesses to be more reliable. But what if the legal system had it wrong?….

They say children depend more heavily on a part of the mind that records, “what actually happened,” while adults depend more on another part of the mind that records, “the meaning of what happened.” As a result, they say, adults are more susceptible to false memories, which can be extremely problematic in court cases…..

This research shows that meaning-based memories are largely responsible for false memories, especially in adult witnesses. Because the ability to extract meaning from experience develops slowly, children are less likely to produce these false memories than adults, and are more likely to give accurate testimony when properly questioned.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080313124445.htm

Saudi Arabia’s Child-Rape Case: Female Activists Fight to Prevent Abuse, Child Abuse in America

Saudi Arabia’s Child-Rape Case: Female Activists Fight to Prevent Abuse

Feb 8, 2013 Christopher Dickey

A monstrous case of abuse in Saudi Arabia shakes the kingdom and strengthens the cause of Saudi women activists.

The torture and murder of 5-year-old Lama Al Ghamdi could hardly have been more horrific—and news of it, repeated in countless Twitter feeds, has enflamed opinion around the world. But the fact that this story of one little girl’s death and one father’s monstrosity went public is also a sign of just how hard women in Saudi Arabia are working to fight the cruel misogyny embedded in the kingdom’s version of Islamic law. And among those women is a daughter of the king….

Fayhan Al Ghamdi, a self-styled Islamic preacher who appears occasionally on local TV shows pontificating about morality, was arrested last year and charged with murder. He told authorities that he had suspected his 5-year old daughter was not a virgin. He had even taken her to a doctor to check. But apparently that had not satisfied him….

Saudi law claims to follow a clear path (sharia) laid out in the Quran, but in practice it’s based on a maze of sayings and traditions (hadith) with as many baffling contradictions as the codes used by lawyers anywhere. According to one reading, a father cannot be held fully accountable for the death of his children; their loss is a punishment for him. So the question arose in the proceedings whether Al Ghamdi could simply pay the mother “blood money” for the loss of her daughter and walk free….

The mother has said she will not accept payment. She has asked that the stepmother be investigated as well, and she has told her advocates that she wants to see her ex-husband executed, which in Saudi Arabia means beheading.

Before the middle of the last decade, domestic violence and child abuse in Saudi Arabia were treated mainly as family affairs. Nobody wanted to talk about them, and if police did bother to investigate suspected crimes, which was rare, they found proof very hard to come by.

But it’s important to remember Saudi Arabia is not the only country where domestic abuse is a hidden crime. Indeed, the United States has the worst record in the industrialized world. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, almost five children a day die from neglect or abuse, but according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, those numbers almost certainly are understated….

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/08/saudi-arabia-s-child-rape-case-female-activists-fight-to-prevent-abuse.html

Child Abuse in America
Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Every year 3.3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving nearly 6 million children (a report can include multiple children). The United States has the worst record in the industrialized nation – losing five children every day due to abuse-related deaths….Approximately 80% of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4.

http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics

25 celebs probed by Savile cops, Child Abuse Drops Fifth Straight Year

25 celebs probed by Savile cops
At least six more high profile figures ‘to be arrested in coming weeks’ 10th December 2012

SAVILE cops are investigating claims of alleged sex offences against a staggering 25 celebrities.

The high-profile names are said to be mostly television and radio entertainers, with at least six expected to be arrested in the coming weeks. They are named in a list of tip-offs to Operation Yewtree – the police inquiry set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse revelations. A source said: “They all tend to be white men of the Savile generation”.

The 25 celebrities are understood to have been named in phone calls to the police or to charities. Some victims will not be identified or press charges, making it difficult for the police to proceed. But cops believe there is enough evidence for at least a dozen celebrities to be detained….

About 450 potential victims have come forward since inquiry began two months ago, Scotland Yard said….
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4689140/saville-cops-probe-25-celebrities.html

Child Abuse Drops for Fifth Straight Year
By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer
NEW YORK December 12, 2012 (AP)

Reports of child abuse and neglect have dropped nationwide for the fifth consecutive year, and abuse-related child fatalities also are at a five-year low, according to new federal statistics.

The latest annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services, released Wednesday, estimates that there were 681,000 cases of child abuse or neglect across the nation in the 2011 fiscal year. That’s down from 695,000 in 2010 and from 723,000 in 2007.

“We have made excellent progress over the past five years,” said George Sheldon, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. “But what this report tells me is that we still have 681,000 children out there who need our help.”

The number of abuse-related fatalities was estimated at 1,570 — down from 1,580 in 2010 and from 1,720 in 2007. About fourfifths of those killed were younger than 4, and parents were deemed responsible for nearly four-fifths of the deaths….
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/child-abuse-drops-straight-year-17945388

Fewer Child Abuse and Neglect Incidents for Fifth Straight Year
December 12, 2012 | ACF Public Affairs
Picture of child hiding behind door with text: Child Abuse and Neglect in DeclineThe number of reported child abuse and neglect incidents has dropped nationwide for the fifth consecutive year, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF)….

53.6 percent of the abusers were women.
48.4 percent were Caucasian, 20.2 percent were African-American, and 19.2 percent were Hispanic.
80.8 percent of the abusers were the victim’s parent.
Of the children who were reported as maltreatment victims, 11.2 percent were physically or mentally disabled….
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/blog/2012/12/fewer-child-abuse-and-neglect-incidents-for-fifth-straight-year

Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials, Father of WM3 murder victim certain who killed 3 boys, Groomed – Laurie Matthew’s book about abuse, neglect and organized abuse

articles:
- Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials
- Father of WM3 murder victim certain who killed 3 boys – Todd Moore
- Groomed – Laurie Matthew’s book about abuse, neglect and organized abuse

Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials By Susan Candiotti, CNN Sat June 30, 2012

(CNN) — With convicted serial child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky behind bars, new questions are surfacing about what Penn State officials knew about a 2001 incident involving the former assistant football coach’s encounter with a boy in the shower — and whether they covered up the incident.

After the 2001 incident, Sandusky sexually abused other boys over the course of years until his arrest.

CNN does not have the purported e-mails. However, the alleged contents were made available to CNN.

The messages indicate former Penn State President Graham Spanier and two other former university officials knew they had a problem with Sandusky after a 2001 shower incident, but apparently first decided to handle it using a “humane” approach before contacting outside authorities whose job it is to investigate suspected abuse.

“This is a more humane and upfront way to handle this,’ wrote Gary Schultz, then vice president at the university.

Records show no authorities were ever contacted and Sandusky was eventually charged with having sexual contact with four more boys after the 2001 incident. On June 22, Sandusky was convicted of abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

Painful chapter closes with Sandusky’s conviction for child sex abuse

In an exchange of messages from February 26-28, 2001, Spanier allegedly acknowledges Penn State could be “vulnerable” for not reporting the incident, according to two sources with knowledge of the case.

“The only downside for us is if the message (to Sandusky) isn’t ‘heard’ and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it,” Spanier purportedly writes.

The alleged e-mails among Spanier, Schultz, 62, and former Athletic Director Tim Curley, 57, never mention Sandusky by name, instead referring to him as “the subject” and “the person.” Children that Sandusky brought on campus –some of whom might have been victims — are referred to as “guests.”….

Curley refers to a meeting scheduled that day with Spanier and indicates they apparently discussed the Sandusky incident two days earlier.

Curley indicates he no longer wants to contact child welfare authorities just yet. He refers to a conversation the day before with Paterno. It’s not known what Paterno may have said to Curley.

Curley writes: “After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps.”

The athletic director apparently preferred to keep the situation an internal affair and talk things over with Sandusky instead of notifying the state’s child welfare agency to investigate Sandusky’s suspicious activity.

“I am having trouble with going to everyone, but the person involved,” Curley allegedly continues….  http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/30/justice/penn-state-emails/index.html

Todd Moore wrote the below article in response to an editorial published in the Jonesboro Sun by Chris Wessel.

Father of WM3 murder victim certain who killed 3 boys
By Todd Moore
Guest Columnist

I am the father of West Memphis triple murder victim Michael Moore. I am writing this in response to your editorial in the June 6 edition of The Sun titled “Justice Unserved.” It has always been my opinion that justice was served when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted in 1994 for the brutal murder of my son and his friends.

The three men who slaughtered my son were convicted by two juries that found them guilty in 1994. Despite this, the Arkansas Supreme Court generously granted the murderers the opportunity for a new evidentiary hearing to be held Dec, 5, 2011, to show evidence they claimed proved their innocence. They could have been granted a new trial to prove these claims of innocence. Instead of presenting their “new evidence” in open court last December, they opted to plead guilty to the murders in August 2011 in exchange for time served….

Absence of DNA evidence does not prove the West Memphis Three (WM3) are innocent. The killers washed most of the evidence away in the water- filled ditch where they drowned my son. There was plenty of other evidence to convict them in 1994 without positive DNA. Most murderers are convicted without DNA evidence….

The WM3 defense team has been well-funded by numerous celebrities who were misinformed by the biased “Paradise Lost” documentaries. These one-sided films left out nearly all of the evidence that demonstrated the guilt of the WM3. They caused thousands of people to support the release of the convicted child killers with a very limited understanding of the actual facts of the case….

Here are just a few examples of what was omitted from the documentaries:

• Jessie Misskelley confessed to the crime at least five times to police, prosecutors, even his own attorneys with his hand on a Bible. Misskelley confessed the first time after less than four hours of police questioning. That questioning was done with permission from his father. He continued to repeatedly confess in the year that followed.

• Damien Echols amassed a mental health record 500 pages long in the years immediately prior to the murders. In his own handwriting, he classified himself as a “homicidal, suicidal, schizophrenic, sociopath” just a months before he brutally murdered my son.

• Read Damien Echols’ current Twitter account to discover his deep-seated interest in skulls and the occult. There he also recently described artwork depicting a man sawing off his own arm as “breathtaking.” In addition, Echols is obscenely profiting off the death of my son by selling his … books, promoting his …movie, and tattooing …groupies with his “mark.” For two hundred dollars, you can have….tattoo an “X” on your arm. These Twitter posts and money-making schemes are a slap in the face to me, my family and my dead son.

• The movies omit the fact that these three men had no alibis. Damien Echols’ and Jessie Misskelley’s alibis completely fell apart on the stand in the 1994 trials. Jason Baldwin’s attorneys didn’t even bother to present an alibi.

• Fibers consistent with a robe in Jason Baldwin’s home and a shirt in Damien Echols’ home were found on the victims. Blue candle wax found on Chris Byers’ shirt was consistent with candle wax found in Damien Echols bedroom.

• The crime lab found that three different knots were used to hogtie the three victims with their own shoelaces. This points toward multiple killers rather than one killer. Witnesses say that Mr. Bojangles, the disoriented man near the crime scene that night, had a cast on one arm. No one person could have subdued and hogtied three energetic young boys–not Terry Hobbs and certainly not the one-armed Mr. Bojangles….

• A car full of eyewitnesses placed Echols near the crime scene, covered with dirt, on the night of the murders.

• Numerous friends, acquaintances and cell-mates came forward with tales of confessions from all three defendants.

Throw out one or even several of those facts, and there would still be enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

I sat through those trials. The basic facts need to be put out there. Otherwise, it makes a mockery of my son’s short life.

Todd Moore is the father of murder victim Michael Moore.
Published in the Opinion Section of the Jonesboro Sun on Tuesday, June 12, 2012   http://www.terryhobbs.com/2012/06/todd-moore-sets-record-straight.html

Groomed
An uncle who went too far. A mother who didn’t care. A little girl who waited for justice.  By Laurie Matthew Simon & Schuster UK, June 2012   256 pages

Description
In this powerful and honest memoir, Laurie Matthew takes the reader with her as she revisits her childhood in 1950s and 1960s Dundee. Raised in a home which consisted of an emotionally neglectful and physically violent mother, a distant father, a chronically sick brother and a sister she needed to protect, the only ray of light in little Laurie’s life came from the man who would return home from the Army with pockets full of sweets and bags of toys. Uncle Andrew would shower her with attention and love, capture the hearts of everyone around him – and carefully groom her for years of abuse by not only himself, but also by a network of paedophiles. Laurie tells a harrowing story of isolation, as her abusers went to extraordinary lengths to carry out their sick acts, wearing masks to confuse and torment her and keeping her away from other children. But these evil men had no idea that the girl they systematically violated would turn into one of the country’s leading child protection experts, and that their legacy would give her the impetus to change the lives of so many innocent victims.
ISBN-10: 0857208284  http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/Groomed/Laurie-Matthew/9780857208286

Laurie was born in 1953. She is the award-winning founder of several support organisations for people affected by sexual violence and/or abuse. She is currently based in her home city of Dundee where she is the campaigning organiser and founder of the ‘Eighteen and Under’ charity organisation, which helps young people who have experienced any kind of abuse. Her work is internationally commended and she has been recognised many times for her achievements. Some of the many awards given have included Dundee Citizen of the Year, 1997, International Women’s Safety Award, 2004, and Charity Awards 2010 winner of Research, Advice and Support category. She has also written a number of books about child protection.  http://authors.simonandschuster.co.uk/Laurie-Matthew/400136648/biography

2 Children Found Living In Bus In Splendora, Tex

2 Children Found Living In Bus In Splendora, Tex
03/8/2012

SPLENDORA, Texas (Associated Press) — Two children who were found living in a stench-filled abandoned school bus near Houston, its windows blocked and the lot around it covered in trash, are in the custody of Texas child welfare workers, officials said Thursday.

A postal worker discovered the children, ages 11 and 5, at the bus in Splendora about 10 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. Their parents are believed to be in prison for embezzling money from Hurricane Ike victims in 2008. The children are not enrolled at local schools.

The bus appeared to have electricity, an air conditioning unit installed in one window and bunk beds inside for the children. But several neighbors told the Houston Chronicle that the children typically looked unkempt and could often be spotted running around at night.

“They always had dirty clothes on (and) no shoes, even in the winter,” said nearby resident Gayla Payne, who said the 11-year-old girl told her daughter that she bathes twice a week.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/2-children-live-in-bus_n_1333251.html

Few penalties for keeping child abuse secret

Few penalties for keeping child abuse secret
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY 12/16/2011

Laws that could punish doctors, teachers and other adults for keeping silent when they suspect a child has been abused have gone largely unenforced over the past decade.

Those state laws require people who work closely with children to alert police or child-welfare investigators anytime they so much as suspect a child has been abused.

Yet a USA TODAY examination of police and court records from across the USA found that a combination of infrequent enforcement and small penalties means adults often have little to fear from concealing abuse.

In most of the states that could provide records, local police and prosecutors typically charged no more than one or two people each year. Michigan police made just five arrests over the past decade. In Hawaii and Minnesota, court officials said they couldn’t find a single case.

Fewer than half of the cases USA TODAY reviewed in detail ended in convictions, and the penalty was usually a fine of less than $1,000.

“If you’re not going to make the moral choice, at least you have to have a law with some teeth that makes somebody do it for the legal reason that you’re afraid you’re going to be charged,” said Sean McCormack, the chief child abuse prosecutor in Harrisburg, Pa.

States’ mandatory abuse-reporting laws are getting new scrutiny in the aftermath of a sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University, where longtime assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of having molested 10 boys over 15 years. He has pleaded not guilty. Two Penn State officials are charged with failing to report the abuse to police….

Abuse frequently unreported

Child welfare agencies estimate that 695,000 children were abused or neglected last year, but studies have repeatedly found that even more abuse goes unreported. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-02/unreported-child-abuse/51981108/1

Correlations between dissociation, DID and child abuse in different parts of the world

Epidemiology of Dissociative Disorders: An Overview
Epidemiology Research International
Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 404538, 8 pages
doi:10.1155/2011/404538
Vedat Sar  Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, 34390 Capa, Istanbul,  Turkey

excerpts:

….screening studies using diagnostic tools designed to assess dissociative disorders yielded lifetime prevalence rates around 10% in clinical populations and in the community. Special populations such as psychiatric emergency ward applicants, drug addicts, and women in prostitution demonstrated the highest rates. Data derived from epidemiological studies also support clinical findings about the relationship between childhood adverse experiences and dissociative disorders.

….  Data collected in diverse geographic locations such as North America [2], Puerto Rico [3], Western Europe [4], Turkey [5], and Australia [6] underline the consistency in clinical symptoms of dissociative disorders. These clinical case series have also documented that dissociative patients report highest frequencies of childhood psychological trauma among all psychiatric disorders. Childhood sexual (57.1%–90.2%), emotional (57.1%), and physical (62.9%–82.4%) abuse and neglect (62.9%) are among them.

….Two studies in North America demonstrated that 13.0–20.7 % of psychiatric inpatients had a dissociative disorder [22, 23]. Studies on dissociative disorders in Istanbul, Turkey, yielded a prevalence slightly above 10% among psychiatric inpatients and outpatients [8, 24, 25]. Although still considerable, these rates were lower in the Netherlands [26], Germany [18], and Switzerland [27] among inpatients, that is, between 4.3%–8.0%. A Finnish study [28] reported higher rates for psychiatric outpatients (14.0%) and inpatients (21.0%). Emergency admissions of a university psychiatric clinic in Istanbul, Turkey yielded the highest rate in the country:  35.7% [29]. In a study from Zurich, Switzerland, among severely impaired psychiatric outpatients, prevalence of all dissociative disorders were 25.0% [30].

….Overall, the prevalence of dissociative disorders in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings seems to be around 10%, while approximately half of them (5%) has DID, the most severe type of dissociative disorders.

…. A screening study on a representative sample…in Manitoba, Canada, using the DDIS yielded 11.2% prevalence for all DSM-III-R dissociative disorders [36]. Two large-scale studies were conducted in the general population of Sivas City, Turkey, supported these findings gathered in North America.  The first one was conducted on a representative sample of 994 participants from both genders [37]. Approximately 3/4 of the probands dropped-out who were selected for a second and third diagnostic interview due to their elevated DES scores. Despite of this high loss in data, 0.4% of the original sample was diagnosed as having clinically confirmed DID.  The second study in Sivas City, Turkey was conducted on a representative female sample of 648 participants in the same city using a structured diagnostic interview, that is, the DDIS [38]. The overall prevalence of dissociative disorders was 18.3%.  1.1% of the population had DID. However, the largest group was DDNOS (8.3%). Conditions based primarily on the presence of distinct personality states (i.e., DID and DDNOS-1) built up a prevalence of 5.2% for chronic complex dissociative disorders.

….In a recent North American study conducted in the community (New York,…the prevalence was 8.6% for all DSM-IV dissociative disorders observed in the past year [39]….A further study [42] documented that 6.3% of the general population suffered from three or more frequently occurring dissociative symptoms possibly representing a dissociative disorder. In The Netherlands, 378 subjects from a non-clinical population were screened using the dissociation questionnaire (DIS-Q), a self-rating scale of European origin [43, 44]. 2.1% of the participants had a score above the cutoff point (score of 2.5), and 0.5 % had a score comparable to those of patients with dissociative disorders (scores of 3.0 or higher).

….Among consecutive inpatients admitted to a dependency treatment unit of a large state mental hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, the lifetime prevalence of DSM-IV dissociative disorders was 17.2% [45].  These rates were   9.0% for alcohol dependency only [46] and 26.0% for patients with chemical dependency [47]. Those rates were between 15.0% and 39.0% [48–50] for patients with chemical dependency in North America.

….In Germany, a screening study was conducted on 51 male criminal offenders admitted to a medicolegal institution by the court so as to understand diminished or lack of responsibility for the offence due to psychiatric disorder, including a large group of persons with substance-use disorders [56]. Using the SCID-D, a high prevalence of dissociative symptoms and disorders (23.5%), mostly DDNOS, was demonstrated. 22.6% of the group had a DES score 20.0 or higher. In Turkey [57], 26.8% of 108 male prisoners in a regular correctional center had a DES score 20 or above. This rate was 18.5% for DES scores 30 or above which is known to be the cut-off level for chronic dissociative disorders [58]. Nevertheless, according to the SCID-D, 15.7% of the subjects had a dissociative disorder, that is, either DDNOS or dissociative amnesia. Exotic dancers and women in prostitution have also been demonstrated as risk groups for dissociative disorders [52–55, 59]. This seem to be due to the highly traumatic background of the probands.

….Epidemiological studies also documented the relationship between dissociative disorders and childhood trauma, an association clinicians and researchers are familiar with [32, 71, 72].  A screening study conducted on consecutively admitted psychiatric outpatients yielded elevated rates for sexual (27.8%), physical (50.0%,), and emotional (72.2%) abuse and neglect (83.3%) among dissociative patients in comparison to nondissociative controls [24]. In the inpatient psychiatric unit of the same institution, these rates were 58.8%, 82.4%, 70.6%, and   58.8%, respectively [25]. Apparently, patients with childhood sexual and/or physical abuse were hospitalized more readily pointing to a more crisis-prone and severe general condition. On the other hand, dissociative outpatients and dissociative subjects identified in non-clinical settings report emotional abuse and neglect predominantly [24, 38]. Nevertheless, in a Turkish study in the community, subjects with dissociative or conversion disorder (somatic dissociation) reported significantly higher levels of childhood traumata than the remaining participants [38, 69]. In a case series and also in the community, conversion disorder patients with a concurrent dissociative disorder reported childhood traumata more frequently than those without.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/eri/2011/404538/

Child abuse and neglect cost US $124 billion, Scouts Canada, school staff replaced

articles:
- Child abuse and neglect cost the United States $124 billion
- The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and implications for prevention
- Study: Child abuse bigger threat than SIDS
- Convicted leader continued with Scouts movement
- Entire staff to be replaced at LA school where 2 teachers were arrested

Child abuse and neglect cost the United States $124 billion
Rivals cost of other high profile public health problems

Press Release
For Immediate Release: February 1, 2012
Contact :CDC Division of News and Electronic Media

The total lifetime estimated financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and neglect) is approximately $124 billion, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in Child Abuse and Neglect, The International Journal.

This study looked at confirmed child maltreatment cases, 1,740 fatal and 579,000 non–fatal, for a 12–month period. The lifetime cost for each victim of child maltreatment who lived was $210,012, which is comparable to other costly health conditions, such as stroke with a lifetime cost per person estimated at $159,846 or type 2 diabetes, which is estimated between $181,000 and $253,000.  The costs of each death due to child maltreatment are even higher….

Child maltreatment has been shown to have many negative effects on survivors, including poorer health, social and emotional difficulties, and decreased economic productivity.  This CDC study found these negative effects over a survivor’s lifetime generate many costs that impact the nation’s health care, education, criminal justice and welfare systems.

Key findings:

The estimated average lifetime cost per victim of nonfatal child maltreatment includes:
$32,648 in childhood health care costs
$10,530 in adult medical costs
$144,360 in productivity losses
$7,728 in child welfare costs
$6,747 in criminal justice costs
$7,999 in special education costs

….Child maltreatment can also be linked to many emotional, behavioral, and physical health problems. Associated emotional and behavioral problems include aggression, conduct disorder, delinquency, antisocial behavior, substance abuse, intimate partner violence, teenage pregnancy, anxiety, depression, and suicide. http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2012/p0201_child_abuse.html

The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and implications for prevention     Xiangming Fanga, Derek S. Brownb,
Curtis S. Florencea, James A. Mercya

Results

The estimated average lifetime cost per victim of nonfatal child maltreatment is $210,012 in 2010 dollars, including $32,648 in childhood health care costs; $10,530 in adult medical costs; $144,360 in productivity losses; $7,728 in child welfare costs; $6,747 in criminal justice costs; and $7,999 in special education costs. The estimated average lifetime cost per death is $1,272,900, including $14,100 in medical costs and $1,258,800 in productivity losses. The total lifetime economic burden resulting from new cases of fatal and nonfatal child maltreatment in the United States in 2008 is approximately $124 billion. In sensitivity analysis, the total burden is estimated to be as large as $585 billion.
Conclusions

Compared with other health problems, the burden of child maltreatment is substantial, indicating the importance of prevention efforts to address the high prevalence of child maltreatment. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213411003140

Study: Child abuse bigger threat than SIDS
4,600 children hospitalized with serious injuries
By Frederik Joelving 2/6/2012

Nearly 4,600 U.S. children were hospitalized with broken bones, traumatic brain injury and other serious damage caused by physical abuse in 2006, according to a new report.

Babies younger than one were the most common victims, with 58 cases per 100,000 infants. That makes serious abuse a bigger threat to infant safety than SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, researchers say in the report….

Based on data from the 2006 Kids’ Inpatient Database, the last such numbers available, Leventhal’s team found that six out of every 100,000 children under 18 were hospitalized with injuries ranging from burns to wounds to brain injuries and bone fractures. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46281207/ns/health-childrens_health

Convicted leader continued with Scouts movement
CBC 2/7/12 A man who was twice-convicted of sex offences against children was welcomed as a member of a Scouts alumni association for decades, even after officials became aware of at least one of his convictions, a CBC News investigation has found.

Even though the organization says there was no contact with youth, Scouts Canada, in a recent interview with the CBC, now admits it was a mistake.

But a Lillooet, B.C., family that suffered damage caused by the abuse, says the acknowledgement gives them little solace.

“I ended up doing nine prison sentences, and having drinking and drug and all those other problems,” Christopher Jones told CBC News.

Decades ago, in 1976, his Grade 4 teacher and Scout leader, Michael David Henley, began molesting him….

It took Jones, who was known as Christopher Aaron as a child, 10 years to tell anyone what Henley did to him….

Henley eventually pleaded guilty to indecent assault and received a year’s probation. In 1994, Moore wrote to Scouts officials to be certain they were aware of what happened.

Moore says the letter she got back made her sick. Henley was still involved in Scouting as part of an adult alumni group for leaders called the Baden Powell Guild. The provincial commissioner wrote that Henley had no direct contact with youth, was undergoing counselling, and appeared determined to stay clear of situations that could result in a recurrence of his crime.

After Henley was convicted of sex assaults against six boys in 1999, he stepped down from his position as editor of the Baden Powell Guild’s newsletter, but returned as editor until 2005. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/convicted-leader-continued-scouts-movement-000842148.html

Entire staff to be replaced at LA school where 2 teachers were arrested
By msnbc.com staff and news services

2/7/12 The Los Angeles Unified School District is replacing the entire staff of Miramonte Elementary following the arrest of two teachers on lewd conduct charges last week, Superintendent John Deasy told parents at a meeting Monday night, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Positions will be filled by qualified teachers and other workers already on a placement or rehiring list, the Times report stated. But the displacement of the current staff could be temporary, according to the report.

Teacher Mark Berndt was charged last week with committing lewd acts on 23 children. Another teacher, Martin Springer, was arrested Friday on suspicion of fondling two girls in his classroom.

Deasy said staffers are being replaced because a full investigation of allegations is disruptive, and staffers require support to get through the scandal. http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/06/10332533-entire-staff-to-be-replaced-at-la-school-where-2-teachers-were-arrested