October 23rd, 2009 by Lianne

This is a very tricky question, and one that incites passionate reactions in everyone.

These people have deliberately, and consciously hurt our most vulnerable and trusting people, for no other reason than their own depraved gratification. It makes me really mad.

I have never been directly affected by child abuse (I don’t know anyone that has been a victim or abuser), so my opinion is perhaps unfair – but I think these “people” should be taken far away from society, and never thought about again. I would say the US has it right with the death penalty, but that’ll never be introduced here in the UK.

Those that inflict this kind of pain should be stopped – and there’s only one way to guarantee that.

October 16th, 2009 by Lianne

The official watchdog Offsted has warned that a third of the investigations into “serious” child abuse cases (this is where a serious injury or death of a child has been found, and the cause is deemed to be abuse), show weak management and a distinct lack of inter-agency coordination.

This review looked at 173 cases between April 2008 and March 2009, and found that 34% (that’s roughly 58 cases) of them were not as well examined as they should have been.

Reading between the lines, 58 children who were at serious risk, may have needed help from the state – and may not have gotten it.

October 9th, 2009 by Lianne

If a child is at risk, we should act immediately and decisively; no child should be left at risk if an authority has doubt about their welfare. However, in this case, the parents were accused of child abuse towards one of their children (who had injuries deemed to be caused by the parents), and so all 3 children were removed from there care, and eventually adopted by another family.

It has now been shown, and the courts admit, that the parents were not ata fault – the injuiries were caused by an illness that the child had. Now that the courts are satisfied that the children are not at risk, they should be returned – but they won’t be. Because they are now settled with a new family.

Is this right? Should children be kept from their biological family when they are not at risk? Or is the additional upheaval too much?

October 2nd, 2009 by Shyla

The words “child abuse” tend to provoke an angry response from most people; it is not something anyone wants to happen. But it does. To a lot of children, every single day.

• 1/3 of rapes recorded by the police are committed against someone under the age of 16.
• roughly 36 children die every year at the hands of a parent – that’s one child every 10 days (England & Wales).
• 6% of children suffer emotional mistreatment during childhood.

These are only some small numbers that reflect the horible truth of what is out there. Be aware, report anything suspicious. Help a child avoid becoming a statistic.