September 23rd, 2009 by Lianne

In June 2008, a mother in North Texas had her children taken away due to a case of munchausen syndrome by proxy. This syndrome by proxy is where a individual make sup symptoms or signs so it appears that their child is sick.

This can also involve a parent causing injury to a child which would be similar to a symptom or sign of a disease. This can include sickness, diarrhoea and bodily wounds. In this case, this symptom by proxy was believed to be occurring so the child was monitored for a while until this theory could be found to be true.

September 22nd, 2009 by Lianne

In 2007 a mother of a baby boy was wrongly accused of causing her child harm and her son was taken away because of the apparent child abuse.

In a response to this, the mother decided to have an abortion as she wouldn’t be able to cope if a second child was taken away from the family. It was assumed that because the baby had an injury to the brain, it should be taken away, however, it was later revealed that the child instead had the injury during birth.

The child was returned to its mother after a year of investigation.

September 22nd, 2009 by Lianne

For many years there have been reported cases of child abuse across the world.

There is no known reason why people feel the need to abuse children, though the general consensus is that individual’s carrying out this sadistic act are either perverted  or see it as a ’sense of power’. Abuse doesn’t just mean physical (as in attacks or sexual-related attacks) abuse, but emotional also. If found guilty of child abuse, one will usually face imprisonment, fixed fine and a ban from entering a job at a nursery.

Several agencies are still battling this unfortunate topic including the NSPCC.

September 21st, 2009 by Lianne

In February 2009 in Dallas, Texas, it was found out a mother of a nine year old neglected her child’s illness and her child later died.

The child suffered with diabetes and didn’t receive the required injections which are vital when suffering from certain types of the disease. The mother was later charged with a failure to preventing the death of her child which could have been achieved by dealing with the relevant doses the child needed.

Neglect is a type of child abuse and is treated with seriousness as children need nourishment and comfort, as well as protection.

September 21st, 2009 by Lianne

In 2007, a four year old girl from Maida Vale, London, was severely abused by her parents: Kimberley Harte and Samuel Duncan.

This abuse included boiling water being drained over her, her hair being ripped out, beatings, forced to eat her own faeces and forced to take cold baths. This could all have been prevented if the social services decided against sending her back to her parents, which her foster parents were convinced would be a bad idea. Secondly, social working staff accepted the injuries were simply accidents and when she was ‘missing’ they accepted the idea that she was out with her father.

August 26th, 2009 by Shyla

The law in the UK about how old a child can be before they can be left on their own is very vague. There is no specific law that says a particular age. The law says that a parent can be prosecuted for wilful neglect if a child is left alone, unsupervised in a way that may cause unnecessary injury or suffering to their health.

It may be that a family has no local support or cannot find or afford childcare. They may not have relatives nearby who could help. As a community it would be good if more people offered to help and reached out to families rather than watching and waiting for an opportunity to report child abuse.
At no time should a baby every be left alone. Even for a short time this can be deadly and is definitely neglect. A baby or a child under the age of 9 who is seen to be left alone should be reported to the authorities immediately. The police will then visit the home and ensure that the child is safe.

The NSPCC recommends that children under the age of 13 should not be left unsupervised and that children under 16 should not be left alone over night. Of course, your 11 year old may be considerably more mature than someone else’s 14 year old so some common sense has to be used on the part of parents.

August 24th, 2009 by Lianne

Child abuse is a dreadful thing to imagine. Most of us think of the very worst cases that tend to make headline news and are heart breaking to even hear of.

But neglect is still a form of child abuse. It is harder to spot sometimes but is just as damaging in the long term as anty other sort of abuse.

As a parent I know that there are times for all of us when the pressure of having a child or children can make it difficult to cope. Children have so many demands that it would be impssible to meet all of them ALL of the time. This doesn’t mean that our children are neglected.

Neglect is a perpetual, ongoing failure to provide for your child’s basic needs. The signs of neglect are;

• Child is poorly clothed and will not have adequate protection from the elements.
• Child is absent from school frequently for no reason.
• Child is underweight and not growing at a normal rate
• Child is left home alone or looking after younger siblings on a regular basis.

If you feel concerned that a child you know is being neglected contact your local health worker or a charity such as the NSPCC who will listen to your concerns anonymously and take appropriate action.

August 23rd, 2009 by Lianne

NSPCC: The Children’s Charity

Child abuse is an appalling crime, and if the media is to be believed, it is something that is growing rapidly out of control. More and more headlines detail the atrocities that people wreaked upon those they should be striving to protect.

It is beyond belief that people can do this to an innocent child. And as vexing as looking after a child can be, nothing could excuse the beating of a child.

Unfortunately, once this type of abuse is discovered, it can often be incredibly difficult to get that child out of harms’ way, and into a loving and safe home. The resources that are available are limited, and in constant need of funding – do your part, get involved today.

August 21st, 2009 by Lianne

There Is A Life After Abuse

Understanding why the abuse has happened is often a key part of moving on – but trying to fathom out the mind of someone that can subject an innocent child to this is difficult. Professional help is not always easy to find, but it should be sought out as soon as possible.

Many cases of abuse involve family and friends refusing to believe it has happened – and telling the victim of this. This can, obviously, add to the stress and problems that the victim will go through, but finding someone to support them through it will help.

Maintaining their self-esteem and identity is hard enough in this situation, but there is help out there, and it should be sought out. A councilor or psychiatrist will talk through everything with the victim, helping them to process the abuse and be able to, eventually, move on with their lives.

Although time cannot be turned back and the abuse erased, life can continue.

August 12th, 2009 by Lianne

Tracy Connelly,  Steven Barker, and his brother Jason Owen, have been named publicly as the convicted murderers of Peter Connelly, (famously known as Baby P). The vicious monsters that took his innocent life and inflicted such shocking and atrocious injuries to the little boy have been sentenced and are now segregated from the general prison population in their respective prisons. This has been done for their safety. Personally I don’t think they have a right to this. They are evil and have no right to special protective treatment.

Steven Barker is in Wakefield Prison, which has housed some of the UK’s most dangerous criminals. Tracy Connelly was in Holloway originally, where Myra Hindley and Maxine Carr served time. She has since been moved to County Durham, to Low Newton Prison.

Barker will be eligible for parole in just 8 years even though he has been convicted of this gruesome murder as well as the rape of a 2 year old girl.

Connelly could be released in as little as 3 years while Owen could be free and in our communities in just 2 years.

All 3 will be given new identities and will be given protection by the authorities to ward against vigilante attacks.

Putting these measures in place to protect these horrible creatures seems unjust when poor little Peter received no such protection from anyone!

In my honest and outraged opinion these monsters should face the public and pay the full price for their crimes, not enjoy the protection of the state for them.