posted November 05, 2002 11:25 AM         

Here is a reader's remark

quote:

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>""I just want to help my baby girl back".< I don't want to come off as having any compassion but the mom should have helped this little girl at an earlier age.

""As a parent I'm always saying I'm there to protect her but I lied to her . . . I couldn't protect her." <

Yes mom, you did fail. Maybe not in being able to protect her 24/7, but you failed by not enabling this child to protect herself to some extent.

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While a child can learn to "protect hers-elf to some extent" I think when it comes to Adults Empowerment is an important term. It is better to teach to fish than giving a fish.

posted November 05, 2002 12:14 PM         

Frighteningly there are more and more cases worldwide of child abuse. I have been wondering for some time why that is.
Sadly in a lot of cases the "abuser" is actually known by the children. How can that be prevented? That's a difficult one.
Two young girls were recently abused and brutally murdered here in England The school caretaker and his girlfriend are currently being charged. These girls had known them for some time and obviously these people where trusted by the parents and the community.
I would strongly support the use of psychological reports being done for anyone who works with or near children. Sadly this is not something that is happening - what they now "propose" to do (here in England)is to check if child workers, teachers etc have a criminal record. Personally I don't think that this is enough. I lot of these abusers do not have previous criminal records - because they have never been caught.
Obviously with my interest in astrology, I would wish to see this also being used as a personality assessment. Albeit that I know every one has free will and even a yucky aspect can be overcome by that person - but if the "potential" is in someones chart then I think it needs to be "listened" to.

In these current times I would not let a child walk to school on his or her own - which this girl was doing
I think that school buses could go a long way to solving some of these problems. Parents and teachers could then work together in keeping children safe. By that I mean that at each end of the bus run someone is responsible for seeing the child is safely on the bus and met at the other end.