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October 22, 2002
Who Are the People
Who Are the People In Your Neighborhood?
I was reading this morning's Northwest Arkansas Times when I saw this:A Johnson man jailed on charges he raped a 4-year old boy may have exposed the child to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Washington County Prosecutor Terry Jones said Monday.
*Sigh* So many perverts, so few bullets. (Does that make me a "hate" site? Good.)
After taking her son to the emergency room, [Johnson Police Chief] Sisemore said, the boy’s mother asked the hospital’s security officers to have [the alleged child rapist] removed when he arrived shortly afterward inquiring about the boy. He allegedly told investigators the boy had complained about bleeding when he went to the bathroom, but that he thought the child was suffering from hemorrhoids.
Ah, yeah, he just showed up at the ER to inquire about the child's welfare. Riii-iight. A more accurate statement would be that he found out the child told, so he hustled down to the ER to do some serious C.Y.A.
Jones said the alleged attack left him in disbelief. "This is just so revolting," Jones said. "I don’t know how anyone could do this to a kid."
Neither do I. Welcome to my world. Actually, it's worse in my world. This mom did the right thing. Her child told her what happened, she took him to the E.R. and had the perp arrested. The child sex abuse cases that we get are the ones in which the parents either turn a blind eye & let the abuse continue, or are participants.
Disgusted yet? It gets worse. According to a 1998 report by the U.S. Department of Human Services (no link available, I got this info at a recent seminar), there were 3,000,000 reports of suspected child abuse in 1996. Of those, 1,000,000 were substantiated. (This doesn't necessarily mean the other 2 million were bogus, just that there wasn't enough evidence to substantiate, for a variety of reasons.) 12% of the substantiated reports involved sexual abuse. That's 120,000 children. The 2000 report shows similar numbers. Out of approximately 879,000 substantiated reported child abuse victims, 10% were found to be sexually abused, which is approximately 87,900 children. And those are just the reported cases.
Think it can't happen to your child? Think again. "Nonrelatives, fathers acting alone, and other relatives were responsible for 29 percent, 22 percent and 19 percent, respectively, of sexual abuse victims." Pedophiles are not, for the most part, creepy old men in raincoats hanging out in your local park. They are the people in your neighborhood, people that you meet each day. They are the people that you trust to care for your child.
Worried now? Good. GET INVOLVED! Make the effort to know the people that spend time with your child. Learn the signs of sexual abuse. Find out what child protection organizations are available in your area, and volunteer. If you don't have time to volunteer, donate money. Lobby your legislator for tougher child protection laws. And most importantly, if you suspect a child is being abused, REPORT IT. If you stumble across a website that you think promotes pedophilia, send the link to your local FBI office or here.
Please do something to help stop this. Your child could be next.
Posted by Rita at October 22, 2002 10:47 AM