Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Wed, 29 Jul 1992 08:56:53 EDT
Comments:     Converted from PROFS to RFC822 format by PUMP V2.2X
From:         Brenda Curry-White <BSCURR01@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
Subject:      Parental Control/Abuse (Was: On Not Living in a Vaccum)

Urban Research Institute
Phone: 502-588-6626

Marty writes:  "There are a log of people, including people
with great influence at various levels of government, who oppose the
traditional family.  They want the government to take on a far great-
er role in the raising of children than it now does, and they want to
diminish parental influence and control.  I quoted a passage from
Thomas Sowell about one aspect of this problem.   I also mentioned
that there have been a number of cases in which bureacrats assumed
that injuries that actually resulted from ordinary childhood acci-
dents resulted from parental abuse, even when there was no evidence
to support that charge.  I said that I had read of such cases but
could not provide specific examples, and Michael Kline provided an
example from his personal knowledge.  If I had the time to look
through unindexed newsletters, etc. I could provide specific exam-
ples, with names and places, of similar encroachments, and I suspect
some other people on the list could do so as well."

Abused children often claim to have received their injuries from simple
childhood accidents in order to protect their abusers, and this fact
must not be overlooked in your argument.  In fact, I can provide a very
personal example.  My brother has abused his children.  His children
claimed that they received multiple injuries from childhood accidents.
I know that they were covering for him because my sister says so.  My
sister is much more credible than my brother, for reasons I won't go
into, but would in private e-mail.  The police used to call my sister
when neighbors would complain!  She would go get the children, often
at gunpoint.  I believe her.  Finally, she hit bottom and felt there
was nothing more she could do.  Social workers and police assured her
that if she turned him in they would make sure that the family
received counseling and that if my brother ever drank again (he's an
alcoholic, and that seems to bring on his violent rages) they would
immediately remove the children.  Since then, the oldest child has
been voluntarily given up by the parents because of his behavioral
problems and is in a foster home (but he remained in the home for
about a year after my sister turned my brother in despite repeated
alcoholic binges on my brother's part and his refusal to attend
counseling), and the other three children remain in the home, despite
numerous disturbances reported to police.

My sister will never trust the system again.  My nephews will have
numerous problems growing up.  Although some children really do hurt
themselves accidentally, repeated injuries, police reports and obvious
disfunctional families often get lost in the system.  I blame this
largely on an administration that considers our oil interests more
important than our social worker's salaries and caseloads.

Marty continues:
"This fact, in itself, suggests the possibility that Hillary Clinton's
views are more dangerous than they might seem."

Another possibility is that she desires to protect children who cannot
tell the truth out of fear of their parents.  Some families may be
unduly harrassed, and that pains me greatly.  But other children may
be kept from dying.

Brenda Curry-White (signing my last name now because there are now two
   Brendas on the list)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia