Topic awaiting preservation: Possible CA (Page 1 of 1)

My best friend lives off campus and next door to this boy who is clearly retarded. He's been telling me since semester began that the child's mother beats him every night. I personally feel child abuse charges are very serious and should not be lightly thrown upon someone. Anyway, I spent the last two evenings hanging out at his place and saw (through a window) this mother beating the child. Now, I personally don't know the circumstances of why he was being hit. Perhaps he did something terrible, I don't know, but the women was extremely violent.

We've been talking it over all night and my friend (and his housemates) came to the conclusion that the cops shold be called. Now most of you are older then me, some with children so I would very much appreciate your advice. I couldn't say for sure that this kid is being abused, but I know he's been hit two nights in a row that I've witnessed, and my friends claim to have seen it dozens of times. Is this a situation where I should call the cops? I even considered walking over to the house myself and telling them that we're all witnessing whats going on, but I'm afraid if he is being abused they'll just hide it better.

What do you guys think?

Well, I'm not an adult with children, I'm sorry I can't give you advice from that perspective, but I can still tell you what I think. It seems to me that it's really important you phone the proper authorities, whether or not he is being abused it might still be important for someone to go over there and see what is going on, because it sounds although the child is being mistreated, and in that case you could potentionally help this kid in a way you might never even understand, even if he isn't being abused maybe a visit from child services will make this mother re-think her punishment strategies. However there is one problem that I can see, and that would be what we've all seen in movies, where they take away the kid from a good mother over a misunderstanding, now this problem all comes down to how much you trust social services to do their job properly, because I'm sure they have procedure to determine what is punishment and what is abuse. But actually atleast in the states, ANY kind of phsyical punishment, or the lack of feeding, and some other things are considered abuse, even if done for punishment. A very broad definition is anything that causes phsyical or emotional damage to a child, so any severe punishment. To sum it up I think you should inform the authorities.

Don't let them know you're onto them, call the police, and have them under survailance(sp?).

I'm sorry Jestah, but speaking as parent with 2 young girls, any form of abuse on a child should be reported...you mention that you dont know the circumstances, well i'm sorry, but in my eyes, under NO circumstances should physical abuse or mental abuse for that matter be thrust upon a child.
My advice is to inform the authorities, and allow them to deal with it.

I'm a parent of two boys although they are teenagers now.
theres nothing to discuss here. get the law on her.
then skin her and drop her in a bath of vinegar

I think i would have gone over and given her taste of having the shit beat out of her.

Call the police immediately - don't wait - the next beating could be the kid's last...too bad you didn't video tape the beating....too late now..just call

As A parent of 2, I agree with axleclarkeuk and Morph. No excuse.
A better therapy might be paying someone to beat her every night for a couple of years.

Unfortunately these kind of things are very hard to get anywhere with at times.

They aren't going top be put under surveilance. What will generally happen is that a person from (depending on where you are, the names are differerent, but...) the Department of Children's (or youths, or families, or wahtever it is in your state) Services will be sent to interview the family. Most often nothing will happen as a result of this, and it may take several calls to even get this to happen.

If there are obvious and severe signs of abuse or neglect, they may take action. If not, they may check back in a few months.

I think it is important for anyone who has witnessed this personally to make a call. If this is really happening, something needs to be done, and the sooner the better, espcially given the child's particular circumstances. It's also important that if you start the ball rolling, you stick with it to the extent that it is possible to do so.

Yea, I figured this would be the general opinion of the Asylum.

I didn't want to be too hastey and call the cops without thinking it over and getting the opinions of a few people that I trust. One of my biggest concerns is if I just happened to catch a rare moment of a parent losing her temper. I wouldn't want to be responsible for a kid being taken from an otherwise loving home over a misunderstanding.

At this point in time though, I think the best course of action is to call the cops though. Thank you all very much for the help.

quote:

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They aren't going top be put under surveilance.

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Then crank out that telescopic lense and put them under your own surveilance Rear Window style. At least then, if you decide to call the authorities, you would have some kind of hard copy evidence of this abuse.

Well, I called the cops. They said they've received a few complaints within the last few weeks & they would take care of it. Whatever that means. Anyway, I appreciate all comments.

If the chance arises to record/photograph the abuse, do so. Alert the proper authorities, but do not allow the woman to know who you are, or that you reported her.

How many times have you read things like 'and there were no reports of abuse, despite neighbours being within earshot' for the months preceding a tragic death..?

Edit - oops, I should read properly. They sound pretty "bleh!" about it.

(Edited by White Hawk on 09-07-2004 01:48)

Abuse is abuse. All you can do is call the cops. If you saw it happen infront of your eyes, you are a witness. All you can do is call the police.


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I agree with the general consensus, but be very careful before you try any type of "surveillance". They may turn around and prosecute you for violating "peeping tom" laws if they exist in your state.

True - and executing your own surveillance operation could leave you open to prosecution under criminal law too, depending upon where you are - but then, if the abuse is provable, you'd have a fair case to defend.

The cops obviously have better things to do than go round this woman's house to face yet more indignant denials.

Perhaps it might be possible to contact an organisation in your area/city/state that deals with domestic abuse. If you can find one, they'd be able to give you better advice. Try a web search for organisations near you - it is worth a shot.

==I don't believe it! Somebody stole my sig!!==

I don't know why you took your time to ask this question.

There are promotional ads on television all the time about reporting child abuse if you suspect it. Very creative ads too.

Saving bandwidth...

Metahuman, I haven't ever seen one of these advertisements. Just because they have them where you are that doesn't mean that they're everywhere.

http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/rpt_abu.htm

You'll never be able to achieve the results you want. Believe me there.

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Ozone Asylum KILLED my inner child.

It's a national campaign. If you haven't seen them, you can watch them here.

http://www.adcouncil.org/campaigns/childhelp_usa/

Saving bandwidth...

Hi. I just stumbled across this page when searching google for something else. I work with disabled adults and children, people with mental retardation and/or physical disabilities. I am also a mandated reporter of child abuse, meaning that any time I witness abuse I am obligated to inform child protection. And I work in the state of NY, as I see you are from NY also.
Here is what I can share with you. The National hotline number for reporting abuse to child protection is 1-800-422-4453. You can make an anonymous call to them and report anything that appears to be abuse. From there, child protection will make the decision as to whether it is actual abuse or not, so you never have to have that decision hanging above your head on your own. You should always just make the call and let them decide if it is abuse. Child Protection will not immediately take children away. I have had to report abuse numerous times and from there child protection will link parents with supports to stop the abuse from occurring. They do not believe that removing the children is the ultimate answer, and it often takes several calls/reports of abuse/neglect before the children are removed. Sometimes they are still not removed then. The Family Court systems judge will usually make the decision for removal and they also firmly believe that removal is not always the best solution. So you should call each time if you see this continuing because Child Protection only sees what they see when they are at the family's home. Remember that it is anonymous so the family will not know you have made the call. It is especially improtant to report abuse on behalf of a child with mental retardation. The child is probably not capable of communicating what is actually happening which makes it even more difficult for child protection to determine that the reports are true. I hope that this has helped you. I am glad to hear that you have telephoned the police, but in the future if you see such activities or have suspisions of abuse call the hotline number. This mother is probably having a difficult time dealing with her child and it makes it even more difficult because he/she has a disability. I hope that the mother and child will find the best solution to making their lives work together.

I don't personally have any children yet but I feel you should report it...

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"I think Bush is an idiot... I think Kerry is an even bigger idiot! Vote Bush 2004!"

Wow... the Asylum's Google power strikes again...

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Just curious - when did the title of this thread change? and why on earth...?

Yeah I didn't recognize it either, I was thinking "what is CA? California?" Till I started reading the thread and remembered it.

Possible CA? California? Canada? Stupid title change... I thought this was a new thread.

Saving bandwidth...

Well... the ->adminLog tells us here that it was Jestah himself who changed the thread title.

Yeah I thought it was a new thread too.. Hey why can't we have avatars here? Is there something against them here on the Asylum?

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"I think Bush is an idiot... I think Kerry is an even bigger idiot! Vote Bush 2004!"

Why not put an avatar in your sig?

Too bad all the people who know how to run the world are busy running taxicabs or cutting hair. - George Burns
ICQ: 67751342