FriendBurst Blog

National Child Abuse Prevention Month (April 2012)

04/2012

April was first declared Child Abuse Prevention Month by presidential proclamation in 1983. Since then, April has been a time

to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse.  In Child Maltreatment

2010 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children & Families, Administration on Children, Youth

and Families, Children’s Bureau) it was reported that in FFY 2010 in the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto

Rico, an estimated 695,000 children were victims of child abuse; and 1,560 children died as a result of abuse or neglect. The

majority of child abuse cases stemmed from situations and conditions that can be preventable when community programs and

systems are engaged and supportive. A community that cares about early childhood development, parental support, and maternal

mental health, for instance, is more likely to foster nurturing families and healthy children.

A body of research has identified factors known to prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect. These factors—including

parental resilience, nurturing and attachment, social connections, knowledge about parenting and child development, and

concrete supports for parents—are outlined in Strengthening Families and Communities: 2011 Resource Guide, also developed by

the Children’s Bureau.

In recognition of the collaborations needed to help prevent child abuse and neglect, the NCTSN has compiled a list of

resources for advocates and policy makers, children and adolescents, educators, families and communities, and mental health

and child welfare professionals.

Source of above information is below.
http://www.nctsnet.org/resources/public-awareness/national-child-abuse-prevention-month

Rape::POPE: Statutes of Limitations? NO WAY! Pedophile Priests must Pay!!
By Karen Gallo Dunn

Time canNOT erase the Crime of Pedophile Priestly Pigs! Perhaps if the Pedophile Priest was punished properly and exposed,

the victim’s healing process could be expedited.

Statute of Limitations Absurd! Time canNOT erase the CRIME!!!!!!!!! Papal apologies, comforting words for those who have

suffered abuse, molestation, rape, and torment IS Front Page news? What about the ongoing psychological, physiological

damage, alcoholism, drug abuse, mental incapacitation, etc., that some of the abused children confronted and continue to

confront as an adult on a daily basis? All past abuse had to be squelched and hidden — buried deep down inside until it

begins to eat them alive? Statute of Limitation does not ELIMINATE the dirty deeds against minors, children, teens, altar

boys, etc., enacted by the Priests, Bishops, Cardinals, et al. Statue of Limitations be gone! Rev. pervert Paul Shanley has

been abusing children since 1967. Why in this world would his abuse and molestation be tolerated and ignored because the

“statute of limitations” has run out? He is NOW a lawfully protected priestly pig — “got away with it” rapist? Time does NOT

eliminate the CRIME nor the long term pain and anguish of the abused. Immediate action is required to protect our innocent

children. Who cares WHEN this tragedy occurred? Who cares HOW LONG AGO it happened? The FACT that rape, molestation, child

abuse happened — IS what matters. Scars do NOT turn to dust. Residual harm continues and grows with time — it does not

automatically disappear because time ran out to accuse and punish the perpetrator. Some victims NEVER recover. Is the Pope,

Bishops and Cardinals stalling purposefully to eliminate justice? Do they set their Catholic Clocks and Watches on “Statute

of Limitation Time?” NOW, they admit they knew about these filthy pedophiles for years and there are records on their sexual

abuse activities. TRANSFER the guilty pedophile to another parish was the answer to solve criminal compliants from parents.

On a daily basis, exposure of yet another perpetrating priest surfaces — WHY are we allowing them to get away with raping

our innocent babies? We know who they are. Now take action: arrest, imprison, punish these molesters NOW. It is well known

how Cardinal Law transferred these abusers to different locations providing priests with a fresh group of innocent children

to rape, molest and continue their secret priestly sacraments of a pedophiliac. How dare the United States Law Enforcement

protect these scoundrels? Does anyone care about the abused Children? Does anyone believe the abused Children. How many

mothers out there sent their children to psychiatrists because they told the truth about a priest who was supposed to be

above the law and holy? How many mothers ignored the reality of abuse and allowed others to be abused because they ignored

their children’s truth? Admit it Mom — tell the truth — you knew about this abuse and covered it up — believing a man of

the cloth — an ordained priest would never do such an atrocity or commit such a crime instead of believing an innocent child

— your own flesh and blood????? This issue canNOT be buried any longer. The guilty must be punished and NOW is the time.

There are NO excuses, reasons, forgiveness for these child molesters. Defrock the rapists now. Excommunicate the

perpetrators. There should be NO exceptions, NO special treatment, NO red tape. Arrest, prosecute and punish those accused.

Include all bishops and cardinals who knowingly provided the pedophile priests new playgrounds to continue their sick acts of

child molestation. They are as guilty as sin because they did it intentionally with knowledge and full awareness that a

Rapist is sick. A rapist disguised as a Priest is the worst using God as the reason to trick a child into rape, molestation

and dirty acts. Do not forget Fr. ENEMA Scheufele, “The ENEMA” giving priest — the sacrament of “Altar Boy Enemas.” Forgive?

Forget? Too Late to punish this pervert? These priests continue to rape our children for years and we ignore this action?

What if these priests were clowns, ghetto dwellers, people of poverty, insane rapists? There is absolutely no difference. A

man is a man and pig is a pig and rapist is a rapist and absolutely NO special treatment based on his costume, garb, collar,

rosary beads, vows, etc., should be granted. Statute of Limitations be damned!! Get a grip America – Take action now. How can

anyone justify Priestly Encounters of cruelty, sexual abuse and mind twisting sacrilegious acts? What attorney could possibly

represent a child molester? Molesters prey upon the innocence of children — remember! — that child could be your baby,

daughter, niece, granddaughter, son, grandson, nephew — your own flesh and blood and a dirty priest in the name of GOD takes

advantage and molests and scrambles the child’s mind and psyche for life. NO defense acceptable! How many times is irrelevant

— one rape is too much. One fondling is too much. Statute of Limitations be gone. This form of protection is ridiculous.

Especially with the facts that the hierarchy is literally and specifically protecting these perpetrators. Bishops, Cardinals

and the Pope are guilty as sin allowing this to continue and shuffling the dirty pitiful child-molesting priests to other

parishes to allow them to continue their rape and abuse on innocent and unknowing parishioners and their children. STOP this

NOW. Eliminate the “Statute of Limitations” when it allows child molesters a license to get away with ruining the lives of

innocent Catholic angels and the statute of limitations is their shield of protection. Is the Pope for REAL?  ZERO TOLERANCE

IS THE ONLY ANSWER!!!!

Source of Karen Gallo Dunn article below.
http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=55&id=5870

March 23, 2012
Marci A. Hamilton
An Historic Turning Point for Reforming Statutes of Limitations for Child Sex Abuse: News From Massachusetts, and More

Legions of victims of child sex abuse will tell you that when they were finally ready to talk to a prosecutor or a lawyer,

the criminal and/or civil statutes of limitations (SOLs) had already expired.  Across the United States, one victim after

another has been surprised by these cruel and arbitrary legal deadlines.

For decades, states have been adjusting their child sex abuse SOLs in response to fresh stories of horror.  At one time,

states measured the SOL from the date of the abuse, giving victims only a few years in which to sue.  Then, they set age 18

as the moment when the clock started ticking.  Now, we have a true 50-state experiment, with a wide variety of approaches

among the states.

There is one common theme, however:  States are constantly working to extend their child sex abuse SOLs, because there is

always a new victim with a compelling story that shows lawmakers the folly of having any SOL at all for the heinous crime of

child sex abuse.

The Situation in Massachusetts Regarding Child Sex Abuse Statutes of Limitations

That was precisely what was happening in Massachusetts when in 1996, the legislature extended the criminal SOL for child sex

abuse to the date that marks 15 years after the victim turns 16.  But that SOL still shut down justice for too many victims,

and so there was another extension, in 2006.  That year, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to extend the criminal SOL to 27

years after a victim turns 16.

That extension, however, still cut out victims like Rosanne Sliney, whose uncle abused her beginning when she was five, and

ending when she was 14.  Another survivor, Kathy Picard, who came forward at age 32, also remains shut out by the SOLs—just

missing each SOL extension, by just one year each time.  Like the vast majority of child abuse survivors, Sliney and Picard

needed decades before they could come forward to talk about their abuse, and thus, they missed the state’s arbitrary limits.

Picard, along with other child sex abuse victims, is now campaigning hard to persuade Massachusetts legislators to eliminate

the SOLs for child sex abuse altogether.  Right now, Massachusetts’s civil statute of limitations is only 3 years from either

the victim’s 18th birthday, or the discovery of the abuse.

Massachusetts now has a bill pending that would eliminate the criminal and civil SOLs for child sex abuse, as well as beef up

the penalties for the failure to report such abuse, and set new requirements for the training of mandated reporters.  That

bill, H 469, also called “The Protection from Sexual Predators Act of 2011,” would, if enacted, help hundreds of victims in

Massachusetts and, at the same time, identify for parents the hidden predators in their midst.  It would also make

Massachusetts the most recent state, after Delaware to pass groundbreaking legislation that includes elimination of both

civil and criminal SOLs for all claims into the future.

In an Increasing Number of States, the Tide Is Turning in Favor of Legislation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse Statutes of

Limitations Entirely—but the Catholic Bishops Are Fighting the New Laws

Massachusetts would still have Sliney and Picard on the sidelines unless it adds a window, which would permit, for a limited

number of years, those victims whose civil claims have expired a chance go to court.  Similar statute-of-limitations window

legislation was passed in Minnesota, California, Delaware, and Guam, and is now pending in New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,

and Hawaii.

Finally, the tide is turning in favor of such legislation.  The Catholic Bishops have made the defeat of child sex abuse SOL

reform a top priority in every state where it has been introduced, and particularly the window.  While they have occasionally

been able to recruit allies—such as, for example, Agudath Israel in New York—the bishops are still the ones who have taken

the lead on fighting against child sex abuse victims, including incest survivors (such as Kathy Picard and Rosanne Sliney),

who make up the majority of survivors.

The Catholic Bishops have trotted out the same bag of arguments in each state.  First, they say it isn’t “fair” to let them

be sued when “memories fade and witnesses die.”  Their narcissistic insistence that state legislators must put “fairness” to

them ahead of justice for the victims speaks for itself.

Moreover, that position is primarily intended to deflect legislators from focusing on two key facts: (1) eliminating the SOL

does not change the burdens of proof, which rest first on the victim; if the victim doesn’t have enough evidence to support

the claim, no defense need be raised; and (2) the primary source of information on the abuse of children in organizations is

typically material that is in the organization’s own files, and this is particularly true for dioceses.  Thus, the Bishops’

objection, despite its undoubted surface appeal, has no actual content.

The Bishops’ Claim That Churches Will Face “Bankruptcy” Is Spurious

Second, the Bishops always say that they will be “bankrupted” by such cases.  If they mean that they will file voluntary

bankruptcy in order to reduce the payouts to victims and to flush out all victims so that they can avoid further claims in

the future, then they are right.  But that would be their own choice, not a result of indigency.

If the Bishops mean that they will not have enough resources to pay the claims, they are misleading the public and their own

believers.  The damages payments by the dioceses to victims so far have been paid by insurance (yes, they have insurance

coverage for cases in which they have negligently supervised their employees who abuse children), and by the sale of property

that is not devoted to religious use, such as office or apartment buildings, hotels, or empty lots.  The largest payout in

American history came from the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which had built an extravagant cathedral at a cost of over $189

million just five years before. Thus, this argument, too, is a big fat red herring.

It is a simple fact that the Bishops, regardless of what they say in public about “fairness” and money, just don’t want the

full truth to emerge into the sunshine.  There are likely hundreds of unnamed priests who abused children in the New York

Archdiocese alone.  The hundreds of thousands—indeed, likely millions—of parishioners’ donation dollars that have been spent

on lobbying against the New York SOL window and modest extensions is, in all likelihood, motivated most by the Bishops’

consuming and poisonous fear of the truth.

The Bishops have not turned the corner on the sexual abuse by their clergy—far from it—and they never will do so, unless they

release the full truth of these matters, which is currently buried in their files.  In fact, they cannot avoid the inevitable

release of the information at issue, because the truth is also carved into the hearts, souls, and memories of their victims,

whose voices are rising.

Massachusetts May Be the Setting for a Key Child Sex Abuse SOL Turning Point

The turning point appears to have come in Massachusetts, where Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty did all he could to keep the SOL reform

bill from making it out of his House Judiciary Committee.  Yet, after he was attacked for choosing the pedophile’s side

against the safety of children, he not only backed off his original position, but resigned as Chair of the Judiciary

Committee.  The bill is actually going to the House floor.  At last, a legislator so felt the heat of the victims’ pent-up

agony that he chose to cut and run.

There are other legislators just like O’Flaherty, in New York and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, who are still carrying the

standard for the bishops against the victims.  But they too will have to move aside—or else embrace their role as protectors

of the pedophiles.  The incest victims, our most silent of survivors till now, are joining their voices to those of the

organizational victims.  They all deserve their day in court.

Source of article by Marci A. Hamilton is below.
http://verdict.justia.com/2012/03/23/an-historic-turning-point-for-reforming-statutes-of-limitations-for-child-sex-abuse

Marci A. HamiltonMarci Hamilton, a Justia columnist, is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School

of Law and author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children (Cambridge 2008). A review of Justice

Denied appeared on June 25, 2008. Her previous book is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University

Press 2005), now available in paperback. Her latest book is Fundamentalism, Politics, and the Law (Palgrave Macmillan 2011)

(co-edited with Mark J. Rozell). Her email is hamilton02@aol.com.
******************************************************************************

* O.K.  folks this is my comment as it pertains to April being National Child Abuse Month,well it is more of a question really.
Do you think Child Abuse on any level,be it physical,sexual,mental, should have the protections of the Statute Of Limitations that many other crimes do ?
Should we place those who commit crimes on children in the same legal classification as motor vehicle theft,burglary,and larceny ?
See because from where I stand,as far as heinous crimes go I do not !
Let me know…….

Thank You
D.Lemur