Woman accused of child cruelty maintains innocence (homeschool)

Henry Herald ^ | 08/17/2007 | Jason A. Smith

[Dudoight]

The kids will be interviewed. A lot will depend on what the kids say. Then...a dr.’s evaluation. Lets hope if the parents are ‘innocent’ it will be cleared up.

[Greg F]

The press never tells the story in full. Deprivation of food (going to bed without supper?), beatings (a spanking?) or deprivation of food (more than a single meal missed?), beatings (constant fear of being hit, malicious, sadistic beatings?).

I will trust the homeschoolers over the state every time until I have evidence otherwise.

[packrat35]

I remember running around in circles around the house having to say “this is my weapon, this is my gun, one is for fighting, one is for fun” (ex-military will know the drill).

My dad was ex-drill instructor.

[SoftballMominVA]

How odd for me that this occurred in Georgia, where I grew up. My father used to punish us with excessive exercise, normally while in the front yard. I've done 1000 knee bends, 200 push ups, running in place for an hour, jumping jacks for an hour, run back and forth from the fence to the house for an afternoon in the middle of high summer - all in front of the neighbors with my brothers and sister while my father sat in a chair and yelled at us for whatever we may have done. He also beat me and my siblings with a belt buckle more times than I can count. I'm less than 45 and looking at two knee replacements in the near future. Geez, I wonder if my childhood had anything to do with the massive tears in my meniscus and the lack of lubrication in the joints and the deterioration of the overall knee. I'm thinking the daily 1000 knee bends for months on end for not making my bed had something to do with it.

So those of you that chalk this up to 'discipline' spare me your comments. I've been there and I have a pretty damn good idea what went on here. You try running your self around when it's 95 degrees out with 95% humidity and tell me 'it sounds okay'

[MBB1984]

I played sports in middle school and I seldom went a day without a bruise or two or three or more. I get sick of all this wimp outrage and nonsense.

[SoftballMominVA]

They beat the children with a wooden miniature baseball bat and you think that is within the realm of appropriate? They ran 15 laps around the house in the middle of summer before breakfast and that sounds okay with you?

The one girl was hiding from her parents on August 4, which BTW was during one of the hottest weeks in the deep south the entire summer. I know, because I was in Atlanta that week. The lows were in the 80's. We went to Stone Mountain one day and it was 90 before 10 am.

Is this the 'worst case of child abuse' I've ever heard of? No, but that isn't the standard. Does it sound like child abuse? Absolutely, without doubt, if these charges are true, it is child abuse.

[Saundra Duffy]

“making children run before meals”

That’s enough for me. I detest people who use food to punish or reward children. Sickening, disgusting and abusive. Control freaks do stuff like that to their children because they can.

[Scotswife]

And do you have any reason to think this family was guilty of the same thing that happened to you?
Is it possible they were just making their kids run some laps (like kids do in sports or gym class).

[Scotswife]

“That’s enough for me. I detest people who use food to punish or reward children. Sickening, disgusting and abusive. Control freaks do stuff like that to their children because they can.”

When I went to sports camps we were made to exercise before we could go eat a meal.
Was that abuse?

[Marie2]

I think it depends on the severity. Running ten laps in the backyard vs. what you were forced to do, obviously there is a difference.

May the Lord heal your knees and your heart.

[Scotswife]

Agreed.
I’m thinking 15 laps around a house isn’t so bad.
It probably equates to 2 laps around a track.

[Amelia]

For some reason, many adopted children have anger issues, and these two children have their share.

Frequently, it's because they've been abused. For this reason, I would question the use of corporal punishment on these children, particularly the use of a miniature Louisville Slugger as a "paddle."

As for the officer, if making children run before meals and using a miniture or toy baseball bat (I would not do it, but it wasn't the full size bat the he made it sound like for the news) to spank with was the worse child abuse he has seen, then he doesn't get out much.

I don't disagree with that. A friend who teaches in Henry County had a student die at the hands of her parents a couple of years ago.

I read the links you provided, and I do think it is odd that the parents have retained separate lawyers, unless they think that one of them stands to face more charges than the other. It could be that one parent was actually abusing the children in some way.

[achilles2000]

I run 4.5 miles before breakfast in the height of summer in a place that is hotter and more humid than that location. 15 laps around a backyard or a house shocks you? Don’t be absurd. Many of us also went to school at a time when vice principals and coaches used wooden paddles to communicate a message about behavior. Depending on the infraction, the swing could be rather like batting practice. Bruises? Of course. But, then again, no one got the vapors if Johnny got a bruise on his posterior to get him to straighten up. In vast majority of cases the Johnnies straightened up and became responsible adults, which is something that is becoming rarer and rarer.

[SoftballMominVA]

15 laps around a house in 90 degree + heat and 90 percent + humidity with no nutrition provided in the last 10 - 12 house is cruelty - I wouldn't ask an animal to do that, much less a child whose bodily systems are not set up to regulate temperature the way an adult's is. Unless you have felt this type of abuse yourself, you cannot imagine how incredibly exhausting and potentially dangerous this can be.

Remember we are talking about children, not adults. It is their age that makes this cruel, not necessarily the action itself

[SoftballMominVA]

You are an adult - your body regulates your temperature differently from a child. In addition, if you feel fatigued or a pain you have the ability to stop - these children did not. They were forced to do this activity, you chose to do it. < P>Being hit with a wooden bat - the fact that you even think that could be appropriate tells me everything I need to know about your character. Hitting a child with a narrow, wooden bat, even one that is 2 feet long, has the potential to break bones, such as the coccyx.

As far as paddling in school - I don't approve of it then or now. I received my share of those too, and trust me the only thing it did was make me angrier

[SoftballMominVA]

Why do I think that it is similar to my situation? Because I read the links and also read between the lines. The kids hid from their parents - the people that supposedly love them enough to adopt them - the people who are there to protect them. For a child to hide for 2 hours and then beg for help tells me that a lot went on, more than is being said at this time. Not to mention, the parents have separate attorneys - that right there says that one considers the other more culpable and is going to try to distance themselves from the other

You think that beating with a bat is appropriate? Amazing

[Sherman Logan]

They beat the children with a wooden miniature baseball bat and you think that is within the realm of appropriate?

Kind of depends on how miniature it is.

[SoftballMominVA]

Louisville Slugger Miniature Bats are 16-18 inches long. I’m thinking they could leave a heck of a bruise, especially when swung by an adult

[Alkhin]

For some reason, many adopted children have anger issues, and these two children have their share.,/i>

Frequently, it's because they've been abused. they've been adopted.

Adoption has its toll on the adoptee, whether they are in a family of loving caretakers or not. I know this because I was adopted - had the best childhood one could hope for. I still have emotional issues, that I have just been learning to take apart and understand as an adult.

[ran20]

I believe a lot of children need corporal punishment at some point to get them in line. I guess the alternative is they just never learn self control, run around like wild monkeys until they do something bad enough that the police get them.. toss them in jail and throw away the key.