I’ve worked with children for years. I’m probably more known as a child advocate than anything else. And one thing that stands out as lucidly clear to me is that Satan hates children and takes every opportunity to harm them. Oh, and he uses twisted adults and big-ego idiots to do so.
Sadly, serious damage is often done by those who should be protecting the children. I saw it in Europe. Now I see it in America.
Take, for example, the recent scandal of the polygamist cult, an extreme Mormon affiliate break-off. Does it make sense to remove every child from every mother because, apparently, a few children show signs of having been abused by men in the cult? Now, don’t get me wrong. Don’t twist my words to say I don’t believe in taking extreme measures when children are abused. I do. I most definitely do. Abused children should be removed from the abusers. And child abusers should be behind bars for a long, long time. Anyone who’s followed my work over the years knows that this is what I stand for. And anyone who knows me well also knows that I believe in removing children from families where they are in danger, neglected or abused. But that is not necessarily the case here. Let’s talk about what the media is now telling us.
According to today’s associate press articles*, and varying talk shows**, a phone call from a 16-year-old girl in the complex claiming to have been abused pushed the panic button. That girl has not been found. Still, some of the children apparently show traces of abuse so, without a doubt, something needs to be done to protect them. Let’s safely assume they were abused – a crime that reflects man’s deepest depravity – well, does that mean that the children should be further distressed by being separated from those they love: mothers, sibs, aunties, grandmother figures? Is it going to help them being put in another, extremely strange and possibly hostile environment (other children can be hostile – particularly toward children who are so very different from them)? Are all of those mothers systematically evil?
It seems to me it would be better to keep most of the children with their mothers in a controlled environment—particularly those who show no sign of abuse and where the mothers show no sign of having been accomplice to any abuse. Would that be so hard to organize? Meanwhile, there are thousands of children in homes where they should have been removed. That’s the painful irony.
I’ve seen children who showed signs of serious neglect, in terrible situations, and authorities stated that unless the children were actually on their deathbeds, they wouldn’t intervene. It seems to me that something’s amiss here. So what shall we do? I think we should voice our opinion when and where we can – but only after we’ve carefully and prayerfully considered the issues at hand. How do we do that? I believe that prayer is key. Let’s pray hard for these precious children. And let's pray also for the foster parents seeking to help them.
Janey L. DeMeo M.A. – www.orphansfirst.org / www.JaneyDeMeo.com
* http://news.aol.com/story/_a/sect-children-face-culture-shock/20080424090209990001
**Diane Sawyer today.
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