Rwanda: Police And Unifem in Fight Against Sexual Gender Based Violence

The New Times (Kigali)

30 September 2008
Posted to the web 30 September 2008

Joseph Mudingu
Kigali

The Rwanda National Police (RNP) together with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) over the week launched a joint advocacy against child abuse and Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) at the Police Headquarters in Kacyiru.

Despite a heavy thunderstorm at the beginning of the function, eight schools from Kigali went on to perform in a live drama competition about GBV.

During the official opening ceremony, the Minister of Education, Daphrose Gahakwa said that the police has done a commendable job of ensuring that there is peace in the country and stressed the need of fighting SGBV.

"We can not focus on development if we have gender based violence. So, I commend this move by the police and UNIFEM in getting seriously involved in fighting it," she said. She also thanked UNIFEM for their continued financial support to the police in fighting against the menace.

"Without this support, the police would not have registered so much success and we should continue working together to scale up the fight," Gahakwa advised.

UNIFEM donated a brand new four wheel drive Toyota Hilux, two Compaq laptops and an Hp printer to the National Police department that deals with Gender Based Violence.

The National Programme Officer UNIFEM, Donnah Kamashazi, said that they were proud of partnering with the police in the fight against SGBV and that they have created public awareness through schools and the progress is being followed up.

"Violence against women and girls fractures development and destroys life. So we congratulate the national police and all others involved in taking this fight against SGBV seriously," Kamashazi said.

At the same function, the acting Commissioner General of Police, Mary Gahonzire on behalf of the RNP thanked UNIFEM for the financial and technical support which has helped in fighting gender based violence.

"Sexual gender based violence greatly undermines human resource management, health peace building and justice. So we are appreciative for UNIFEM's financial and technical support in fighting it," Gahozire said.

She also recognized the role played by the government and the Ministry of Gender, the Justice sector, schools, Local Government on Community Policing and all others involved in preventing gender based violence.

Eight schools from around Kigali were awarded trophies for coming up with outstanding performance in the SGBV competition and treated the audience to rib-breaking drama.

Though all the schools performed extremely well, Lycee Notre Dame which emerged the best followed by Kagarama Senior Secondary, Saint André came third while Riviera high school was eighth.

Others that were involved in the competition were Lycee de Kigali, Essa Nyarugunga, Fawe girl's school and Solidarity academy.


The occasion was also attended by the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya and representatives from various NGOs.

Armed groups and government forces continue to abuse women and children in North Kivu

29 September 2008

Armed groups are still recruiting child soldiers to fight in the ongoing conflict in the province of North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Those child soldiers who attempt to escape have been killed or tortured, sometimes in front of other children, to discourage further escapes. Children who are taken captive by the DRC army on suspicion of being armed group fighters, have faced ill-treatment and torture in military detention.

There is also continuing physical and sexual abuse of women and children in the conflict, according to the new Amnesty International report, North Kivu: No end to the war against women and children.

The report is based on research and eye witness testimony collected by an Amnesty International fact-finding mission in North Kivu in February and March 2008. It says that members of armed groups and government security forces continue to rape and sexually abuse women and girls and, in a smaller number of cases, men and boys. Infant children and elderly women are among the victims, many of whom have suffered gang rape or have been raped more than once.

These abuses are happening despite government and armed group commitments to immediately end these atrocities in a 23 January 2008 "Act of Engagement".

According to the Amnesty International report, of the former child soldiers who had been reunited with their families in North Kivu through a national demobilization programme, as many as half may since have been re-recruited by armed groups.

Beaten to death
One former child soldier told Amnesty International how two youths were beaten to death in front of him and other child recruits "as a lesson to all of us not to try to escape":

"[The boys] were brought out of a pit in the ground and presented to us during a training session. [An armed group senior commander] then gave the order to beat them. Two soldiers and a captain pushed them down into the mud. When they tired of kicking them…they beat them with wooden sticks. The punishment lasted 90 minutes, until they died."

Rape has been committed in public and in front of family members, including children. Some women have been abducted and held as sexual slaves. In many cases, sexual abuse and rape appear to be ethnically motivated and/or aimed at terrorizing and demoralizing communities suspected of supporting enemy groups.

One 16-year-old rape survivor described how she had been abducted by two junior army officers and held captive in an army camp in North Kivu for several days before she was released. In the camp, she was raped nightly by one of the officers.

"The other officers and soldiers in the camp didn't seem to care or be willing to take responsibility", she told Amnesty International. She now suffers flashbacks and persistent headaches.

In its report, Amnesty International issued comprehensive recommendations to the armed groups, DRC government and the international community aimed at stopping human rights abuses. The recommendations include a call on armed groups to immediately release all children associated with their forces, and measures to end to the horror of sexual violence.

Background to the conflict
Despite a peace accord signed in January 2008, armed conflict has persisted in North Kivu. The fighting involves the regular Congolese army (FARDC) and the CNDP armed group under the command of a renegade general Laurent Nkuna, as well as a number of local mayi-mayi militia and the Rwandan FDLR armed group. Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence.

More than 100,000 people have been displaced by renewed fighting in North Kivu since 28 August 2008, adding to more than 1 million people displaced by earlier violence in the region.

Documentary shows abuse victims

By CYNTHIA McCORMICK

cmccormick@capecodline.com

September 26, 2008

HYANNIS — One of the most heartbreaking images in a new documentary slideshow about child sexual abuse shows a wavy-haired toddler playing at the edge of the ocean.

The child, whose face is not revealed, is scampering joyfully across the sand. But the viewer knows that the toddler is a victim of a terrible crime, as are all of the children photographed by Carolyn O'Neill for the documentary featuring clients of Children's Cove. The local agency investigates child sexual abuse cases on the Cape and Islands and also counsels victims and their families.

By the end of the week, Carolyn O'Neill's documentary will be posted on the Children's Cove Web site: www.childrenscove.org

In a series of black-and-white images O'Neill captured, children are shown holding pets, riding a favorite skateboard and looking out of a bedroom window.

"These are actual individuals on Cape Cod," Children's Cove director Stacy Gallagher said of the documentary that debuted yesterday at the Resort and Conference Center of Cape Cod in Hyannis during the local agency's ninth annual conference. "Child sexual abuse truly does happen here."

The idea for a documentary was sparked when Kathleen Ecker, a nurse who formerly conducted forensic exams at Children's Cove, was talking with neighbor Carolyn O'Neill of Orleans about her work.

O'Neill, a photographer, volunteered to create a visual record about Children's Cove clients.

Protecting the young victims' anonymity was key. "At first we thought, 'How are we going to do this?' " she said yesterday in a telephone interview with the Times.

O'Neill, whose usual portrait work with families and children relies heavily on capturing facial expressions, decided to express the personality of the children by photographing their favorite activities, hobbies and possessions.

There's a closeup of a girl's hands holding a pet hamster. Another photograph shows a girl sitting on a bed, her face hidden by the bed's canopy. A teen boy is photographed with his skateboard.

"These are just kids, living normal kid lives, doing normal things," O'Neill said. "They are still just children and they are still innocent. These children all have a level of pain inside of them."

The photos in the nearly five-minute slideshow are interspersed with printed words that tell the viewer 1-in-4 girls will be a victim of child sexual abuse by age 18, as will 1-in-6 boys.

"That means in our circle of friends there's a lot of people" who have been affected by child sexual abuse, said O'Neill, who is moving to Bangkok next week. In Thailand, she plans to pursue her commercial photography as well as get involved in documentary work about trafficking in children and women.

The Children's Cove conference continues today for educators, health professionals, social workers and law enforcement personnel, with workshops and a morning address by state Sen. President Therese Murray.

Children's Cove is also known as the Cape & Islands Child Advocacy Center. The facility works closely with several local agencies and organizations including the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office, Barnstable County and Cape Cod Healthcare Inc.

Team formed to probe alleged child abuse in Bacolod orphanage

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The Bacolod city government has formed a team to investigate allegations of child abuse at an orphanage here.

Eight children at the Bacolod Boys Home have executed sworn statements about the abuse, said Henry O. Streegan, a former consultant of the orphanage.

He said the children’s affidavits are with acting executive director Fr. Fernando V. Peralta. But Mr. Peralta, for his part, said only one child has executed a sworn statement accusing a city employee of sexual molestation.

"An investigation is underway. It could lead to other complaints of molestation at the Home, but the facts have to be established," Mr. Peralta said.

The orphanage was established in 1960 by Fr. Gratian Murray, one of the founders of La Salle-Bacolod.

He managed the home until he died in December 2000. The home, which is a project of the city, receives P3. 3 million annually from the local government.

Mayor Evelio R. Leonardia said there are moves to professionalize the institution and shield it from controversy so as not to scare off benefactors.

A policy-making board composed of representatives from the government and the private sector is being planned.

Child sexual abuse cases rise

by Jamie Belnap

The number of child sexual abuse cases in Tooele County is on the rise, but officials say pining down the reasons for that trend isn’t simple.

Just this year alone, the Tooele County Attorney’s Office has prosecuted 27 child sexual abuse cases — a 35 percent increase compared to the same time period last year. In fact, in 2007 as a whole, county prosecutors handled only one more case than they have handled from January to mid-September of this year.

Several officials believe the increase is due to more crimes being reported, rather than more being committed.

“This stuff has always been out there,” said Tooele County Attorney Doug Hogan. “But we are prosecuting more because more cases are bring turned in to authorities because there is a heightened awareness surrounding this type of crime. I don’t know that we have more [child sexual abuse incidents] going on, we are just catching more and prosecuting them.”

Hogan said it certainly feels like child sexual abuse cases are taking up an increased amount of his office’s time.

“It’s always feels like there are more and more cases coming in, and it seems like the nature of cases gets worse and worse,” he said.

Why an increase?

Some experts feel the increase in cases is being driven by population growth, as well as greater willingness on the part of victims to come forward.

The Tooele County Children’s Justice Center, a program created by the Utah Attorney General’s Office to provide a safe haven for children to tell stories of abuse, has seen a rise in the number of child sexual abuse interviews completed in the last four years as well, with 80 in 2005, 130 in 2006 and 162 in 2007, according to Lynne Smith, office manager for the CJC.

So far this year, the center has completed 151 child sexual abuse-related interviews — a total that center director Carolyn Jensen said will most likely eventually surpass all previous years.

“There are a number of things that are affecting the increase in interviews,” said Jensen. “First off, there is more education in the schools, so kids are getting these messages at a younger age. Secondly, we are just getting more and more people in Tooele, which unfortunately means more bad people too. The third thing I see is we have had a lot of high-profile cases lately that have been printed in the newspaper.”

Jensen said child or teen victims see these stories and realize what’s been happening to them is similar to what has happened to others, which ignites communication with parents or other trusted individuals.

“They see that someone can help them,” Jensen said.

Many of the recent high-profile cases Jensen refers to have occurred in situations where perpetrators were in a position of public trust:

Former East Elementary third-grade teacher Christopher Burton, 27, pled guilty on Aug. 21, 2007, to eight counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child after fondling students during class time. He was sentenced to eight to 30 years in prison.

Curtis Crittenden, 34, the former head of the Tooele County 4-H program, also pled guilty in August 2007 to fondling four boys — ages 12 to 14 — who attended a sleepover at his home. He was sentenced to six to 30 years in prison in late September of the same year.

Spreading awareness

Tooele County witness/victim advocate Holly Johnson said more children coming forward to tell stories of sexual abuse has shone a spotlight on the problem.

“Children have been learning more and more that it’s OK to talk about abuse and it’s OK to tell,” Johnson said.

Child sexual abuse cases are the most common type of cases that Johnson deals with.

“My statistics are continually rising,” Johnson said.

Fighting against child sexual abuse is almost as difficult as defining the reasons behind the problem.

The State Office of Education approved a child abuse awareness program developed by Prevent Child Abuse Utah for use in Utah schools a few years ago. The program, called Prevention Dimensions, is presented to kids in kindergarten through third grade once a year for a five-week period.

“We talk about what is appropriate versus what is inappropriate,” said Julie Spindler, a prevention coordinator for Valley Mental Health, which administers the program in the Tooele County School District. “We talk about not keeping secrets. We talk about who you can trust if something is happening to you or someone you are close to.”

Spindler said many children don’t understand what abuse is, especially if it has been happening for as long as they can remember.

“They think it must be OK, unless someone tells them it’s not,” Spindler said. “Kids need to be educated between what’s OK and what’s not OK. They need to know what to do if something is happening to them. They need to tell someone because we want the abuse to stop.”

Reporting abuse

Hogan feels like many victims don’t report incidents of abuse even if they realize it’s wrong because many are within familial situations, where the abuser may be a sibling, a parent or a step-parent. He said the 2007 inception of Jessica’s Law in Utah, which boosts the mandatory minimum penalty for those who sexually abuse children to 25 years to life in prison, has had the unintended consequence of putting pressure on victims as well.

“Even with your less egregious child sex abuse cases, the same penalty applies as for cases on the more extreme side of the spectrum,” Hogan said. “We’ve raised the stakes so high that people may be less likely to report because the [abuser], who they may be dependent on, may be lost out of their life.”

Others may want to see an abuser prosecuted, but are scared about having their own identify revealed, Hogan added.

“Kudos to those who do report,” Hogan said. “Those who report may prevent others from being victimized.”

Hogan said his office’s goal is to be very sensitive to the victims in these types of cases, but also to aggressively pursue perpetrators.

“We have a duty to not only the victim, but to the community as a whole,” Hogan said. “I hate when these cases come up because the whole community feels like they get a black eye, but how do we stop them if we don’t go after them?”

Johnson said in order to help victims feel comfortable coming forward with their stories, the community must not attach a stigma to victims of such crimes.

“Victims are afraid of how they will be perceived by society,” Johnson said. “We have to keep striving to make our community an open place. We need to have a nonjudgmental place. We do that by making it OK to talk about it. We need to hold offenders accountable. We need to surround victims with support and understanding.”

Anchorage man sentenced for child sexual abuse

by Angela Blanchard
Friday, Sept. 19, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska-- An Anchorage man originally charged with 83 counts of child sexual abuse was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison Friday.

Back in June, 53 year-old James Kraus pled "no contest" to sexually abusing two girls, age six and seven, in his Fairview apartment.

Kraus could have faced 99 years in prison but the sentence was reduced under the plea agreement.

The victim's mother said the family had known and loved Kraus for more than 10 years but says the abuse has caused her daughter to suffer physical and emotional problems.

"There are places in town we no longer can go as a family, because it causes her to have flashbacks for what Jim did to her," said the victims mother in court. "My child does not feel safe in her own home the majority of the time and recently has been asking to move out of the state of Alaska to get away from this man."

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay acknowledged the pain and suffering Kraus has caused to the victims.

"It's unbelievable the innocence and the childhood that was stolen from these victims," said Judge Patrick McKay. "You have driven them to both physical and mental health problems as we've heard here today. Quite frankly I wasn't sure if it was long enough. I understand why the state enters into these agreements and I'm going to respect that."

Kraus, who will be 73 years-old when he's eligible for parole, did not address the court.

Sex offender's bond revoked after year of freedom

By Ashley Fantz
CNN

FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- A former Florida teacher, who for a year avoided serving a 43-year sentence for sexually molesting a 13-year-old boy, was handcuffed and ordered back into state custody Friday.

Aaron Mohanlal, here in his sex offender registration photo, had been free pending appeal.

Aaron Mohanlal lowered his head as Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold reversed a decision he made last summer granting the convicted sex offender a $610,000 bond while his conviction was appealed.

The bond was supposed to be secured with properties owned by Mohanlal's relatives. But evidence presented by prosecutors Friday showed there were no liens placed on the properties and they were not worth a fraction of the amount suggested by defense attorneys.

In April 2007, Mohanlal was convicted of 13 counts, including child abuse, molestation and lewd battery for forcing the boy, one of his students, to have sex in a classroom supply closet. Occasionally, the teacher would take the boy home during school hours for sex. He also purchased a cell phone for the teen and created nicknames for their genitalia to help keep phone sex a secret. The abuse went on for nearly two years.

Gold said on Friday that he weighed "the severity" of the case in deciding to revoke Mohanlal's bond.

"I can't believe it, I can't believe it, finally some justice," the victim's father said after the ruling as his voice cracked with emotion.

Gold granted the bond in July 2007. It allowed Mohanlal to remain free until his case was tried on appeal -- a process that could take years. Gold had agreed to the bond on the condition that Mohanlal's relatives have liens placed on three family properties as collateral. That meant that if Mohanlal left town, or did not show up for court, the family would -- in Gold's words -- "lose everything."

But records indicate the family had little to lose.

The total value of the bond properties was not a fraction of $610,000, said prosecutor Ellen St. Laurent.

Best Bail Bonds of Broward did not place liens on the properties and at least one of the homes is in foreclosure and for sale, according to evidence presented Friday. Mohanlal's defense attorney told Gold in 2007 that one collateral property -- a home in Sunrise, Florida, owned by Mohanlal's father -- was worth more than $250,000, according to St. Laurent. In fact, there are several mortgages on that home, which has no equity, said St. Laurent, who specializes in surety law.

St. Laurent told Gold that he had granted a "bogus" bond. "The basis under which you granted the bond was absolute misinformation," she said.

St. Laurent argued that because Mohanlal's relatives' properties are worth very little, there was a favorable chance the sex offender would leave town to escape his 43-year sentence.

Defense Attorney Diane Cuddihy argued that Mohanlal showed up to court when he was asked to during the original trial. She also argued that Mohanlal came to Friday's hearing from Port St. Lucie, where he lives.

She said Gold had no jurisdictional discretion to rule in the case. The case is in Florida's appellate courts, which should rule on whether the bond is legitimate, she said.

Gold disagreed. He blamed the defense for giving him "misinformation" at the 2007 bond hearing.

"There's no question that the information given to me was incorrect," Gold said. "Given the severity of the sentencing, I'm revoking this bond."

Tom Blomberg, dean of the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University, said granting the bond was a mistake.

"This guy had all the incentive to take off knowing what he would face in prison. So, to know that there was nothing holding him here -- that his family wouldn't suffer one bit if he skipped town -- that's an enormous screw-up," Blomberg said.

"To have no oversight on a bond is hard to imagine," Blomberg continued. "What would stop someone from Broward County from walking in and saying I have $1 million worth of property, so just believe me? You have to wonder what kind of checking system the courts in Broward County have."

St. Laurent said it is advised -- although not required -- that the courts check tax and mortgage information on properties used for collateral. That was not done in Mohanlal's case, she said.

There were no title searches conducted on any of Mohanlal's properties, and there were no appraisals of any of the properties during the year that Mohanlal was free on the bond, evidence showed.

A representative from Best Bail Bonds testified that she was not aware the company had agreed to the bond until St. Laurent called her last week.

The victim's father said Gold on Friday gave his son what Mohanlal should never have again -- freedom.

"My son must move on with his life and that monster should go away for the rest of his."

Woman charged with enabling child abuse

A Norman woman is accused of knowing two girls were being sexually molested without reporting it.

Deborah K. Roth, also known as Deborah K. Bentley, 46, was charged Wednesday with permitting and enabling child abuse.

The children were placed in protective custody last April, and David S. Bentley, 44, was charged with three counts of attempted rape; rape by instrumentation; two counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child; and use of a computer to furnish pornography to a minor.

Bentley is incarcerated in the Rogers County Sheriff's Office Detention Facility in Claremore. His preliminary hearing on the charges is set for 9 a.m. Oct. 15 before Special Judge Rod Ring.

Police said testimony from the child victims indicates Roth knew the girls had been taken out of school and were being molested, but did nothing to report it.

Also Wednesday, two Oklahoma City brothers were charged with first-degree rape by force and fear, and warrants were issued for their arrests, requesting they be held on $250,000 bonds.

Manuel Adrian Juarez Jr., 21, and Carlos Hernandez Juarez, 29, are accused, along with two unknown males, of going to the 18-year-old victim's Moore residence Sunday and forcing her to have sexual intercourse against her will.

Other felonies filed recently include:

· Thomas Edward Brown, 32, Weatherford, Texas, knowingly concealing stolen property; and false declaration of ownership in a pawn;

· Dewayne Deon Graham, 31, Oklahoma City, omitting to provide for a child;

· Jack Edward Spector, 19, Norman, knowingly concealing stolen property.

Jury issues guilty verdict in child-sexual abuse trial

By: Marlene DiGiacomo


PHILADELPHIA - A federal prosecutor Wednesday described John Jackey Worman as a "monster" and said while she can't repair the harm he's done to a dozen victims - some as young as 3 months old - in the horrific sexual abuse case, she can see that he is put behind bars for life.
"I think he is a monster," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella following the verdict in which the 41-year-old Worman of Colwyn was convicted of all charges.
The case involved more than 1 million images of child pornography - most snapped by the defendant while he committed anal, oral and vaginal sex on the youngsters ranging from infancy to 15 years old during a nine-year period.
"I am very happy he will never be in a position to hurt any other child," said Rotella. "I can't fix what he did to these kids. But I can make sure that he never gets out to hurt another child. He deserves life in jail. This is justice for all those kids."
She also hailed as a "hero" a 20-year-old who first came forward and reported to authorities what she had been enduring for years in an effort to protect her little brother from Worman's predatory actions.
Worman was convicted in U.S. District Court Wednesday of 55 counts of manufacturing child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography in what could be one of the worst cases of child pornography in the nation because of the sheer volume of images found in the defendant's possession.
Rotella said that while what occurred to the three babies was "horrible and vile," they, fortunately, will have no memory of their ordeals.
"The saddest thing of all was the sexual abuse that occurred to the older victims," she said. "They are profoundly impacted by what he did to them."
Among the victims were children left in the care of baby sitter Concetta Jackson, 45, of Colwyn, including a 3-month-old. Jackson has pleaded guilty for her part in the case and is awaiting sentencing.
FBI Agent Jennifer Coughlin said following Worman's conviction that the infant's mother was "stoic" while on the stand, but was "devastated" when police first informed her that her newborn daughter was among the victims.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about four hours over two days before reaching a verdict. During the proceedings, the panel had to endure the disturbing task of viewing the graphic videotapes and stills of Worman sexually assaulting the victims.
The jurors were obviously affected by the sickening material they had to watch. At one point during the six-days of testimony, as an image of an infant being victimized was being shown, a male juror raised his hand and asked U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel to call a recess.
It was that same juror who, as the foreman, Wednesday repeated the "guilty" verdicts to all of the 56 charges against Worman.
The defendant faces a mandatory 15 years in jail on each charge. Stengel set sentencing for 11 a.m. Dec. 18.
Rotella, who has spent about a decade prosecuting such child sexual-abuse cases, including five years while serving as a Delaware County prosecutor, said, "Absolutely," when asked if it was the worst case she's ever seen.
"I'm having a hard time getting it out of my head," she said.
During the trial, Rotella methodically and coolly handled her duties - that is, until Wednesday afternoon, when she fought back tears while giving her closing argument against co-defendant Dorothy Prawdzik, 44, accused of aiding and abetting Worman.
As she became emotional and reached for tissues to wipe away the tears, Rotella apologized, stating, "I'm sorry. I'm a mother."
The jury deliberated about an hour Wednesday involving the 14 charges that Prawdzik faces for her alleged part in the manufacturing of the child pornography. The panel is to return at 9 a.m. today to continue deliberating as to the offenses against Prawdzik.
Defense attorney Steven Laver argued there was insufficient evidence to hold the defendant accountable for Worman's crimes.
In her closing, Rotella played part of the tapes in which Prawdzik is seen and heard telling a child to "spread her legs" for Worman's camera. She is also seen performing a sex act with a 10-year-old girl and Worman.
Some of the children abused were in Prawdzik's care and Rotella said the defendant was the "last line of defense" for those youngsters.
"Instead of protecting them, she victimized them over and over again," said Rotella "She made a conscious choice - to allow John Worman to do what he did."

Thoughts

So yesterday at 300pm my time, I decided to watch Oprah and guess what the topic was child sex abuse. The last time I watched Oprah when she was talking about this subject was when I was 21 and I finally told my parents of my abuse. Yesterday was so mind boggling for me I can believe that there is a guide on the internet for how to molest a child, its so disgusting that these predators are so bold that they want to create a how to guide. I just can't believe that, it shakes me to the core of my being.

I know some have wondered how I am doing, I am taking things day-by-day like I have been since this happened to me as a child. For me I won't say that I am lucky, its more like I am blessed the life was token of the monster that did this to me when I was 16. It happened on Friday the 13th, to be honest with you it was the best day of my life, it was the first day that I did not even think of that bastard.It was funny I knew he was dead before anyone else did, I just had an overwhelming since of peace wash over me. He died by the hand of a bystander as he was trying to rob a bank. For me while he was alive I never ever got an apology, he never asked for forgiveness he just moved on with his life, he had kids and a fiance no one ever knew the predator that he was to me.

I can say that I am fine as a 28year old wife and mother of one, God gives me the strength to make it through. After all these years I did have to seek help by taking prozac to cope day by day, and my husband and son are another source of my strength. Blogging has truly been my salvation, I am finally able to express myself to the world and bring awareness to this horror.

Please watch todays Oprah!!!!

Help Pass Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act

Hundreds of thousands of children are victims of sexual abuse each year. Due to the sheer lack of resources, law enforcement is unable to follow up on the majority of leads they have.

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

• Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
• Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
• Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.

Act Now!
Your U.S. senators will be voting on the bill soon, so it is crucial you contact them immediately.
Go to www.senate.gov to find contact information for the senators in your state. Search for your senator by name or state by clicking on the arrow from either dropdown menu. Contact information is provided here. To send an e-mail, click on "Web Form" below his or her name, and e-mail your letter to make a difference!

Mo'Nique: Big 'Push' Help Tell Of Her Own Incest

By Brennan Williams, BlackVoices.com

Over the past 10 years, Mo'Nique has become one of the foremost funny-woman in Hollywood.

But the plus-sized comedienne's recent revelation of teenage sex abuse is no laughing matter.

In the October issue of 'Essence,' the Baltimore native reveals that she was sexually abused by her brother at the tender age of seven.

"I was molested by my older brother," she tells writer Audrey Edwards during one of her most candid interviews ever. "And even when I confronted him and told my parents, he said I was lying, and nothing was really done."

'The Parkers' star said that her brother molested her four times over the course of four years, using certain tactics such as candy to lure her into the bathroom.

Her parents, she said, were in disbelief, but she didn't hold them accountable "because me and my brother were both their children, and I just don't know the kind of position they felt they were in."

However, the way her parents handled the situation left her bewildered.


"My father was very upset, but it never got mentioned again," she added. "I'll never forget my mother saying, 'If it's true, it will surface again,' and I remember thinking, 'Why would I lie? Why is there even an if in this?' I was angry with them for so long, because I felt as if they should have seen what was happening."

Mo'Nique's alleged sexual abuse came full circle when playing her latest role as an abusive parent in Lee Daniels'; forthcoming film, 'Push.' Based on the seminal 1996 novel of the same name by Sapphire, the story is a graphic account of a young black woman growing up in a cycle of incest and abuse.

"My brother was a monster to me," she commented. "When Lee [Daniels] would say 'Action,' I became my brother."

Her brother, she said went on to serve 15 years in prison for sexually abusing another girl and never made amends for the abuse.

"He still acts like he doesn't know what I'm talking about," she vented in the magazine, which hit newsstands today."So screw hurting your feelings. You need to get your feelings hurt, and you need to get some help."

Mo'Nique, who serves as Guest Editor of the magazine, a special issue dedicated to plus-sized women, admitted to being nervous about telling her painful truth but felt it was her duty.

"It makes me nervous. It's like, Oh, God, what will it do to him when people read this? And then another part of me is like, Goddamn it, it's my obligation to let people know, and to tell women to watch their children."


Mo'Nique is very brave to share her story with the world, and once again parents please listen and pay attention to your kids. The signs of sex abuse are always there.

If you or anyone you know are going through or have gone through this please contact the following organizations online.

rainn.org, nca-online.org,ncvc.org and jfcadvocacy.org.

Oliver O'Grady

Just to let you know our president, president Bush pardoned this bastard.


Oliver O'Grady (born 1946) is a former Irish Roman Catholic priest who has raped, molested and abused many children in California from 1973 onwards. He wrote a letter of confession to parents in 1976 and a copy was given to the Bishop of Stockton at that time.

Early life

Born in Limerick, Ireland, O'Grady was ordained into the priesthood at seminary in Thurles, County Tipperary during the late 1960s. He emigrated to the United States in 1971.^[1] He served as a priest at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi, California from 1971 to 1978. He later served at Church of the Presentation in Stockton, California, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Turlock, California, St. Andrew's Parish San Andreas, California, and St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Hughson, California.^[2] He later claimed to having been himself molested by a priest at the age of 10, and that he was involved in sexual abuse in his own family, both as perpetrator and victim.

Crimes

In 1993 he was convicted on four counts of "lewd and lascivious acts" on two minors, the brothers John and James Howard, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Attorney Jeff Anderson said the Howard brothers were repeatedly molested between 1978 and 1991, from age three to 13. Anderson argued that church officials knew that O'Grady had abused children as early as 1976 and 1984, but had done nothing. In 1998 a civil jury ordered the Catholic Diocese of Stockton to pay US$30 million in damages to the brothers. A judge later reduced the amount to $7 million.^[4] O'Grady was paroled from prison in 2000 after serving seven years, and went to live in Ireland after being deported from the United States.

In a 2005 video taped deposition, O'Grady revealed that he had abused as many as 25 children in and around Northern California.^[5] Recently, there have been lawsuits filed accusing O'Grady of abusing children while even in the seminary in Ireland.

Deliver Us From Evil

O'Grady is the subject of the 2006 Academy Award-nominated documentary, Deliver Us From Evil. In the film, O'Grady states, "I want to promise myself this is going to be the most honest confession of my life." He then details how he preyed on children, and claims that church officials knew about his abuses, but protected him by moving him from parish to parish.^[6][7] When questioned whether his bishop knew that he had abused children in 1976 and before, O'Grady confirmed this was true, and despite that he was made pastor of another parish.

When a policeman becomes a predator

Sleepovers took a sinister turn as a close friend betrayed a family's trust, writes Kate Benson.

IT WAS late one Friday afternoon last year when Michelle Adams* took a call on her mobile that would change her life.

Two Australian Federal Police officers wanted to see her urgently. Meet them at 6pm at the domestic terminal at Sydney Airport. No arguments. Bring your husband.

"I felt very, very sick. I had been burning a ballet DVD for my daughter's upcoming dance exams and I thought Big Brother had caught me."

But Adams's life was about to become a dance of a much darker kind. Photos and videos of her 10-year-old daughter, Megan, had been found on international child pornography websites, traded between pedophiles in the United States and discussed in chatrooms.

The nine photos, spread out by the officers, showed Megan, a happy, exuberant year 5 student, washing the car in a bikini, bouncing on a trampoline in her school uniform, and playing at the beach.

The photos had been cropped to focus on her crotch and chest, but Adams recognised the swimming costume and a freckle on Megan's upper thigh.

All of the pictures, plus videos of Megan undressing and showering, had been posted on the internet by one of Adams's most trusted friends, a police officer with a wife and young daughter, who played regularly with Megan.

The general duties constable had been arrested a fortnight earlier and granted bail, Adams was told.

He was charged with three counts of using the internet to transmit child pornography, after police found at his home 4900 photos and 204 videos of children as young as two simulating or performing sexual acts.

A bag of women's clothes, which he used in some of his sexual fantasies, was found in his locker at the police station, the court heard.

The child protection unit at the Sydney Children's Hospital, at Randwick, where Adams and her family were counselled, sees more than 760 children a year, some sexually abused, others neglected, beaten or poisoned.

Only two cases have involved internet pornography, but staff fear this number will rise.

"People have to be vigilant

about the photos they post on sites like MySpace and Facebook because the reality is that offenders will often use innocent photos and manipulate them in ways to get sexual gratification," says a social worker, Bernadette Walsh.

Many parents were also unaware that perpetrators were often family members or friends, well known to the child, she said.

"We caution children about stranger danger all the time and yet the vast majority of offenders are people within the family or known to the family and we don't give children the skills to talk about that."

The co-head of the child protection unit at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, Robyn Lamb, said staff had seen a surge in the number of children who were victims of internet pornography, including a recent case where a mother posted sexualised photos of her children on American child porn sites.

"We get quite a few cases where children have been coerced in chatrooms by people who they thought were of a similar age. These [perpetrators] are very clever - they know how to pick the vulnerable ones and gain their trust."

She said her unit had about 1200 referrals a year, and about half were victims of sexual abuse.

In the Adams case, the police officer had been trading explicit images of prepubescent girls for years, but had recently told an undercover FBI agent in a chatroom he had been planning to drug and rape Megan, but lost his nerve at the last moment. He had asked the agent if the act would have given him "a buzz".

"I remember driving home and feeling very numb. [My husband] David and I did not speak a word to each other," Adams says.

"I had seen [the officer] in that fortnight after he was arrested. We'd had coffee and he'd been quiet but he didn't mention anything was wrong. His wife had even been asking to have Megan for a play and a sleepover.

"I used to think what a great husband and father he was. Any time he came to dinner at our place he always made a sweet, and he used to do the cleaning and his own ironing and look after [his daughter] Charlotte all the time, and certainly do some fun things with her. They always invited Megan," Adams says.

"There were times when Megan didn't want to go and play with her and I'd say, 'Don't be mean. She's an only child and she's just looking for a good friend.' "

Adams's eyes fill with tears as she recalls this. "My head is spinning when I think about that."

She now knows that the officer was grooming Megan, buying her gifts and treats, and ingratiating himself with Adams, by regularly asking her out for coffee and involving himself in her family's activities.

The bubbly primary school student has never spoken of being molested by him, and seems oblivious to the sexual agenda of his photo collection, but Adams is still gripped with fear that she may have been assaulted without her knowledge.

"We were very nervous about what may have been done to her but I didn't want to frighten her by asking. She knew nothing about sex and I was worried that he may have told her he had a gun and he'd use it on her or us if she told anyone. It could have terrified her if I probed too much," Adams says.

Megan was never medically assessed for sexual assault because the examination must be done within 72 hours of the encounter and the results are notoriously unreliable, but Department of Community Services officers assured Adams her daughter did not exhibit any behavioural signs indicative of molestation, such as repeatedly touching her genitals or acting in a flirtatious manner.

"Megan told me that he gave her a Panadol once for no reason. I think he was testing the waters. He had some extraordinarily strong painkillers at his house and I think he was seeing if Megan could trust him enough to take a pill from him, and if she could swallow a pill," Adams says.

"I did take one last phone call from his wife. I was feeling very angry so I was not a very nice person towards her. [I asked her if she had] any idea what he was up to and her answer was no but that about five years earlier she had caught him with a disc of pornography and he promised her he would never do it again."

The police officer was sentenced to three years and three months in jail, to be served in protection at Grafton. He may be out on parole in August 2010, but Adams's face crumbles when she contemplates his release.

"I don't know what we'll do. Part of me wants to write a letter to all his neighbours telling them what he's done but that's because I'm still angry. Really, I think my goal now is to focus on my family. We need to look after ourselves and heal. The person I feel most sorry for is Charlotte. She is a lovely kid, a really nice little girl, and I feel for her because she's just an innocent person in a very mixed-up family."

* Names have been changed.

Social customs 'hide child sex abuse'

Socially accepted practices are being used to hide the sexual abuse of children in various parts of the world, according to a new report from an international advocacy group.

Girls are bought, through payment of a dowry, to provide sexual pleasure... and are then abandoned Carmen Madrinan, ECPAT executive director

The Bangkok-based international child protection campaign group, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) reserves its harshest criticism for forced marriages of adolescents and children.

It says such marriage contracts can be found all over the Middle East and South Asia and are a cloak for child abuse.

BBC correspondent Stephen Cviic says international non-governmental organisations often tread a fine line in promoting a progressive view, and the strong criticism in this report may well be unpalatable to people in developing countries.

The ECPAT notes that in Iran the legal age for marriage is 13, which means that older men can have sex with young girls.

The girls are essentially "bought, through payment of a dowry, to provide sexual pleasure... and are then abandoned," says Carmen Madrinan, the executive director of ECPAT International.

And Egyptian children are often given to wealthy older men for a few weeks or months under legal short-term marriage contracts, it says.

Boy prostitution

The report also describes the problem of prostitution among underage boys in South Asia, which is never discussed openly because of religious and sexual taboos.

In Pakistan, it says, the use of boys as homosexual prostitutes for older men is virtually tolerated, but the boys themselves are unable to seek help from the police because they are seen as outcasts.

"It's a phenomenon that was hidden for a long time, and then we found that it's everywhere, but nobody really mentioned it," said Chitraporn Vanasapongse, who wrote the report.

The report describes other traditional practices which encourage abuse.

In Nigeria, it says, people traffickers often use traditional religion to cast spells which make their victims feel trapped and afraid.

And in Latin America, the use of children as domestic servants can also involve an assumption that such youngsters are sexually available to their employers.

Internet use

Ms Madrinan said that while quantifying commercial sexual exploitation of children is very difficult, there has been an increase in the number of arrests and international operations in the last few years and that images of abused children are more widely available on the internet.

"There is no better measurement of the growth of the exploitation of children than that," she said.

"It's one of the ways that enables us to quantify [the problem]."

Uganda: Child Sexual Abuse Eating Our Future Away

By: Anslem Wandega

The media recently reported various cases of child sexual abuse in Uganda. This social upheaval continues to rank high amongst other forms of child abuse in our country today.

In traditional African society, defilement was rarely heard of. It may, however, have been happening but the society at large had created a system where children were protected through many avenues, ranging from stringent taboos centered on relationships and living arrangements.

Anybody who touched a child inappropriately or even made an attempt to sleep with that child was not only considered an imbecile, but was severely punished by the society. Such a "societal predator" was better seen dead than alive by society members.

These days, things have changed! Our society's most trusted individuals-parents, relatives, church leaders, friends, teachers, etc have turned to wreak havoc on children. In faith-based institutions, some men of god have not escaped Satan's temptations as they have turned to vulnerable children for sexual gratification.

Schools which used to be safe havens for children have turned into places where teachers admire their pupils, proceed to establish sexual relationships with them only to be discovered when the girls get pregnant.

The dot com era has also brought with it pornography. Urban and peri-urban youths and adults after enjoying seeing pornographic materials in the mushrooming video dens and internet cafes resort to sexual abuse of children.

Some parents fear to report child sexual abuse in cases where alleged offenders or their relatives are richer or are in positions of higher authority. Others fear the cost involved in facilitating the police to arrest the alleged offenders and in meeting related medical exam fees. Many others fear "bringing shame" to their families when their close relatives are found to have defiled their children.

Sexually abused children are at a risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Pregnant teenagers who abort and do not receive proper treatment and support in time to save them from the complications of an aborted pregnancy die.

These children also suffer long term psychological trauma, which manifests in form of pelvic pains, headaches, asthma and gynecological problems. Some in the long run, even fail to make the best sexual and reproductive health decisions for themselves, and are often unable as adults to negotiate safe sex, or enjoy intimacy relationships. Many others accept victimization as an inevitable aspect of being female whereas others fail to trust even their husbands viewing them as potential defilers.

This should end or else children will continue to suffer and regard sexual abuse as normal and continue to be abused.

We urgently need a strong law against pornography so as to shield children from pornography-induced sexual abuse. The government should then earmark substantial financial and other resources to enforce it as well as other laws against child sexual abuse.

There is a need to build the capacity of non-governmental and governmental institutions to offer child-friendly services to enable child-victims of sexual abuse to return to normalcy. Other programs to uplift the social and economic standards of vulnerable families and encourage reportage of child sexual abuse with ease should be developed and executed.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) in one of his most popular pieces wrote that the only opportunity for evil to prevail is when good people sit back and watch. Time to save our society from becoming extinct is now.

Mr Wandega is a development worker in Addis Ababa , Ethiopi

Doctor Charged With Sexual Abuse

A Tulsa doctor has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor child.

Dr. Kirk Smith was arrested in July on a complaint of sexually abusing a 6-year old girl at his home in Bixby.

A police affidavit says the girl told her 10-year-old brother that Dr. Smith was doing "bad things" to her. And according to that report, it happened more than once.

Smith has been suspended from SouthCrest Hospital in Tulsa where he was working in family medicine and obstetrics.

Bronx man indicted in sexual abuse against child

A Bronx man has been indicted in Sullivan County on charges he sexually abused a child for months. Hector Cerna, 19, faces charges of first-degree sexual conduct against a child and first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. The victim was under the age of 11 and the abuse started around November 2006 and continued until March 2007, court papers said.

Please Visit this site!!!!!

Darkness to Light is a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce the incidence of child sexual abuse by shifting the responsibility of prevention from children to adults. The mission is accomplished through an award winning media campaign that raises public awareness and directs adults to educational tools. The tools teach adults how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse and include the 7 Steps to Preventing Child Sexual Abuse and the consciousness training based Stewards of Children curriculum. For more information on how you can help prevent child sexual abuse, please visit www.darkness2light.org.

Group Aims to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

The Virginia Department of Health says one in four girls and one in five boys in the state are victims of sexual assault. It's a topic that makes many people so uncomfortable that they choose to avoid the problem. But a group of healthcare workers, advocates, victims and former offenders are trying to educate others to help prevent child sexual abuse.

"I remember feeling like a rag doll I had no control. It was almost like I was up on the ceiling watching what was happening," recalled Keith*.

It's taken Keith years to come to terms with the abuse he suffered as a child, but he's come forward in the hopes that others can learn from his past, joining other victims, treatment providers and a former offender in an honest discussion of childhood sexual assault.

The former offender Mark* shared, "I knew what I was doing was wrong and in so doing, I didn't want to be caught even by the victim. I was very good a rationalizing and denying that what I was doing did not cause any harm."

The panel's discussion was just one part of a workshop designed to help others understand recognize and prevent sexual abuse. "What we're asking is that the adults in the community get involved and that the adults in the room start to work harder about preventing child sexual abuse," explained clinician Sarah Lewis.

Lewis helps victims deal with the ramifications of sexual assault. She says the best prevention is proactive, not just dealing with abuse after it's happened, but reaching out to potential abusers before they act on inappropriate urges.

She said, "Until now, we really have not had anything fill the niche of what do we do if someone feels that they are tempted to touch a child inappropriately or what do we do if we notice someone being inappropriate with a child?"

The Virginia Department of Health Runs "Stop It Now", a helpline to guide people who suspect child sexual abuse even if it's just a gut feeling. Potential offenders can also call to get help before they do something wrong.

If you suspect or want to prevent child sexual abuse, you can call the Stop It Now hotline at 1-888-PREVENT (773-8368).

Reported by Claire O'Brien

Ex-priest in Australia faces child sex charges

The Associated Press

Sat, Sep 6, 2008 (12:18 a.m.)

A former Roman Catholic priest already facing dozens of charges related to allegations of sexual abuse at an exclusive Australian boarding school has been charged with an additional 60 child sex offenses, police said Wednesday.

Police also arrested two other men Wednesday in connection with the investigation into alleged abuse in the 1980s at two religious schools.

The new charges and arrests come after Pope Benedict XVI visited Australia in July and publicly condemned sexual predators in the church, apologizing to their victims.

The 65-year-old ex-priest, identified by his attorney as Brian Spillane of Sydney, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with 60 counts relating to alleged sexual assaults against eight people, New South Wales state police said.

He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 15, a police spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. The spokeswoman declined to provide any additional information, including details of the allegations or the specific charges.

Spillane was originally charged in May with 33 child sex offenses against five people as a result of a police investigation into allegations of abuse in the 1980s at St. Stanislaus in the city of Bathurst, 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Sydney. Spillane worked at the school on and off between the 1970s and early 1990s.

Police on Wednesday also arrested a 66-year-old Catholic brother in connection with their probe into St. Stanislaus and a 63-year-old former teacher of another religious school in Bathurst that is also under investigation.

The Catholic brother was arrested in Sydney and charged with 28 sexual offenses dating back to the 1970s and '80s. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court Sept. 15. Police did not name the man or say whether he taught at St. Stanislaus. Many members of Catholic orders teach in religious schools.

The other suspect arrested Wednesday, a former teacher who lives on Russell Island in Queensland state, was charged with three counts of indecent assault relating to alleged offenses at the Anglican All Saints College in Bathurst in 1973. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court Nov. 17.

Police did not release either man's name or details about the allegations against them.

Police Superintendent Michael Goodwin said that since the original allegations became public, additional people have come forward claiming to have been abused at the schools.

"Police are currently working through a significant amount of information in relation to these sexual assault matters most of which date back to the 1970s and 80s," Goodwin said in a statement.

"As a result of information from the public, (the police probe) has been expanded to investigate any instances of sexual abuse relating to any former student of any school in the Bathurst area," he said. "Inquiries are continuing, and I cannot rule out further arrests at this stage."

Spillane's lawyer, Greg Walsh, said Wednesday that his client maintained his innocence and said the case had been "highly contaminated," in part because the accusers' complaints were based on repressed memories.

"They've (the memories) been concocted," Walsh said. "There's no scientific basis on recovered memories."

Walsh declined to elaborate or say whether police or psychologists worked with the accusers to draw out the memories of alleged abuse.

"I can't go into details," he said, adding only that there were "a number of bizarre aspects" to the case.

John Edwards, principal of St. Stanislaus, said the school first learned of the allegations against the former priest five or six years ago, after a link to a Web site containing graphic descriptions of sex acts that had allegedly taken place at the school was sent to several staff members. Officials at the school forwarded the information to police, Edwards said.

"We never heard anything further of it," Edwards said.

On July 3, the school was served with a search warrant listing the names of three former staff members, including Spillane, Edwards said. But police would not tell Edwards whether the other two former staff members were also accused of molesting students, or whether they were simply potential witnesses.

Pleas to child pornography, sexual abuse net Decatur man two five-year prison terms

By Ron Ingram

DECATUR - John T. Spalding, 33, was sentenced Thursday to two concurrent five-year prison terms for his guilty pleas to one count each of child pornography and aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving a 15-year-old girl.

Associate Judge Timothy Steadman accepted Spalding's pleas and imposed the sentence, which was part of a plea agreement reached between Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Dobson and defense attorney Scott Rueter.

Spalding also must register as a sex offender and pay a mandatory $1,000 fine. He received credit toward that fine of $755 at $5 a day for time he served in jail.

Tonya M. Spalding, 34, the defendant's wife, pleaded guilty in June to the same charges. Steadman sentenced her Aug. 22 to four years in prison on the child pornography charge and three years on the aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge with the terms to run concurrently.

On Thursday, Rueter asked Steadman to allow John Spalding to withdraw his original guilty plea to a Class 1 child pornography charge and instead plead to a new Class 3 child pornography charge the state would file. He said Spalding pleaded guilty to the Class 1 felony because he hoped to request probation when sentenced but later discovered probation is not a sentencing option for Class 1 child pornography.

Dobson filed the substitute charge and did not object to the plea switch, to which Steadman agreed.

Asked by the judge to give a basis for Spalding's pleas, Dobson said if the alleged victim had testified she would have stated she was under the age of 17 when she first got to know the Spaldings, who invited her to their home. She said as the girl got closer to the couple, they gave her alcohol to drink and John Spalding photographed her fondling Tonya Spalding's breast, which he did for his sexual arousal.

Police were able to recover a photographic image of that encounter from the Spaldings' home computer, Dobson said.

Asthma in kids may be linked to child abuse, researchers say

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By Stephen Smith

BOSTON GLOBE

09/02/2008

As an epidemic of asthma left more and more children wheezing during the past two decades, scientists blamed everything from obesity to cockroach droppings to the way we build our houses.

Now, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital have identified another potential cause: child abuse.

The Brigham doctors discovered that children in Puerto Rico who endure physical or sexual abuse are twice as likely to suffer from asthma as youngsters who do not face maltreatment. Abuse, the researchers found, was a more powerful predictor of whether a child would develop asthma than if a family was rich or poor.

Stress recently has been implicated as a trigger for asthma. And the Boston researchers said they believe that the extreme strain caused by abuse — and the hormonal changes that result — may predispose children to worse bouts of the disease, which ignites chest-rattling coughs and chronic shortness of breath. It is believed to be the first time researchers have established a possible link between child abuse and asthma.

The Brigham scientists, who collaborated with specialists from Columbia University and the University of Puerto Rico, focused on Puerto Rican children because they are more likely to have asthma and to die from the disease than any other U.S. youngsters, regardless of whether they live on the island or the mainland.

Roughly 25 percent of Puerto Rican children are diagnosed with asthma at some point during childhood, compared with 13 percent of white, non-Hispanic children and 16 percent of black youngsters.

"The question is, why?" asked Dr. Juan Celedsn, a lung specialist in the Brigham's Channing Laboratory. "Is this heredity? Is this environmental factors? Is this some behavioral or lifestyle factor?"

The researchers questioned about 1,200 children and their parents. Before they agreed to participate in the study, families were told that some questions would pertain to abuse and that authorities would be alerted if a child reported having been struck violently or subjected to sexual abuse.

Asthma was significantly more common among children who said they had faced abuse in the previous year, with 20 percent suffering from the respiratory ailment. Among children who had not sustained abuse, the asthma rate was 11.5 percent.

Still, abused children represented only a small fraction of the total number with asthma.

"It's very clear it's a very complex disease," Celedsn said. "By no means should we say abuse is responsible for a majority of the cases. And I don't want this to stigmatize Puerto Ricans or other parents who have children with asthma."

The crazy thing is that its true what these researchers say I was diagnosed with asthma right around the time of my sexual abuse.

Former delegate to plead guilty in child porn case

Article by:Laura Smitherman

September 3, 2008

Former Maryland state Del. Robert A. McKee plans to plead guilty to one count of possession of child pornography, his lawyer said yesterday. Federal prosecutors announced yesterday that they had charged McKee with possessing computer images documenting the sexual abuse of children. McKee faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison followed by supervised release for life and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. attorney's office. No court appearance has been set. McKee, a 59-year-old Hagerstown resident, resigned from the General Assembly in

February, and at the same time resigned as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County. He had been in the legislature, representing Washington County as a Republican, since 1994. Washington County sheriff's deputies searched McKee's home Jan. 31 and seized several computers, videotapes and other printed material. Big Brothers Big Sisters of

Washington County board President Elaine Rose said in a statement yesterday that the organization was cooperating with authorities and improving its screening procedures.

Expressing Me

Today I woke up and wondered how did my life turn out to be way it is right now. I'm happily married, a devoted mother to my son, I have a secure roof over my head, and I've had the courage to put out to the whole world my tragedy as a child. I personally feel that its the lord of above who has blessed me with the strength to be where I am right now. For along time there I really did not think that I would be married or have a baby, because I did not know how my past would effect marriage and children. I was truly afraid that I would freak out, I never thought that I would be able to tell the man I loved and married my secret and not have him run away. He proved me wrong, he did not see me as a victim but a survivor, someone who's fought through her past to be the strong woman I am today.

I must admit that just recently I had finally sought some medical treatment, I noticed that after having my son that a lot of those old feelings came back and I started to become severely depressed.Hell it started before my son was born, during my pregnancy I was totally not the person that I am today. I was miserable.

Now I sit hear writing and I am finally okay with the world seeing my soul again. I am living to bring justice to something that a lot of people rarely talk about, I am here to bring light to the darkness.

I truly feel now at 28 that I am finally beginning to heal.