Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Ridge Creek School / Hidden Lake Academy

Emotional Abuse of Children Okay in Georgia

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Deborah:
From the Nugget

Children should not be humiliated
 
I want to comment on an incident that I observed at Wal-Mart on Sept. 10 shortly after 5 p.m. Standing next to the parking lot was a young boy (about age 9) holding a sign stating: "I have been rude and disrespectful to my mother. I called my teacher 'stupid'."

His mother was holding a sign: "Fed-up."

When we went to speak with the mother, she was eager to talk regarding her difficulties with her son, that his behavior was out of control, that she had to frequently leave her job to pick him up from school due to his disruptive behavior, that he was on the verge of being kicked out of school.

My impression, as a retired psychiatric social worker and concerned citizen, is that this mother was crying out for help.

I called DFACs (the Department of Family and Children's Services) to get their advice on such a situation. I was NOT going to make a specific report with the mother's name, as I did not want to escalate the immediate situation. The call was made shortly after 5 p.m. I let the phone ring 11 times with no answer nor even a recorded message.

Is there no coverage after 5 p.m. or on weekends re: possible child abuse?  
 
Next I called the sheriff's department who told me that the incident had been reported and that no officer would investigate because the woman was not doing anything "wrong." When I asked her about DFACs, she said that they are not there after 5 p.m.

Even more shocking was when I consulted the Welfare Information Gateway on the internet for the definition of child abuse in the state of Georgia. Out of the 50 states, Georgia is one of two states that does NOT include in our state laws that emotional abuse is considered child abuse.

The maltreatment of children is a wider issue than this isolated incident.

Many parents are frustrated with behavior problems of their children.

As we were talking with this mother, other people honked car horns and shouted: "Way to go! Good!" and other expressions condoning this action.

However public humiliation of children does not resolve their anger and acting-out behavior.

Long ago in colonial America, the troublemakers were punished in the center of town for the entire public to see. Locked in wooden frameworks in the town square, the town people scoffed at them.

Colonial Americans looked on themselves as moral and religious people, just as many of our contemporary American citizens do.

But is public humiliation a part of God's moral code?

What would Jesus do?

Sincerely,
Holly Brannon
Dahlonega

Anonymous:
I read this one too last week and was shocked that DSS didnt consider this to be out of the norm for a young child to be made to do this. If this mother is wanting this boy to respect her, I dont believe this was the way to go about it.

Anonymous:
I would have beat the shit out of her.

It's a good thing I don't live in Georgia.

Anonymous:
further demonstration of the backwardness of georgia. it's like an american afghanistan. i think the southern states should just separate, and become another country because i dont want to feel so embarassed knowing that a place like georgia is part of my country. and then i think they should do reverse slavery - all black people will be assigned/can own 3 white slaves per person. i would also put in a law that a child if immune from prosecution if he/she assaults/kills an overly abusive parent or guardian. because i can guarentee you that kid with the sign will end up doing just that one day.

 
if that happened in new york the mother would have gotten harrased by a mob, arrested, and social services would do an evaluation.

Anonymous:
I have seen parents beat their children in northern states, seen screaming mothers in Texas, and seen complete neglect here in NC. To say that Georgia is like this as a whole is completely ignorant, to say the least. This was about a mother, who, by the way, might not even be from there originally. This was not a post about bashing Georgia and its people in general. It could have been anywhere in the United States, or the world for that matter.

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