This page will no longer be updated. If you find a link is no longer valid let me know but this is one of several pages that while I'm going to keep it up I no longer have the time to maintain it.

This is an issue that I feel deserves more attention than it gets, however, I also feel that the government has undermined a parents authority. A child knows that he/she can pick up the telephone and report their parent and the parent will get a visit from a state agency. I believe this has led to many of today's problems. Children feel that they can do whatever they want because there is nothing their parents can do to stop them. I do not feel that any child deserves to be hit, verbally berated, undermined, etc. I do believe, however, that they need to know that they are not in charge. When I was growing up, while my parents never struck me I knew that if I did something wrong there would be consequences. I don't see that today. There has to be a happy medium somewhere, I just hope we can find it.

Christmas 1996, I discovered my daughter had been sexually abused by an adult. Never was she treated as if she did something wrong, had caused the problem, or should feel bad about herself. She was involved in the decision process, and felt better about the situation by feeling she somehow had a say in what happened to the offender. The offender currently sits in jail. She seems okay today but I watch for signs that she might need counseling. Hopefully, she will continue to be okay throughout her life, with the help and support of her family. We are thankful that she felt comfortable and trusted us enough. I hope that she will always trust us and know she can talk about it. I cannot tell you the pain, anger, guilt I felt upon learning of her abuse. This has to be the ultimate for a parent...I feel like I let her down, like I could have somehow prevented this from happening. I know that this is not true. The offender was a trusted individual with, as far as we know, no prior behavior of this type. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for allowing my daughter to be brave enough to tell me what happened. I quiver with fear to imagine how long it may have continued if she hadn't told us. I also thank God that I was capable of keeping a sane head through it all and be there for her when she needed me most. There were many nights of nightmares, sleepless nights, crying and bed wetting for over a year.

Abuse / Incest Support || Abuse Websites || angelsbreath ... a whisper from Kimmie (child molestation victim site, no children please) || Child Abuse / Maltreatment || Children's Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto || Court Improvement || Help Innocent Children Webring || Information / Resource Directories || Kids on the Block, Inc. || Sexual Abuse Links || Sexual Predators || The Abuse-Excuse-Deals with false accusations || Uncovering the Secrets of Child Sexual Abuse