It does not help at risk children for you or me to speak of child abuse with understatement and euphemism.
Maltreatment is a word with the soft connotation of “mistreatment” which could be a missed meal or something else way less traumatizing than the abuse required to become a state ward child.
To not convey the horror of things done.to the toddlers and vulnerable children in my caseload as a CASA Guardian ad Litem, leaves the reader with almost no sense of the violence of their truth. Rape, torture and bloody bruising beatings were their reality. My small defenseless human beings had been living in terrifying circumstances most often for years. Someone needed to say it out loud…
A lack of transparency and accountability is mostly responsible for the absence of media attention to child protection, abuse and trauma. Institutions don’t invite scrutiny or share unhappy information if they can help it.
Since children have no voice at the State House and the rest of us are understating horrid realities that destroy human beings, fill our prisons, break our schools and make violent crime and public safety fill our media all the time, we have small hope of change without louder, more honest voices..
Until more of us are vocal about the lack of mental health services, affordable day care, support for young families and adequate child protection for terrified and traumatized children I expect things to get worse.
Our elected official could use a few phone calls and personal visits. If you want to be a voice for a MN child If you want to know the issues ALL ADULTS ARE THE PROTECTORS OF ALL CHILDREN
