Reader comments
Abuse hinders normal development

2 comments   |   Read story

You nailed it | 4:47 a.m. March 18, 2008
Thank you! This series should be a wakeup call for America.
We've had 20-25 young people stay in our home, anywhere from 2-3 days, to regular foster placement. In EVERY one of the situations, the child had been abused, usually sexually.
Most were from 'good' neighborhood families, or friends of our children. A few were temporarily unwanted by a step-parent or non-parent (read: Mom's latest live-in boyfriend).

We learned to expect that they were 'sexperts' far beyond their age level. Many had a vocabulary and experience in the 6th-7th-8th grades that most don't even know about until high school.

The biggest common denominator with each family was that sex was the accepted theme of the movies they watched, the rental videos, and the TV and cable shows. The children had no boundaries, no sense that what some adult or older sibling started doing to them was wrong, until after it happened.
Then everybody screamed bloody murder, and couldn't figure out 'how this happened.'

Slowly we figured out, to show/tell them in plain English the effects of watching today's soft-porn. They could connect the dots.
About half have mostly overcome their childhood problems.
Never Ending Story | 5:35 p.m. March 21, 2008
Following your sex abuse series has been excruciating. A few times, the paper needed to be put away in anticipation of fear and an expectation of courage and hope for the future. Even seeing one of the e-mail address (Romboy) at the end of the articles invoked a twisted association rather than considering that it actually could be a person's name. How truly accurate it was described that "consequences how up in "insidious ways".

Add your comment

Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.

Words Remaining

E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.

Image

Doug Goldsmith, director of The Children's Center at University of Utah, talks to child. The center has therapeutic preschool for 350 kids.

previousnext

Latest comments

And what was the percentage increase by gays in hate crimes against Mormons...

RSL defied doubters to win title

You're right, it seems like 8:12 is wound a little too tight at the moment....

Who has ever tried to "deny religious rights afforded in the Constitution"?...

Expect epic clash on the line

TCU will get into a big money bowl game this season and ewetah has been to...

I am so proud of Donny to keep up with the pro. The body may be not extend...

Tex: This article shows up on Utes sports and the TDS sports so you get off...

Poster at 8:27, the only thing missing from your comment is maybe another...

RSL's Russell left exposed

hopefully they take russell he is one of the laziest defenders i have ever...

Letters: 2 grumpy old men

What about those who do not choose to have health care? How about those who...

If BYU wishes to tone down the rivalry, perhaps they should start with...

Advertisements