Is British Society Disintegrating? Of Course, the Kids Pay the Price

Domestic abuse 'biggest threat to child protection'

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News family and education correspondent

Domestic violence, family conflict and drink and drug abuse are the biggest drivers of the rise in child-protection cases in England, says the Local Government Association (LGA).

The organisation representing English councils has surveyed the councillors in charge of children's services about the causes of a 53% rise in child-protection cases over the past decade.

More than 80% identified domestic violence and substance misuse as being behind the increased numbers in their local authorities.

An average of 88 children are taken into care each day and the LGA asked the lead councillors for children's services for their view of the most common causes.

'Children in need'

The behaviour of adults around children - in the form of domestic violence, drinking and drug taking - was the most frequent explanation for councils having to intervene to protect 18,000 more children than a decade ago.

This was followed by factors such as poverty, housing problems and debt.

Figures published last week by the Department for Education showed 52,000 child-protection plans, identifying how to deal with children considered to be at risk, had been drawn up - a slight annual decline against a significant long-term increase.

These figures also showed domestic violence to be the most common factor for so-called "children in need" - much more so than issues such as abuse, gangs, trafficking or anti-social behaviour.

There are almost 400,000 "children in need" where there are concerns about their health or development and where they are at risk of being "significantly impaired" without extra support.

After domestic violence, the most common underlying problems are mental health issues, emotional abuse, drug and alcohol abuse.

Physical abuse, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation were all lower than the previous year.

Well, this is good news, at least, but I have serious doubts about the accuracy of the data. Not included, of course, are the sexual abuse inflicted upon children who are Gender Dysphoric. These should be included as sexually abused children, but the UK suffers too much from #PCMadness.

Funding pressure

But numbers of serious cases investigating fears of children suffering or facing "significant harm" have continued to climb.

There were more than 200,000 of these safeguarding inquiries - rising every year from 127,000 in 2012-13.

The Local Government Association is warning of the financial pressures on councils.

"Funding pressures are coinciding with huge increases in demand for support because of problems like hardship and family conflict," said Judith Blake, chairwoman of the LGA's children and young people board.

German Inquiry Board on Child Sexual Abuse Says Society to Blame

Source: Xinhua|  |Editor: Mu Xuequan

BERLIN -- The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Germany (UKASK) has accused the German public of failing to protect victims of child sexual abuse, according to a report published by UKASK on Wednesday.

Accounts given by victims of child abuse, which were analyzed by the UKASK commission, showed "how often the environment and society as a whole have failed and children have not been protected", said Sabine Andresen, chairwoman of the UKASK commission. "Responsibility must be assumed for this."

Since 2016, almost 1,700 affected people have reported to the commission about sexual violence in their families, social environment, at school, church, sports and other recreational facilities. Fifty-six percent of the victims were abused within their own families.

The number of children affected by sexual abuse has increased recently. According to statistics published by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on Tuesday, 13,683 children were recorded as victims of sexual abuse in 2018, compared to 12,850 in 2017.

According to the commission, one of the most important issues was the "silence of the others". Close family members, neighbors, teachers or employees of child protective services would have contributed to the fact that the abuse which the victims had experienced "did not end and that they were prevented from coming to terms with it later".

Sexually abused children are voiceless - and when those of can speak up for them fail to do so, children are condemned to suffer much longer than they would otherwise have to.

Affected people also talked about "defensive reactions" in their families or institutions when they tried to uncover sexual violence as children or adolescents. Instead of believing and supporting the victims, their social environment would often "exclude or blame" them for their actions, a UKASK statement read.

As adults, former victims of child sexual abuse would experience "these resistances and denials" again.

The commission's work shows that victims still "fail to overcome structural and financial hurdles" when dealing with the consequences of sexual abuse.

UKASK is therefore demanding that the number of "counseling centers must be expanded" and that employees in governmental authorities, such as job centers, health insurance companies or the judiciary, should be trained in dealing with people traumatized by sexual abuse.

The need for abundant counseling of child sex abuse survivors, whether still children or adults, cannot possibly be overstated! The cost will pay for itself many times over in terms of health and productivity of survivors.

"Basic knowledge about sexual violence and its consequences" should be included in the syllabus for studying education, medicine, psychology and law, according to UKASK.

This is a good start! But it is not society's fault that these things are not included in the syllabus for doctors and lawyers. The government should also be educating children on identifying CSA and on how to report it and who to report it to. They should be doing this from kindergarten. That's how you give children a voice.

As the U.S. Reels from Sexual Harassment Scandals, Russia Asks: What's the Big Deal?

Russian morality still stuck in Communism's 'Godless' age

CBC

Many Russians are having a good chuckle these days at the state of Western society as the long list of sexual violence and harassment claims against prominent American men grows by the day.

The notion that there's something shamefully wrong, misogynistic or potentially criminal about a man exerting his wealth or power over women has struck many Russians as a big "so what."

And in many cases, those gaffawing the loudest are Russian women.

Take actress Lyubov Tolkalina, a 39-year-old veteran of stage and screen who spoke to the online news site Medusa.

"If you get the role, what does it matter what you had to do to get it?" she's quoted as saying.

"How can you actually blame a man for sexual harassment?" she continued.

"Isn't that why he was created in the first place? If he has power that he uses this way, that's fine."

Object of mockery

Another Russian actress, 32-year-old Agniya Kuznetsova, chimed in with a blame-the-victim sentiment.

In reference to the scores of Hollywood actresses who've come forward with allegations against film directors and producers, she's quoted as telling Medusa "they got what they wanted."

"And actresses here [in Russia]," she continued, "are happy to agree to all sorts of propositions."

On late-night Russian TV,  the topic of sexual harassment has become  a popular object of mockery.

One comedy show that focuses on current affairs on Channel One, a widely viewed network, recently featured four men sitting around a coffee table yucking it up over the day's newspaper headlines.

"It's become trendy to hide it for a long time," said one comedian of the women who've come forward with allegations of unwanted sexual attention.

"It's trendier to admit it," replied his friend to chortles of laughter from the others.

"I admit it. I sexually harassed myself. I invited myself to my room. Now I'm asking for an apology," he said to more howls of laughter.

Social superiority

From actresses to comedians to Kremlin propagandists, Russians have seized on the continuing stream of sexual harassment revelations as an example of what they consider their social and cultural superiority.

Dmitry Kiselyov, the Kremlin-friendly host of a highly watched Sunday night talk show, recently suggested the parade of women coming forward with allegations against famous men represents "an explosive mix of political correctness" and "hypocrisy."

At the same time, he asserted that Russia demonstrates the most "harmonious relations between the sexes."

Note: it was a man who said this!

One of Russia's best-known film directors put the issue of sexual harassment another way.

"I actually think the whole world has been built on it," said Andrei Konchalovsky, director of Hollywood hits such as Runaway Train and Tango and Cash.

"Men must make passes and women must resist.

"Thank God," he concluded, "we live in a country where political correctness has not reached the point of absurdity."

Advocate disgusted

If there's any absurdity, Alena Popova would argue it's that Russia lags decades behind Europe and North America with neanderthal-like views on sexual harassment.

She's a women's rights advocate — a rare breed in Russia, where there are few champions for the cause.

"The reaction was awful," she told CBC News in an interview. "In our country, many think harassment is normal."

Popova, a former journalist who's written extensively on the issue of violence against women and operates a non-profit advocacy group in Moscow, has been using her blog to try to underscore that unwanted sexualized behaviour is not normal or acceptable.

"In domestic violence and harassment," she wrote recently, "one of the main problems is shame and fear of what happened."

Millions of Russian women,  she continued, silently tolerate being mistreated and it can completely destroy their lives.

Weak legislation

In January, when Russia passed a new law reducing the penalties men face for assaulting their wives or partners, Popova waged a one-woman crusade outside the Duma, or parliament, camping out in the freezing cold to try to stop the legislation.

She was unsuccessful. Now in Russia, a man found guilty of domestic violence usually gets off with a warning. It takes a second conviction to face any sort of jail time.

"Statements to police and public censure of the aggressors are signs of a healthy society dealing with the problem," Popova said of what's been happening in the United States, the U.K. and Canada.

While I admire the fact that in Russian society men are men and women are women, 21st century men need to evolve beyond violence against women and children and become protectors of them rather than violators of them. Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen until women stand up and say, 'no more!' 

Remains of Possibly 800 Babies, Children Found at Defunct Irish Mothers Home

“The worst is yet to come," advocate Paul Redmond said.

"[There could] be well over 4,000 babies and children

buried in shoeboxes and rags.”

By Doug G. Ware

video 0:45

(UPI) -- Irish investigators have discovered what they believe are many sets of children's remains at the site of a former home for unwed mothers, authorities said Friday after a lengthy two-year investigation.

Officials investigated and scoured the property, located in Tuam, for 24 months. Between the 1920s and 1960s, numerous mothers and their children had lived at the residence, which was operated by Bon Secours nuns.

Bon Secours means 'good help'. They are a Catholic order that began in France to care for the sick in their homes.

50 to 100 years ago, separating unwed pregnant girls from society was considered the best thing to do for both the girls and their families. The families usually told remaining family and friends that the child had gone to a far province or country to look after a sick aunt or something like that. No-one believed it, of course, but it seemed to allow the family to save some 'face'. Such girls were not treated well in society, either called trollops or worse. And it wouldn't have mattered if the girl were pregnant because of unbridled passion or because she was raped by a 'friend' or relative.

There is no question that the Order began with great intentions of helping these girls, physically, emotionally and spiritually, and for all we (I) know may have continued that attitude. But whether they could maintain that attitude is a good question. Another question is how much medical care did these girls and their babies actually get. The Sisters were about medical care and they may not have seen the need to involve doctors when it might have been advisable. How hard did they work to save the lives of these little, bastard children?


It had long been believed that a mass grave existed somewhere on the property, and news of such a burial site was first reported in 2014, although at that time no remains had yet been discovered.

Authorities launched a formal investigation in February 2015 and subsequently found the remains. Friday, officials released a summary report of the probe.

"This news is very disturbing and will touch everyone's heart. There were, of course, strong suspicions about burials of this kind in Tuam for some time," Ireland's minister for children and youth affairs, Katherine Zappone, said in a statement. "The information I have received confirms these suspicions and, importantly, they trace the remains specifically to the period of the Home's operation, rather than to earlier times."

Authorities believe the human remains belonged to hundreds of children who once lived, and ultimately died, at the home. Officials said some of the remains were located in a collection of chambers that were once possibly part of the home's sewage system.

"It is not certain whether the chambers ever functioned for sewage purposes, but the Commission believes that there are a significant number of children's remains there," Zappone said. "It has [been] determined that the remains are between 35 fetal weeks and 2 to 3 years of age. From carbon dating it has correlated the age of these samples with the time period during which the home was in operation -- between 1925 and 1961."

The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) ran from 1999 to 2009 when it produced the Ryan Report.

video 2:23

For years, it was uncertain what happened to the children who had died at the home -- a question that was difficult to answer due to an 8-foot wall that surrounded it.

"This is only the start. The truth has been revealed," researcher and historian Catherine Corless, who found death certificates for nearly 800 children at the Tuam home, said.

Irish authorities might also turn their attention to two similar homes for unmarried mothers in Bessborough and Dublin after former tenants -- some who'd lived there as recently as the early 1990s -- called for police to look into what happened to the children who died there.

"The Commission has been examining a wide range of concerns related to the institutional care of unmarried mothers and their babies during the period 1922 to 1998," Zappone said. "The Commission is examining 14 Mother and Baby Homes and 4 County Homes. It will in time provide a full account of what happened to vulnerable women and children in these institutions; how they came to be there; and the pathways they took as they left.

"Our first concern must be to respect the dignity and the memory of the children who lived their short lives in this Home. But the Government is very mindful too about the questions that people will have, and what should happen next."

"The mothers in the group who were at Bessborough [in Cork] are calling for an examination of the grounds. There are mothers who are now in their 80s, who were told their babies died and they have no evidence," Irish First Mothers group member Kathy McMahon told the Irish Times.

"The worst is yet to come," Paul Redmond, chairman of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors, wrote in Ireland's The Journal Friday. "It is likely that the total for these three homes alone will be well over 4,000 babies and children buried in shoeboxes and rags."

The Bon Secours sisters said they could not comment on the Tuam investigation because all their records for the home were given to city officials when the residence closed in 1961.

Tuam, Galway, Ireland

Indian Government Reacts Angrily to BBC/NDTV Interview with Delhi Bus Rapist

The rape led to mass protests and vigils in Delhi

BBC
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh has promised an inquiry into how a TV crew gained permission to interview one of the Delhi gang rapists on death row.

He criticised the film in parliament, saying it should not be shown in India. A Delhi court has already blocked the film, made for the BBC and NDTV.

Film-maker Leslee Udwin said the jail and home ministry had given her permission to conduct the interview.

She spoke to one of four men sentenced to death over the 2012 rape and murder.

The killing of the 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi caused shock and revulsion around the world.

Udwin interviewed one of the rapists for India's Daughter, a BBC Storyville documentary which was due to be broadcast on 8 March, International Women's Day. It is now being shown in the UK on Wednesday night.

Rapist Mukesh Singh, who along with the three others is facing the death penalty, expressed no remorse in the interview, and blamed the victim for fighting back.

'Atmosphere of tension'

Rajnath Singh told parliament that his government would "not allow any venture that seeks to benefit from this [the Delhi rape] for commercial gain".

He said the film-makers were asked not to release or screen it until it was approved by the Indian authorities.

Police in Delhi said they had gained an injunction against the film because the rapist's remarks were "creating an atmosphere of fear and tension".

In addition, media organisations were apparently barred from publishing quotes from the film, or broadcasting any clips.

Composite of Delhi Police hand out photos of Vinay Sharma , Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur convicted for the notorious December 2012 gang rape and murder of a female student on a bus in the Indian capital, Delhi. Mukesh Singh (second from right) and his fellow rapists are appealing against their sentences

The BBC's South Asia correspondent Justin Rowlatt in Delhi says the issue is not just what the convict says, but also whether he should have been given a platform to express his views.

'Harrowing'
The film-makers have said any attempt to stop the film's broadcast would be a violation of the right to freedom of expression. They plan to challenge the ban in court.

Businesswoman Anu Agha, a member of the upper house, told parliament that "banning the documentary is not the answer".

"What the rapist said is the view of many men in India. Let us not pretend all is well," she said.

Javed Akhtar, a writer who is also a member of the upper house, said it was "good that this film was made [and that] it will reveal how many men think like [the] rapist".

While prosecutors say the men took turns to drive the bus, and all took part in the rape, he says he stayed at the wheel throughout. His brother Ram Singh was also convicted but died in prison before the trial.

A teenager found guilty of rape and murder in the case was sentenced to three years in a juvenile reform facility.

Udwin told an NDTV studio discussion on Tuesday that the film "tries to show the disease is not the rapists, the disease is in society". Indeed, the rapists are a symptom of the disease of rampant misogyny. Hindus, like Muslims, don't seem to believe in protecting women and girls, only in punishing them, especially if that punishment brings them perverted pleasure.

It's ironic that men who feel so superior to women will, as soon as they are caught, blame it all on the woman. It's been going on since Adam and Eve, "Lord, that woman that you gave me..."

A BBC spokesperson said: "This harrowing documentary, made with the full support and co-operation of the victim's parents, provides a revealing insight into a horrific crime that sent shock waves around the world and led to protests across India demanding changes in attitudes towards women.

"The film handles the issue responsibly and we are confident the programme fully complies with our editorial guidelines.

"Assassin Films, the production company that made India's Daughter, has assured the BBC that it fully complied with the filming permissions granted by Tihar Jail."

India's Daughter will be broadcast on Storyville on BBC Four on Wednesday 4 March at 22:00 GMT.