Child Sex Abuse - 11 sister, survivors' story

 

11 Sisters Who Were Separated as Kids Survive Child Abuse, Reunite After 43 Years

Courtesy of Barbara Lane

Louise Chambers

7/6/2023|Updated: 12/29/2023

Eleven sisters who were separated as kids when their biological family fell apart spent 43 years searching for each other. It wasn’t until they reunited that they learned the extent of the horrors they'd each suffered, but, in sharing their pain, they formed a sibling bond stronger than ever.

Reverend Barbara Lane, the ninth of 11 sisters, is a child abuse survivor and ministerial counselor living in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, James.

“One way or another, our mother abandoned us,” Barbara told The Epoch Times. “As the story goes, she had kicked our father out for various reasons, and then she ran away with a boyfriend. It was December in St. Louis, and it was a particularly cold December. ... She turned off the heat and sold all the furniture, and just left us.

“Depending on which sister’s story you’re listening to, we must have been there about three days before the neighbors figured out what was going on,” she said.

‘We Weren’t Safe’

(L-R): Robert Lane (39), Kay (2), Lucy Lane (33), Barbara (3 months), Mickey (6), Bobby (9), Vicky (6), Annie (10), Ellen (15), Ruth (16), and Laverne in Dillon Drive, St. Louis in 1951. Courtesy of Barbara Lane

The year was 1954. Two of Barbara’s older sisters were already married and had left home. The youngest sister was yet to be born. One of the sisters, Laverne, was around 15 when their mother, Lucy, kicked out their father, Robert, and left. Laverne ran away.

“She ran away before the social workers came so they didn’t scoop her up,” Barbara said. “There’s a story that she did find where our father lived. ... She asked if she could stay with him. ... she said, ‘I’m really hungry.’ He said, ‘Take a vitamin, it’s every bit as nutritious as a meal.’ She spent the night there, left in the morning, and just made her way in the world as best she could.”

Barbara, who was 3 years old at the time, was removed from the apartment alongside seven sisters and placed in a Catholic orphanage. For Barbara, whose older sisters were her source of comfort, this was a “beautiful experience.” However, her sisters, on the other hand, missed their mother.

But unfortunately, no matter where the siblings went, they were faced with some form of abuse and were never truly “safe.” But Barbara was constantly protected by her older sisters through it all.

“My older sisters protected me from all of that,” Barbara said.

But Barbara was later separated from her sisters and placed in foster care with her sister Kay, who was 18 months older than her. There she faced trauma.

Continue reading on Epoch Times, Bright here

Communist Romania > The Lost Children of Ceaușescu

 

The lost children of Romania's Ceaușescu dictatorship

Europe

From the show

Thirty-five years after the horrors of the Ceaușescu dictatorship were discovered in Romania, our reporters investigated one of the darkest episodes in the country's history – the squalid, state-run institutions where thousands of children were locked away and abused. 

An estimated 15,000 children died, mostly in so-called hospitals for those often misdiagnosed as severely disabled. 

While part of society is nostalgic for the Communist era, the work of collective memory and justice is far from complete.

By:

Bastien RENOUIL

Maria GERTH-NICULESCU

Kissing Cure; Another Indian Orphanage; Hockey; Horrid Mother and More on Today's Global PnP List

Self-proclaimed Indian healer arrested over

‘kissing cure’

File photo © Mukesh Gupta / Reuters

A self-styled guru who claimed to “cure” women’s physical and psychological problems with “miraculous” kisses has been arrested in India.

Ram Prakash Chauhan, aka Kissing Baba, was arrested in Assam, northeastern India, on Wednesday, three months after he began ‘treating’ local women with his “Chamatkari Chumban” or “miraculous smooch,” reports the Hindustan Times.

Chauhan reportedly claimed his supernatural powers were gifted to him by the Hindu deity Vishnu. An Assam police official investigating the case, Jitumani Borah, said complaints were made against Chauhan, who also works as a farmer in the village of Bhoraltup. They made the arrest after becoming aware of his alleged ‘healing’ techniques.

“We arrested him after receiving complaints that he was hugging and kissing women as some kind of therapy. He was exploiting his devotees, especially women,” Jitumani Bora told the Hindu.

Chauhan reportedly told local media that he was just “blowing” kisses on his ‘patients.’ Borah said Chauhan has been arrested for offences including committing an assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty, said Borah.

It's amazing how easy it is to become a 'self-professed' faith healer in India and how quickly one can gather numerous followers. Is it an indication of how desperate Indians are for something real to believe in? At any rate, I am glad to see the police move on this pervert quickly.

Hockey coaches in Ontario to hold mandatory gender diversity conversations with players

Female players who ID as male can use boy's dressing rooms and male players who ID as female can use girl's dressing rooms.

© CHRISTIAN PETERSEN / AFP

Ontario hockey coaches have been mandated to discuss gender diversity issues with children as part of the “pre-season chat” required by the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF).

Obligatory conversations on gender identification and expression will be held across all levels of competition involving teams of all ages.

“We want to make the game inclusive and understand that our coaches’ responsibility is not to judge individuals on the face of things, but to create an environment where everyone feels respected and comfortable in a hockey arena,” said Phil McKee, executive director of the OHF.

I'm trying to figure out how a bunch of little girls are going to feel respected and be comfortable with a gender-confused boy in their dressing room, at any age?

The federation’s requirement was implemented under a settlement reached with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario following a complaint filed by a transgender teen in 2013.

Jesse Thompson, a transgender player from Oshawa, Ontario, who was 17 at that time, brought the complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after being forced to use a dressing room corresponding to his birth gender (female), not his identified gender (male).

Thompson’s complaint led to Ontario’s minor hockey branches modifying their dressing-room policies in 2014, allowing transgender athletes to use facilities aligned with their gender identity.

The OHF also made it obligatory to educate personnel on transgender inclusion to tackle discrimination based on gender identity.

Now, hockey coaches are going to teach gender inclusion! This I have to see!

Top Perth girls’ school asks alumni

for claims of sex abuse

Gary Adshead, The West Australian

Penrhos College principal Meg Melville has asked former students to contact her. Picture: Steve Ferrier

Prestigious Perth girls’ school Penrhos College has invited any former students who claim they were the victims of sexual abuse to come forward.

In a letter to the Como college’s alumni, principal Meg Melville said that “recent contact” made with Penrhos and the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had triggered the mail-out to past students.

“Whilst Penrhos College was not mentioned in the report of the royal commission, recent contact with the college regarding historical events would indicate that we need to be proactive in reaching out to our community,” Mrs Melville wrote.

The principal told The West Australian yesterday that the college had been contacted by the brother of a student. “He indicated that he believed his relative had been abused whilst a student,” she said. “However, she was not prepared to come forward at all. He was saying if this had happened to his sister then he wanted anyone else who had an issue to have the opportunity.”

Mrs Melville said the college decided the letter was the best approach. “Information offered by any member of our alumni who wishes to share any experience of this nature will, of course, be treated with the utmost sensitivity and in absolute confidence,” the letter said.

“In close collaboration with the Uniting Church, and in line with our absolute commitment to the well-being of our students, past and present, Penrhos College wishes to invite any member of our alumni who may consider they were treated inappropriately in this context during their time as a student to come forward.”

Mrs Melville invited former students to contact her directly or speak to the “church safe officer” of the Uniting Church.

“The safeguarding of our students is of paramount importance to the Penrhos College community and the successful development of future strategies for preventing and responding to child abuse is dependent on our enduring culture of openness, transparency and mutual support,” she wrote.

Penrhos was established in the 1950s to provide a Methodist ladies school in the southern suburbs.

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was established on 22 June 1977 when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union of Australia came together under the Basis of Union. - Wikipedia

Depraved UK mother and lover planned the sexual abuse of her baby son and 5 y/o daughter 

By JESSICA GREEN FOR MAILONLINE

A depraved mother and her lover have been jailed for almost 50 years after they 'meticulously planned' to rape her baby son and young daughter.

The pair carried out 'systematic' sexual abuse on the two youngsters over a period of four months and planned their twisted crimes over a series of 12,400 WhatsApp messages between each other.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard the mother's secret boyfriend had a 'perverted sexual predilection' for children 'of the youngest age'.

During one text exchange, the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told her lover she loved 'pushing boundaries' with him as they planned the abuse.

It was heard the couple in their 30s escalated the abuse, with the mother 'force feeding' her then-five-year-old daughter with a sleeping tablet so it could be carried out. 

The horrifying abuse was uncovered when the mother's disgusted partner - who was not involved - spotted the messages on her phone, the court heard.

Prosecutor Simon Jones told the court police discovered sickening indecent photographs after they were called by the mother's other half.

It was heard the images were the 'worst' an experienced child abuse investigator who led the case had ever seen.

The prosecutor said: 'This was systematic, routine, regular sexual abuse.'

He added that the pair, both from the Portsmouth area, had even made unsuccessful attempts to rape the young girl after drugging her.

During a trial, which lasted several weeks, the mother claimed she was mentally unwell and led on by her lover, while he denied carrying out the abuse.

Jurors unanimously convicted the pair of two charges of conspiring to rape a child, two of assaulting a child by penetration and one of administering a substance with intent each.

The mother admitted three charges of taking indecent images, three of distributing images, four counts of making indecent images and one of having extreme pornography.

While she was also convicted of five charges of sexual assault of a child.

Her lover admitted seven charges of making indecent images and one of making extreme pornographic images.

Why can't he be named? 

Judge Timothy Mousley QC jailed the disgusting mother for 22 years and her lover for 25 years with a three-year extension on licence after it was ruled he was a danger to the public.

The judge said: 'Unsuccessful attempts were made to rape the girl after drugging her. I'm also satisfied that the rapes would have begun within a matter of days if the phone was not found.

'The rape of each child would not have just been a single rape. Potentially in your case the children would have been the victims of repeated rapes over a protracted period of time.'

The judge ruled the mother must serve at least half of her sentence before she is eligible for parole, while her lover must serve at least two thirds of his.

Investigating officer DC Maria Sweeney said evidence of the 'dreadful crimes' was laid bare in the many messages.

DC Sweeney added: 'The substantial sentences given reflect the deplorable crimes committed on young innocent children. 'Over a number of months both defendants entered into an agreement via a social media messaging service to sexually abuse victims.'

UK man charged with 77 child sex abuse offences

by Faye Tryhorn 

70 year old Peter Daniels has appeared in court via video link this morning (Friday August 24th).

Daniels, formerly of Eyres Drive in Alderbury and now at HMP Isle of Wight, has been charged with a total of 77 sexual offences against children.

Daniels was sentenced in October 2017 to 12 years for rape and sexual abuse of children (6th story on link). These appear to be additional charges.

He appeared at Salisbury Magistrates Court earlier via a video link and remanded in custody.

He is next due to appear at Salisbury Crown Court on September 26th.

Four held for child sexual abuse at unauthorized orphanage, one escaped

Crime reported by girls to judicial magistrates at a legal awareness campaign

Four persons, including the owners of an unauthorised orphanage in Tirumullaivoyal, were arrested on charges of child sexual abuse.

Though the children have been sexually and physically assaulted for sometime at the home, the crime was reported by the children to judicial magistrates who conducted a legal awareness camp in a nearby government school on Thursday, the police said.

According to the police, Eternal Word Trust runs an orphanage-cum-primary school in Saraswathi Nagar in Tirumullaivoyal near Avadi.

It was run by C. Jacob, 64, and his wife Vimala Jacob, 58, for two decades.

As many as 48 children in the age group of 3 to 15 years were housed in the orphanage and some of them attended nearby schools.

On Thursday afternoon, Judicial Magistrates — Anitha Ananth, B.Soundarya — presided over a legal awareness camp at a nearby government school where 11 children from the home were studying in various classes.

When the camp was on, four girls hesitantly approached the magistrates and narrated the ordeal they had been undergoing in the home they were staying.

Immediately, District Child Protection Officer B.Senthil and All woman police station, Avadi Inspector K.Shoba Rani, who were part of the awareness programme, took up the case.

They rushed to the home only to find that it was being run without licence.

They operated for two decades without a licence? Astonishing!

Nearly 44 children including 24 girls and 20 boys were shifted to other homes.

Warden escapes

Police said G. Babu Samuel, 54, the warden and the main offender, managed to escape.

The owners, Jacob and Vimala Jacob, home manager B. Bhaskar, and R.Muthu, a staff, were arrested.

The Avadi All women police have booked a case under Section 5 (Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault); Section 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and Section 17 (Punishment for abetment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act, 2012.

Fear Of Rise In Child Sex Abuse After Hurricane Matthew In Haiti

Carey Lodge CHRISTIAN TODAY JOURNALIST    


A girl looks back in an area destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in Les Anglais, Haiti  Reuters

Fears of a rise in child abuse, sexual violence, child labour and child trafficking in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti has prompted aid organisations working in the region to step up their long-term efforts.

Christian charity World Vision is scaling up its plans to set up protection centres for children who have suffered as a result of the devastating storm.

Matthew ripped through Haiti last week, killing more than 1,000 people, destroying thousands of homes and displacing more than 1.3 million people. Around 100,000 children are now unable to attend school after their school buildings were either devastated by the storm or used as emergency shelters.

World Vision has distributed aid to more than 15,000 people in the aftermath of the hurricane, and is now planning to set up 27 Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) in the areas worst affected by the crisis.

"Natural disasters, sadly, always cause an increase in cases of child abuse, sexual violence, child labour and child trafficking. We are very concerned that the current situation in Haiti will give rise to such cases as a consequence of the latest disaster," said Fabiola Brignol, advocacy manager for World Vision Haiti.

"We fear that next big disaster to hit Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew will be a child protection crisis. According to a FAFO report published in 2015, 207,000 Haitian children were trapped in exploitative domestic labour. Almost one in three had lost a parent and over 10 per cent were orphans.

"These children are susceptible to beatings, sexual assaults and other abuses. And worryingly it is the areas in the south of Haiti that have the highest rates of child domestic labour. World Vision fears that following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew which destroyed large parts of the south, desperate families unable to support their children will push them into domestic labour." Or worse!

Brignol warned that many children are unable to access basic necessities and medical care, and are "facing massive risks that make them particularly vulnerable."

The new CFSs will offer psychological help, as well as a safe place for children at risk of being separated from their parents.


Haitians receive aid in St Louis  World Vision

World Vision has already distributed emergency supplies in some of the worst-affected areas, including food, blankets, water purification tablets and hygiene kits.

"As we continue to meet these immediate needs, we're also beginning to plan and think about the medium and long term scenario and how we can help," national director John Hasse said.

"Housing and food will be a big focus. The whole idea is how do we help people restore their basic necessities and being able to do as much of that as possible in a short period of time. Getting them a roof, restoring their access to clean water, and making sure they have access to sanitary conditions in their home so they have a sense of dignity is also very important."

To support the World Vision Haiti Hurricane Appeal, please click here.

    St Louis du Nord, Haiti

Another Indictment Issued Against Oklahoma Man for Molesting Kenyan Kids

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A new 17-count federal indictment has been issued against a 20-year-old Oklahoma man who is accused of sexually abusing children at an orphanage in Kenya.

The indictment was returned Tuesday against Matthew Lane Durham of Edmond, Oklahoma who prosecutors allege engaged in sex acts with as many as 10 children ages 4 to 10 while volunteering at the Upendo Children's Home near Nairobi from April to June 2014.

The indictment alleges Durham engaged in illicit sexual conduct with minors under 18 and aggravated sexual abuse of children under 12.

Durham was named in a 24-count indictment in January, which his lawyer called ridiculous.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Bob Troester, says the latest indictment combines several counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct against Durham into a single count.