[PICURN74]

As I re-read some of the responses I wanted to say one more thing, while their actions are inexcusable and uncondonable I think that in addition to punishing the abusers we need to educate them. I am tired of seeing shaken baby kids where the parents say he just wouldn't stop crying. When I ask them what they tried to get him to stop they just look blankly at me. Situations are often complex and need intervention but locking people in jail in and of itself is not enough we need to prevent these cases rather than just react to them.

[Super RT]

Working in 2 major Trauma centers, I have seen way too many beaten up kids! It seems to be worse at the first of the year and half way through summer break. I just think there are some parents who don't have good coping skills. When my son was little, I couldn't understand why someone could be pushed so far, however when my daughter was a baby, I began to get it. She would scream for hours on end with no break. I knew to put her in her crib, where she couldn't hurt herself and walk outside for 10 minutes. She would still be screaming when I got back, but I was calm again and could be rational. It just seems that the parents of these abused kids are either very young or from financially struggling households. I'm sure that stress can escalate the tendancy toward abuse. The way I have found to deal with the parents is to be polite and calm, but not overly friendly. I don't want to be their best friend, but I always worried that the kids could sense the tension, so I decided to put the kids first and be polite to their families. I am also lucky that my sister is a forensic interviewer working with the kids that survive. I can call her and vent when I get off work, and she can call me to vent. I just remember that I have 2 healthy children at home and that I would seriously maim anyone that hurts them in anyway.

[jill48]

I am so sorry that you have to deal with such evil pieces of crap. I could not do it if I were you. I worked adolescent and pre-adolescent psych for a little while and we would have parents come visit their children; everyone know their was abuse but it could not be proved. I could not take it. It made me ill physically to treat these wastes of human skin like nothing was wrong. So ran away from that job as fast as my feet could take me. I hope you can find a way to deal with it b/c someone has to and I can't. I'm just not the type of person that could keep my mouth shut in the face of injustice. I would have ended up losing my license. Good luck.