SUMMERVILLE — Amber Lynn Bracci told investigators that she smoked marijuana two times before she sought medical attention for her 16-month-old son Rowan, who would later die from a head injury, according to an arrest affidavit released Friday. Bracci, 19, also admitted to striking her son in the head a few days before Dorchester County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call at 198 Rowan Drive in Ridgeville on Jan. 6, the warrant said.

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http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jan/15/warrant-mom-delayed-911-call/

How far is too far in the name of success?

The book tells how a high-energy Chinese-American woman who graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and who now teaches at Yale Law School, threw herself into raising two daughters with one iron-clad pledge: to never become one of those pushover “Western” parents.

Hays County jurors sentenced a 51-year-old Dripping Springs man to 10 years behind bars on Thursday for the sexual assault of his former foster child. They did not levy any fine against Jesse Aranda and deliberated his punishment for more than three hours. The same jury had convicted Aranda of the second-degree felony for assaulting the girl in the spring of 2008 when she was 15 years old.

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http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/breakingnews/x233960670/100-year-sentence-in-child-abuse-case

LOS ANGELES — The Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help to find the suspect who sexually assaulted a young boy in a park bathroom. Police say it happened at Belvedere Park in Los Angeles last Saturday. They say the 7-year-old boy was at a soccer game. He went to the bathroom where a man grabbed and sexually assaulted him in a stall.

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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-park-assault,0,7782875.story

Memphis TN– About 90 students at a Memphis High School are either pregnant, or have been recently. The startling news was confirmed by a high ranking city official and comes as the community plans to roll out a new initiative to help combat the problem. However, one Frayser High School graduate says teen pregnancy is not a new problem for the school.

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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/wreg-frayser-pregnancies,0,4805215.story

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Charleston man charged with incest, first-degree sexual assault and second-degree assault of a 5-year-old girl was one of 76 people indicted on felony charges by a Kanawha County grand jury this week. Frederick Thomas Butts, 41, faces 274 counts for allegedly molesting the girl over a nine-year period that began when she was 5, according to a news release from the Kanawha County prosecutor’s office.

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http://wvgazette.com/News/201101141532

Only 16% of priests involved in 134 cases of child abuse in the Belgian Catholic Church have been prosecuted, a new report shows. The report, which was handed to the Government in December, was reported in the daily Le Soir this week. It details 134 cases of alleged abuse by priests over several decades.

The report, compiled by the secretary of Belgium’s episcopal conference, Etienne Quintiens, indicated that ninety priests are still alive involved with 134 cases of alleged child sex abuse. A further 50-odd complaints not yet on the list have been lodged since a church-backed commission last September revealed nearly 500 cases of abuse by priests and church workers since the 1950s, including 13 victims who committed suicide.

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http://www.secularism.org.uk/126345.html

A Roman Catholic priest has been jailed for eight months after admitting making indecent images of children. At Durham Crown Court, John Terence Paul Shannon, 58, admitted 16 counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child. He also admitted one charge of possession of an indecent photo or pseudo-photo of a child. He was a priest in the Diocese of East Anglia and had taught at a County Durham seminary.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12196041

SARASOTA – A second-grade substitute teacher at Booker Elementary School became so frustrated with the classroom’s ActivBoard that he reportedly punched two students and pushed a third, leading to his arrest Thursday on child abuse charges. William Amory, 55, of the 2400 block of 8th Street in Sarasota, was charged with three counts of child abuse, a felony. His bail had not been set as of Thursday night.

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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110114/ARTICLE/101141053/2055/NEWS?Title=Sarasota-substitute-named-in-attack-on-3-students

A Sevier County mother is accused of beating and burning her 3 year old son. According to Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals, Sarah M. Haroldson, 24, of Sevierville, is charged with child abuse and neglect. Investigators say on Sunday morning, Haroldson brought her son to Leconte Medical Center in Sevierville with burns on his buttocks and feet and bruising to the head, back and arms.

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http://www.wbir.com/news/article/152383/2/Sevier-mother-accused-of-beating-and-burning-3-year-old-son

DENVER — A man accused in the death of his 3-week-old son a little over a year ago has been sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday.Travis Anderson, 27, was found guilty last November of child abuse resulting in death and manslaughter in the beating death of his infant son, Sean, in December 2009.

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http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26499455/detail.html

UPDATE: Amber Bracci stood before a bond judge today, for the charge of homicide by child abuse. Bond was denied. She will now stay behind bars to await her hearing. Police arrest the mother of a 16-month old boy, who died from head trauma. 16-month-old Rowan Bracci died Saturday. The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office arrested his mother, Amber Bracci Thursday. She is being charged with homicide by child abuse.

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http://www2.counton2.com/news/2011/jan/13/6/mother-charged-16-month-olds-death-ar-1339082/

President Barack Obama signed the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act which includes the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Dec. 20, 2010. With this act, the Senate and the House, with support from both parties, and all points on the political spectrum authorized funding for services for the prevention of child abuse.

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http://www.northjersey.com/community/announcements/113553354_Child_abuse_prevention_bill_signed_Dec__20.html

Larry Allen Hayes, Jr. 22, has been charged with the death of an 18-month-old girl who suffered a massive skull fracture and multiple bunt force trauma to the head, later dying from the injuries.

A South Charleston man has been indicted in the death of an 18-month-old girl. Larry Allen Hayes, Jr., 22, has been indicted for the death of a child by a custodian by child abuse.

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http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=92682