Are doctors ready to call it child abuse?

ORONO, Maine — Physicians are often the first to examine babies and children who have been injured deliberately at the hands of their parents or other adults. The locations of bruises or burns, specific types of fractures and elevated levels of certain blood enzymes are among the red flags that should alert physicians to the possibility that a young patient may have been abused. But, according to a national expert speaking Thursday in Orono, some doctors either don’t recognize the signs of abuse and neglect or are reluctant to report their suspicions to law enforcement or child protective authorities.

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http://bangordailynews.com/2011/06/23/health/bruises-burns-and-broken-bones-are-doctors-ready-to-call-it-child-abuse/

Document says woman was going to wait and hope granddaughter’s sexual assault injuries healed

The grandmother of the Muskogee child who died Monday told police she knew the child had been sexually abused, according to court documents. Betty Hall, 42, told police she saw evidence her son, Robert Jack Meeks II, had sexually assaulted the 4-year-old child about 12:30 a.m. Saturday, the probable cause affidavit states. Hall said she was scared to say anything to Meeks or her husband and she was going to wait and hope the injuries healed, the document states.

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http://muskogeephoenix.com/local/x177910063/Court-document-Grandmother-knew-of-sex-abuse-against-4-year-old

MI–East Lansing resident Yumar Burks, who allegedly killed his 6-month-old son, will stand trial on charges of homicide and child abuse July 6 in circuit court. There is enough evidence against Yumar Burks for the case to move forward to circuit court, Judge David Jordon said today in the preliminary examination in East Lansing’s 54-B District Court. The cause of the child’s death was multiple blunt force trauma, said John Bechinski, a forensic pathologist at Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital who conducted the autopsy. Antonio Burks died March 25. The manner of death was homicide.

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http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2011/06/east_lansing_father_faces_charges_of_murder_child_abuse

A man is charged with attempted deliberate homicide for the alleged abuse of a 2 year old girl. Court documents say David Wayne Hyslop was watching the child yesterday afternoon, when emergency personnel received a call regarding a 2 year old female who was not breathing at a south side residence. Hyslop initially told police he did not know how the child was injured, but later told them he dropped her when putting her down for a nap.

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http://www.kfbb.com/news/local/Toddler-In-Critical-Condition-After-Alleged-Abuse-124501184.html

GUADALUPE, Ariz. – Investigators are trying to determine why two children were duct-taped inside a home that caught on fire Wednesday evening. Firefighters responded to a call at about 5:30 p.m. in reference to children being trapped inside a house where the sofa was reportedly on fire.

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http://www.azfamily.com/video/yahoo-video/Kids-found-bound-inside-burning-house-in-Guadalupe-124463054.html

Recognizing and Preventing Child Abuse

Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible sign, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse or child neglect, also leave deep, long lasting scars. Some signs of child abuse are subtler than others. However, by learning common types of abuse and what you can do, you can make a huge difference in a child’s life. The earlier abused children get help, the greater chance they have to heal from their abuse and not perpetuate the cycle. Learn the signs and symptoms of child abuse and help break the cycle, finding out where to get help for the children and their caregivers.

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http://www.helpguide.org/mental/child_abuse_physical_emotional_sexual_neglect.htm

The strong smell of marijuana penetrates the air and drug paraphernalia is evident throughout the room.  Pill bottles, snubbed out joints and a makeshift meth lab litter the disgusting apartment, and the small refrigerator in the corner of the room is open and completely empty.  And what’s most horrifying is that this drug den is the home to Evan, a young boy whose haunting story is told as part of The Lisa Project – a multi-sensory exhibit started by the Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Joaquin County to show the multi-faceted sides of child abuse and how it exists in our society today.

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http://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/1/article/23999/

NIAGARA FALLS–A veteran Niagara EMS paramedic who lives in Niagara Falls is facing child pornography charges after police arrested a man at a home in the Stanley Ave. and North St. area Thursday. Andrew Caston, 46, of Niagara Falls was arrested after Niagara Regional Police officers executed a search warrant at a Desson St. home Thursday. Police said that detectives with the NRP’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit, Child Abuse Unit, and Technological Crimes Unit were accompanied by officers from the Casino Patrol Unit in the arrest. Detectives seized computer systems and other items from the home.

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http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3185168

Protests in Syria were reinvigorated this week, after a wrenching video documenting the alleged torture and killing of a 13-year-old boy went viral online. The boy was separated from his parents at a protest against the Assad government, which allegedly mutilated, castrated and killed him, then returned the corpse to his family, who risked their lives to produce the video. The boy’s father is now reportedly missing as well. By Tuesday, however, the video that shot from the web to Al Jazeera to the streets of Syria—where people marched carrying signs emblazoned with the deceased child’s portrait—had been blocked on YouTube, the very site where it first launched.

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/161050/youtube-reinstates-blocked-video-child-allegedly-tortured-syria

A NURSERY owner carried out her own form of “waterboarding” as she tried to force-feed terrified children. Clare Cartwright held one petrified little girl’s face under a cold-running tap because she would not finish her meal, a court heard. The 32-year-old stuffed piles of food into children’s mouths, clamping them shut with both hands to stop them spitting it out, and also gripped their heads against a wall. Staff watched in horror as she used foul swear words while forcing children aged between one and three to eat until they were sick. Yesterday the married mother of three was jailed for 10 months after admitting four counts of child cruelty at the Little Nippers nursery in Halifax, West Yorks.

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http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/253989/Childminder-jailed-for-waterboard-torture

Fourteen agencies missed opportunities to save a three-year-old boy who was killed by a couple who were meant to be caring for him, a report has found. Ryan Lovell-Hancox died on 24 December 2008 from a brain injury he received at Christopher Taylor and Kayley Boleyn’s home in Bilston, near Wolverhampton. They were jailed for murder and child cruelty in July 2010. A serious case review by Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Board said staff may have been “overburdened”. Ryan received more than 70 injuries from the defendants who blamed each other for his death.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-13885392

A 23-year-old New Scotland, New York man who was arrested and charged with rape and attempted murder charges in New York, received national attention in the 90s when he was abducted from his grandmother. Adam Croote is charged with brutally attacking and raping and attempting to kill a 10-year-old girl he was babysitting in her Berne, New York home.  Croote was a longtime family friend of the victim and the family trusted Croote.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City police have arrested a mother in connection with a child abuse case in a southwest Oklahoma City hotel. Officers arrested 31-year-old Leana Lauck on Wednesday. Police say her 3-year-old son was severely abused at the LaQuinta Inn near South Meridian and Interstate 40. Lauck told police one of her friends is responsible for abusing the toddler. She is not being accused of actually abusing her son, but police say she waited nearly 18 hours before bringing the abused child to the hospital.

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http://www.news9.com/story/14960395/mother-of-severely-abused-toddler-arrested