A mother was arrested after police received a tip-off she was selling sex with her six-year-old daughter to strangers in return for drugs. The 35-year-old, from Jacksonville Beach, Georgia, was arrested and charged with child neglect after a homeless man told police he had been to the house to use drugs and witnessed the sexual abuse. READ MORE HERE

HERMITAGE, Mo. — A Hickory County jury convicted a man from Strafford for raping a 2-year-old girl.  Marlin Lane faces a prison sentence between 10 and 30 years (life) without chance of parole when he’s sentenced in May for first-degree statutory sodomy. The jury issued the verdict on Friday.  The case was moved here from Webster County to try to ensure a fair outcome.  The charge was filed last year, about two years after investigators believe the abuse occurred. READ MORE HERE

UPPER WEST SIDE –It is a centuries-old religious circumcision ritual used by the ultra-orthodox called a metzitzah b’peh and it’s being blamed for the death of a 2-week-old baby boy in Brooklyn last September and that has many rabbis and mohels, who perform similar circumsions, upset. “Across the board, the infection rate for circumcisions is less than one half of one percent, ” said Cantor Philip Sherman, a certified mohel. “This is part of the anti-religious, anti-circumcision trend.”  READ MORE HERE

LONG BRANCH, N.J. –It’s a story that has parents saying what the heck is going on in my kid’s school. Four little boys headed for a bathroom break at the Gregory Elementary School In Long Branch, NJ run into two maintenance workers, who allegedly tie them up and gag them with tape, then capture the whole thing on a cell phone camera. And incredibly these guys are still collecting a paycheck.  READ MORE HERE

DAHAB, EGYPT –  MILLIONS of people around the world were left stunned when a video of Lena Fokina doing ‘baby yoga’ broke on the internet. The 51-year-old Russian was filmed spinning and flipping babies above her head and behind her back in such an outlandish fashion that several websites banned the footage for glorifying what to many would be considered child abuse. In fact, the moves were so shocking that most conceded they were being performed on a doll as no sane person would consider them acceptable. However, we tracked Lena down to a seminar called “Parenting the Deliberate Way” in Dahab, Egypt, where parents from across Europe were paying her to perform the same moves on their infants, some just a few months old. But Lena, who is a qualified PE teacher in her native Russia, insists the practice is totally safe and actually beneficial to children.

WARNING: Video May Be Upsetting —Viewer Discretion is Advised

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LANSING, MI— A new call-in system for reporting abuse and neglect debuts Monday in Michigan, another step toward compliance with a court-ordered mandate for the state to improve conditions for children needing protective services. The new system establishes a single phone number statewide for reporting abuse or neglect related to children and adults. The number will be staffed around-the-clock, including weekends and holidays. Decisions on whether to investigate a child abuse case are expected to be made on the spot, no matter what time of day or night, before being directly referred to county-level child protective services staff. The new statewide phone number for reporting abuse and neglect is 1-855-444-3911. READ MORE HERE

May be in L.A., the FBI says

The FBI was alerting the public Thursday about a fugitive wanted on five counts of child rape who may be in Los Angeles. The bureau is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of John Joseph Hartin, a Dorchester, Mass., resident who has been on the run for 18 years. He has family and friends in Los Angeles, the FBI said.  READ MORE HERE

A 3-year-old girl from America’s northernmost community died and her younger sister suffered hypothermia after their mother and her boyfriend locked the girls inside a bedroom with a window open to temperatures of 30 degrees below zero because the girls had wet their beds, authorities said. The mother, 28-year-old elementary teacher Esther G. Edwards-Gust, was apparently on the lam Saturday, a day after she and her boyfriend, 29-year-old Richard Tilden Jr., were indicted in the child’s death. Tilden was in custody. READ MORE HERE

A Cobb County middle school principal and counselor were arrested for allegedly failing to report a student’s abuse claims to police. Jerry Wright Dority, who was principal at Tapp Middle School in Powder Springs, and a counselor, Yatta Lynnette Collins, were both arrested Thursday morning and booked into the Cobb County jail, booking records show. The two have been placed on administrative leave, a school district spokesman said. READ MORE HERE

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The evidence is mounting on the devastating affects of childhood abuse and neglect. In a newly released report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the average cost to someone who experiences maltreatment as a child — defined as physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse or neglect — is $210,012 over the course of a lifetime. According to the report, the figure represents the combined costs of child welfare, special education, criminal justice expenses, medical care and lost productivity as an adult. READ MORE HERE

The Wisconsin state Senate Committee on Public Health, Human Services and Revenue will hold a hearing today on a bill authored by state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R) that would force the sate to say that “nonmarital parenthood” contributes to child abuse and neglect, and distribute official literature saying as much. His legislationwould add the bolded portions to Wisconsin state law:

Section 1. 48.982 (2) (g) 2. of the statutes is amended to read: 48.982 (2) (g) 2. Promote statewide educational and public awareness campaigns and materials for the purpose of developing public awareness of the problems of child abuse and neglect. In promoting those campaigns and materials, the board shall emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect.

Section 2. 48.982 (2) (g) 4. of the statutes is amended to read: 48.982 (2) (g) 4. Disseminate information about the problems of and methods of preventing child abuse and neglect to the public and to organizations concerned with those problems. In disseminating that information, the board shall emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect.

READ MORE HERE

 

LONG BEACH – A Long Beach couple pleaded no contest Friday to charges of felony child abuse in the beating death of their 31-day-old baby. Melissa Swanson, 42, and Michael Cross, 34, each pleaded to a single count of felony child abuse causing death as well as an allegation that each personally used a weapon in the Aug. 11 slaying of their daughter, Michaela Cross. Deputy District Attorney Carol Rose included the personal use of a weapon allegation based on the Coroner’s ruling that the baby was slammed or swung into a hard object with such force it caused a massive and deadly skull fracture. READ MORE HERE