ALL
IN THE FAMILY
Each week I plan for a humorous
column, hoping to put a smile on a few faces, but by the end of the week
there will be a story, or two, or ten, that gets me so lit that I have to
put off the funny stuff for another week. Beginning with the story out of
Boston earlier in the week of the four year old who was kept medicated by
his parents, slipped through the cracks of the Department of Social
Services, and ultimately died. Interrupted by a story out of Pittsburgh, PA
of a two year old placed outdoors during sub-zero temperatures so as not to
disturb the "parents". The child wandered off and died of exposure. Then,
the grande finale from Nashua, NH of a mother, father and ex-boyfriend who
had engaged in years of abuse against four children.
My mother said "sorry, very nicely" after "drowning" me, the eight year old
boy told investigators. A statement that neatly sums up the innocence of a
child and even the desire to forgive. Yes, mother was very polite. The
children's father, Robert Dionne, and mother Judi Dionne were arrested along
with Judi's ex-boyfriend Lukeus Poirier on charges they abused the four
children over a period of years. In Nashua District Court, Judge Gerald
Carney upped the bail to serveral hundred thousand dollars each, in cash.
Thank you, Judge Carney. These children were routinely bound and gagged with
duct tape, tied to chairs, held under water and made to think they were
about to drown. These were cited by the parents as disciplinary measures.
There is also a sexual molestation charge against the former boyfriend. I'm
not sure how that fits into the discipline category. Abuse rendered by and
received by family members, and apparently, never anything seeming awry to
neighbors, friends or any one else in the vicinity of this "family".
This is where I am starting to get a little confused. In Boston, the media
is trouncing on the social service worker and there is certainly merit to
it. The country is strung together with stories of dismal failures by state
child service agencies. Let's face it, it's the Division of Motor Vehicles
for children. Like any other government agency, awash in paperwork and
procedure, understaffed and almost completely ineffectual in it's mission.
The case worker in Boston had 29 families in his charge. Imagine trying to
surveil 29 families, probably completely dysfunctional families at that, and
trying to keep the kids in those families safe, never mind see that they get
educated, stay healthy and hopefully move into productive adulthood in spite
of their background. Sound impossible? Of course, and it is. In Nashua, just
a few years ago, a child services worker was shot at point blank range and
killed when he stopped to check on the welfare of one of his charges. The
father, a delusional train-wreck of a person, was convinced they were coming
to abscond with the child. He simply shot the worker, a father himself, in
the head.
So my question is, at what point do the rest of us start to share some of
the responsiblity? It is no longer enough to say..."I pay my taxes to
agencies that are supposed to do this for us". It is not working. And I no
longer accept the complacent chorus from friends and neighbors that nobody
knew anything was wrong. The recent case of Shaun Hornbeck, the boy abducted
and held for four years by Michael Devlin, was awash in reports by neighbors
of "strange noises". Well?? What the hell are people waiting for? I am a
parent and we have a close network of friends with children and if something
were "not right" you would sense it right away. We are, more and more, as a
culture, closing our shades and turning up the music so as not to see or
hear anything that might warrant a response on out part, and, lacking that
response, a sense of guilt or forboding that we don't want to bear. This is
unacceptable.
As we immerse ourselves in the tawdry spectacle of Anna Nicole and a former
Navy pilot and astronaut undergoing an emotional breakdown, the erosion of
our national foundation continues undaunted. We are happy for now, most of
us, as long as the weird stuff doesn't come up our street, but I submit that
we all better get involved, and soon. The things that are happening to
children in this country should have the our collective attention like a UFO
landing on your lawn. What a shamefull mark on a great nation that we
continue to accept what is occuring, indeed becoming numb to it, with no
apparent resolve to change it. Anyone interested in getting involved may
contact me through this website. I'm not even sure what can be done, but we
must try. My children, old enough to read a newspaper, see what happened in
Nashua, and asked me..."What are you going to do?" A fair enough question,
don't you agree?