BellaOnline Forums Family Child Abuse British Troubled Child Home Abused Children

A British home for troubled children - "Haut de la Garenne" - was closed in 1986. But now they're digging up proof that children were slain there as well as abused.

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What a tragic story! I think one form of oversight should be that there is a watchdog group, so to speak, that watches over these types of homes. There should be constant follow-up by the state child services department.

I do believe that things are better currently; however, we are certainly not there yet. There are changes that need to be done currently. I am not sure if kids, in modern times, are able to speak up about the abuse they are enduring. I think that hasn't changed much. Any child that is being abused is going to be quite fearful of reporting any type of abuse that they are enduring.

Again, there should be constant follow-up on all state agencies that are supposed to help children. Hawaii has recently been dealing with this very issue. The child services department are now thinking of immediately releasing information to the police department whenever an officer checks on an individual child. this is a very good discussion. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

I guess I was thinking with the internet that kids could blog or email or something - but it assumes the kids would be allowed on a computer. I would hope that every country now has watchdog groups to keep an eye on things, but I suppose there are still orphanages in maybe eastern Europe or those sorts of places which aren't kept an eye on ...

There are sites that have chat rooms for kids to talk in. I have only been to one and while there it was still very difficult for them to talk being that there was a facilitator also in the room. I think kids will continue to be afraid to tell, that's just the way it happens when abuse is involved. However, I definitely believe in a stronger network of professionals becoming involved with shelters and homes and such. Even foster homes should be carefully watched.

Well and I think you're right that they would be scared of their abusers finding out and making things even worse. So even if they did say something it'd probably be really vague and people would ignore it.

So watchdog groups really seem to be the important solution, to have people going in every 3 months or so and talking to the kids and making sure they are OK. In modern times with webcams and tape recorders they could even watch over things remotely and make sure things were being done properly.

Those are all great ideas to this problem. I also think they should follow up quarterly on the homes, shelters, and foster homes.