THE COMEBACK:

IT’S NOT OVER 'TIL THE FAT LADY SINGS!

WELL FAT IS A TEMPORARY IMBALANCE OF CALORIES; HOWEVER, STUPIDITY IS A PERMANENT GENETIC CONDITION.

THE MESSAGE:

Child abuse can exist as a result of parental neglect, ignorance, emotional reaction or physical or sexual behaviours.

PARENTING PROBLEMS

A lack of parenting skills
Immature parents
Parents with negative childhood experiences and social isolation
Alcohol and/or drug use in the home
Manufacture of drugs, indoor marijuana grow operations, drug trafficking, or other forms of illegal drug activity in the home
Family violence in the home
Repeated family crisis
Unrealistic expectations of a child’s behaviour and capacities

TONY TODAY:

RANDAL DOOLEY

A terrible case of child abuse in Canada occurred in 1998 to Randal Dooley. Randal was born in Jamaica and came to Canada with his brother to live with his father and stepmother in Toronto in November 1997, 11 months before his death. Edward Dooley, and his wife Marcia, were convicted of second-degree murder in 2002 in the death of seven-year-old Randal Dooley. Randal weighed just 41 pounds and had 13 fractured ribs, a lacerated liver, four brain injuries, and head-to-toe bruises when he died in 1998. At the couple’s trial, it was found that Marcia Dooley had struck the fatal blow to Randal and had inflicted the vast majority of the prior abuse.

SHELDON KENNEDY

Not all sexual abuse cases are caused directly by parents; however, should Sheldon’s parents have been more careful in allowing the teenager to spend a weekend at his coach’s home? Between the ages of 14 and 19, Kennedy was sexually abused by his respected hockey coach Graham James. The abuse went on, twice weekly, between 1984 and 1990. "Kennedy testified he was first abused when he received permission from his parents to spend the weekend at James' house to discuss his future in hockey." (Knight-Ridder, 1/9/97)