Survival

Two news stories about the harm done to children caught my attention today.

A 5-year-old Russian girl found in a filthy apartment imitating the cats and dogs she was shut up with has been placed in state custody as authorities consider neglect charges against her father and other relatives. Officials said the girl barks like a dog, laps food directly off the plate and seems to have been "raised" by the animals.

Police in the Transbaikal region of Siberia said Wednesday that the girl was kept shut up with the animals in the regional capital, Chita. She lived in the apartment with relatives, including her father and grandparents. ...

The ITAR-Tass news agency cited the girl's mother as saying the child's father had taken her away without her permission when she was 2 1/2 years old. But the father claimed his mother-in-law had asked him to take the child because the mother was not taking proper care of her, the news agency quoted regional police spokesman Yegor Markov as saying.

And the reason that anyone would believe the veracity of what this man claims to justify the criminal neglect of his daughter is ....?

New Mexico authorities say a 7-year-old girl drove her father's Jeep in an attempt to get help after he was ejected in a rollover crash east of Clovis. Elizabeth Kazza got about three miles from the crash site when a motorist spotted her trying to drive the wrecked Jeep and stopped to help, the Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday. ...

Authorities say the girl's father, Guillermo Montes, 40, was speeding and lost control ... Elizabeth and her 3-year-old brother were unrestrained in the Jeep at the time of the crash, Glascock said. They told investigators Montes had driven to Clovis to buy beer and was drinking while heading back to his home in Bovina.

Little girls often do what needs to be done to survive, especially when the adult caring for them is an incompetent or irresponsible parent.

And those who defend pedophilia crawl out ...

from the underside of a big rock that was lifted to shed some light upon the sexual exploitation of children (emphasis ours).

oldowleyes wrote: "Wow, if your male your not even allowed to pay cash or ask for a quiet private room w/o out being suspected of being a pedophile. What a bunch of clowns Canadian governments are turning out to be, go back into your holes of institutional discrimination. While your at it, I suggest you get those illegal Family Relation Laws* off your books, or someday soon your going to be on the hook for billions in a class action law suit."

boardhead wrote: "Great. Now any 35 year old man with a young looking 20 year old girl will get a label. I'm all for the initiative as well, but most 18 yr. old girls these days are promiscuous with older men, and some look younger than 18, which will cause problems for some guys who are doing nothing wrong."

Most of the commenters who responded favourably to this campaign appeared to be women. The purpose of this initiative from the government of Alberta, Child and Youth Services division is to target adults who sexually exploit vulnerable girls and boys in rooms rented from commercial lodging establishments such as resorts, hotels and motels.

I have traveled with my daughter and her girlfriend, when they were teenagers. If I had seen hotel staff chat informally with them to ensure that neither had been kidnapped or were being coerced to participate in child prostitution, as part of precautionary measures that screened all guests, I would not have reacted in anger or fear. But perhaps men like Dickie Evans who engage in duplicitous sexual behaviour know that they have something to hide.

* This appears to be the legislation that oldowleyes finds objectionable.