Utah ranks 10th in the nation in the number of cases of child abuse. But the director of the Salt Lake County Children's Justice Center says that ranking may mislead people. Susanne Mitchell says it's actually a positive.

"Utah takes (reports of child abuse) seriously and the agencies respond, I think better than most states. So, our numbers may appear higher but it may actually be that other states aren't doing as well as Utah in responding," she explained.

She may be right, but she offers nothing to support the assertion that it's actually good news.

It just seems strange(but not for Utah) for the person in charge to think it's a positive for Utah to have more cases of child abuse than almost all the other states.


http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=15050024



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2011 09:59AM by DNA.

Isn't it wonderful?! Isn't it marvelous?!

I hope this doesn't startle you robertb, but WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! :-O

This gal *totally * missed you!

I think it really means: "This looks really bad for us so we need a positive sounding spin." Of course what it really means is: "How can I lie my way past this?"

This has got to be a Mormon thing. It reminds me of when Romney *actually* tried to take credit for the automobile recovery. I thought to myself, "only a Mormon could justify these kinds of mental gymnastics."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2012 11:27AM by FormerLatterClimber.

Because Utah is so mormon dominated, and so many people think mormon when they think of Utah... Then Utah/mormons think that anything that looks bad about Utah has to be whitewashed, lest the rest of the country think it's a mormon issue.

So being 10th in the country for child abuse? Holy shit! How can we make this look like mormons aren't child abusers!

Having lived there most of my life, I've seen it happen so often. But back then, I liked it. I was the one going, "Oh good, now people won't think that us mormons are...."

I wonder where the director of the Salt Lake County Children's Justice Center would rank Utah and how she determined Utah is doing a better job of reporting? I would think the tremendous depression rate among women in Utah would support the ranking, as depressed and stressed out mothers would be more likely to be abusive.

Any normal person looking at any statistics of thi fuck.ing stater can see the results of what the mormon cult is and has done to those living here. If

I hate Utah. I'm not Mormon and I believe because of that I/ my family was put through the ringer and torn apart. False allegations, like my child going to school with messy hair ( she rode her bike with a bike helmet ie: static) I held my oldest back in 3rd grade because she couldn't read, they claimed neglect was why she was held back. her teacher and I decided together to hold her back rather than push her on to the next grade. They claimed she had fetal alcohol syndrom, she has left brain damge caused and mental disabilities cause from the birthing process and heredity. My ex-husband called me at work said I needed to come get my kids. I borrowed a friends car went home to find a bass gutair embeded in my bedroom wall I immediatly removed my children took them to work and called the police. The next day DCFS came and took my children claiming I was involved in domestic violence in front of my children. These types of accusatins went on for 5 yrs then they pulled my rights on my little one saying i wasn't capable of raising a normal child and let me keep my oldest handicaped child. Now my youngest is back up for adoption because the home they put her in abused her. If anyone knows of someone that can help me fight for her PLEASE email me..

Angelina Carlisle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I hate Utah. I'm not Mormon and I believe because
> of that I/ my family was put through the ringer
> and torn apart. False allegations, like my child
> going to school with messy hair ( she rode her
> bike with a bike helmet ie: static) I held my
> oldest back in 3rd grade because she couldn't
> read, they claimed neglect was why she was held
> back. her teacher and I decided together to hold
> her back rather than push her on to the next
> grade. They claimed she had fetal alcohol syndrom,
> she has left brain damge caused and mental
> disabilities cause from the birthing process and
> heredity. My ex-husband called me at work said I
> needed to come get my kids. I borrowed a friends
> car went home to find a bass gutair embeded in my
> bedroom wall I immediatly removed my children took
> them to work and called the police. The next day
> DCFS came and took my children claiming I was
> involved in domestic violence in front of my
> children. These types of accusatins went on for 5
> yrs then they pulled my rights on my little one
> saying i wasn't capable of raising a normal child
> and let me keep my oldest handicaped child. Now my
> youngest is back up for adoption because the home
> they put her in abused her. If anyone knows of
> someone that can help me fight for her PLEASE
> email me..blackfairy6972@yahoo.com

Angelina, please accept my most sincere and empathetic condolences. From a fellow mother who has suffered a very similar loss. I don't have any legal help for you but my heart just broke reading about your situation. I never did drugs or drank while pregnant either. I never abused my child either, in fact I have a mortal and real fear for my estranged son's well being in his current situation. Nothing will stop these people from telling the most outrageous and hurtful lies if they're so inclined. Just like you, I believe the motive was to punish me for not being Mormon. Sick sick sick. Just remember, our justice system isn't fool proof. In fact it's subject to corruption just like everything else that is run by fallible, bribable, nepotism-inclined (especially Mormon) human beings.

Wow. This does not surprise me in the least. Personally I think that the reason why Utah has so many cases is because people know that it's unlikely that anything will happen to them if caught and if they do get caught well if the child wasn't put into the hospital then its okay and life goes on. I've seen it with my own eyes. My father was abusive to me as a child and no matter what my mom and I did to stop it and get him charged he got away with it time after time after time. If a child says multiple times something is happening then most likely something is happening and needs to be investigated thoroughly instead of the normal approach of talk to the parent that's accused and then go well there is nothing to see here and sweeping it under the rug. And now my girlfriends kid brother is going the same thing as I did as a child and it breaks my heart to see the same thing happen to him as it did me. The state of Utah disgusts me and I refuse to raise a family there because of things like this.

I was a social worker when I got out of grad school for the department of child and family services when I lived Utah. Obviously Utah is densely populated with mos but I would say 8 out of 10 home visits were to LDS folks (pics of Jesus, temples, scriptures, etc). I feel sorry for all those kiddos whose families are forever...

If the spokes person wants to sound credible on this issue, they would have facts and numbers to back up their claims.

This seriously sounds like someone trying to baffle with BS.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2011 08:39PM by MJ.

and Utah does respond better than other states. How many places in the ranking could that be worth--1, 3, 10, 40? It is simply nonsense.

How about the possibility that their "seriousness" really means "over zealous" and they have put away some people that did not deserve to go to jail.

I can not help but think about the Salt Lake City case of David James Bell and how so many rushed to judgment that he had kidnapped 2 children.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2011 08:50PM by MJ.

In Mormonism, the child is so devalued that he or she quickly becomes a problem to be dealt with by fast physical punishment. My father was a serial beater and a serious Mormon. I saw him spanking his grandsons--not my boy, as I would kick the old man's ass.

Now emotional abuse is another thing. And the Mormons practice that too. Children are made to feel guilty if they don't believe in faerie tales of gold bibles and magic rocks. Parents will leave their children behind closed doors with bishops who grill the kids about their genitals. It's common practice.

I wonder if under reporting happens more in Utah due to ward members living next to each other, and not wanting to cause a big issue in the ward by getting a fellow ward member arrested.

It seems that most calls to state agencies would come from neighbors, and in Utah most neighbors are ward members.

Well,I want to tell you what I have witnessed first hand. I roomate of mine was abusing her kids. I tried to help her and she left and didn't come back DCFS came and got her kids and we went to court. I was a witness another roomate and my finace were also witnesses. They told the mom that she could either sign over her rights to her kids and walk away or she would be prosecuded by the law and because there was 3 witness that conviction would be easy. They also threw in the kicker. If you don't sign away your rights and the state takes them from you, you will forfet any future children automatically to DCFS.
In this case she signed over her rights and walked away. Which was in the kids best interest. HOWEVER... I couldn't help to think. What if she hadn't done the things we were saying? What if we were angry roomates that were crazy enough to make up a story? Where is the justice? If 3 people say you did something, then your screwed. Scary thought huh? I heard some people that have actually been jealous of friends kids so they called DCFS testified against thier friends or family in court and then adopted the child. The way I've seen this court work, I am scared to death of DCFS. The prettier the child is, the harder it is to get them back from DCFS because everyone wants the beautiful children. Trust me. I am on the other side of this. My mother works for DCFS here in Utah. I see everything from the inside!!

Reminds me of what people here used to say about the surveys that showed Utahns were prescribed more anti-depressants: "Our doctors are just better at giving people the help they need than doctors in the other 49 states."

What about all the emotional abuse that goes unreported? Emotional abuse of being raised in a mormon household.

I think child abuse problem goes hand-in-hand with the perscription drug problem.

My daughter taught kindergarten in a Utah public school for the last two years. She saw many situations reported to CPS -- even cases of known sexual abuse. She said CPS never did anything. Nothing for those poor children. One of her little ones even came to school one day reporting of a murder in their home the previous night. Nothing . . .

I hate CPS. Its staffed by incompetent people projecting whatever their own history of abuse might be onto the parents and children. The ugly secret is that they never actually protect any child of real abuse. They wouldn't know how to find them or how to competently bring a case. They focus their energies then on trying to micromanage the lives of parents having difficulties and making themselves feel they have helped children when in fact they've made parents feel like criminals who have done nothing major.

But the Children's Justice Center is an entirely different matter. Those are made up of real professionals dedicated to whats best for children. The Children's Center too is another separate one.

I think statements like these made in the media giving the high number of reported abuse cases a positive spin is so that people are not discouraged from reporting abuse by thinking they are damaging the reputation of the state--yes, here in Utah people think that way.

Someone should require this guy to prove his claim.

I just don't believe that other states under report child abuse any more than I believe the non-mo's in Utah are responsible for Utah's ranking (like they implied with the higher suicide rate in Utah).

Don't forget the cases the bishops hides.

iamagodu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't forget the cases the bishops hides.

My thoughts exactly. The article should have said, "it is actually much worse than that but the Mormon need to maintain an image means that fewer cases are reported."

Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it fantastic? They're depressed and they KNOW it, unlike us deluded non-Mormons who self-medicate with light mindedness and laughter.

White Mormons are not the only child abusers in Utah.

Mormon neighbors tell on each other more.

Personaly with the huge ammount of infulance of a relegion that encorages people to go thought he wrong channels and alows just enough wiggle room in the right places to alow people a destructive b elief towards others i'm supprised the ammount of child abuse cases isnt much higher.

It's also possible that Utah does a good job recording abuse, but a poor job getting children out of abusive homes, giving them a lot of repeat business.

Another possibility is that their foster care system sucks, and they are actually taking children from one abusive home and putting them into another, inflating their numbers further.

It could also be that Utah is much higher up in child abuse, but their reporting system sucks.

Classis mormon apologist reply: The others have got it wrong.

That was my thought when I saw your post. I understand the ridicule, but there is some truth. Where there is light there can be action.

A quick example that comes to mind is violence in Brazil, a very modern country in parts. I do not imagine they freely and fully report their violent crime in favelas.

Of course child abuse is horrible, that it is being documented is helpful for awareness and then hopefully action. There should be a third piece of the pie, estimated unreported child abuse. I don't know how to make that number accurate, but it exists too and is worse than documented child abuse only in the sense that the system and others are not aware to help, or are aware and not documenting for evil purposes. No doubt there are multiple examples of this kind of child abuse as well.