Our kids are lucky. I know you’re staring at your computer screen right now wondering what I have been drinking or smoking in order to make such a statement, but it really is true.

While our kids have been through horrific things, and things that no child should ever go through, the fact is that for our kids there are resources.

Let me back up a little bit and explain my position. It started this morning as I was sitting in church. Our pastor tackled the tough subject of war and soldiers laying down their lives for us. It is a hard subject to talk... more

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This month is the perfect opportunity to enlighten people about how many children are in foster care due to child abuse and neglect.

One of my favorite websites for information about child welfare is Child Welfare Information Gateway. They have resources for everyone and there are plenty of resources for child abuse awareness. There is a packet full of information, a poster to display and tip sheets to help educate people about child abuse and... more

In my previous blog, a reader asked:

Why would foster parents abuse there foster children if they went through abuse?

This is a great question. I don’t have statistics to back this up, this is just my personal opinion.

I think the main reason foster parents abuse is stress and/or frustration. Raising foster children and all the accompanying issues leads to high levels of stress. I think many parents are ill prepared to handle the issues... more

In a previous blog,I was asked to explain about what happens after an abuse allegation.

Well, it does depend on the ruling.

Here in Wisconsin, there can be three different rulings.

Unsubstantiated, which is what ours was. This is supposed to mean that the parents have a clean record. Our legal record is clear, but the previous worker handling Sammy’s case was very adamant that we were guilty, regardless of what the ruling was, and has used to this... more

I am on several list serves for various aspects of abuse, foster care and adoption. Something that was written on an abuse survivors list really caught my attention. I have permission from the author to publish it here.

This is what was written:

"Rape" is an acute event---but to be raped, and then ignored is far worse. How different would any of our lives have been, had, after the first incident, the non-abusing adults in our lives (whoever they might be--mothers, aunts, teachers..) put themselves in front of us and protected us and believed us and... more