by wifibandit 32 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
So.....
Child tells parent. Parent tells elders. Elders interegate child. Elders do nothing.
Or
Adult survivor tells elders. Elders interrogate adult survivor. Elders advise adult survivor to get over it. Elders do nothing.
But look we have an article protecting children.
fiddler: It very tellingly doesn't specify who to tell. For a JW the 'who to tell' will be the parents (one of which may be the abuser) or an elder (who again may be the abuser). It doesn't say 'tell the police!'
I was thinking along much the same lines, Fiddler.
Firstly, parents rank up pretty high as being a child's abuser, themselves...yet the WT ignores that and instead tells the person(s) most likely to be the abuser to question the child!
Then, it is what is left out that is the most telling. They say nothing about "what signs to watch for that may point to your child being abused". You know, like - tips for parents - what to watch for. Behaviour that may signal the child is being victimized. Nothing like that...
And, where are the training manuals and such for those who are in authority telling them what to watch for and what to do if abuse is suspected? Nothing like that...just lift up the carpet edge and sweep those kids under it. And then drive a bus over them.
I swear, every single time I think to myself "The writers at Brooklyn have really reached rock bottom this time" and yet they STILL manage to do worse!
This is genuinely absurd!!!
The problem isn't that children are remaining silent. It's that their parents and the elders are!
Is this really on the official website?
Cant find it anywhere.....
What section is it under please?
SORRY! I just found it under the section for children / activities ..
Its NOT a game by the way GB! Seriously....telling parents to play a "game" about it!? Wow....
Parents, read Awake! October 2007 and October 8, 1993. Now play a game of
“What if . . . ?” with your child. Ask how your child would respond to different scenarios.
Children, practice how to respond.
Ask how your child would respond to different scenarios.
By cleverly including two references to earlier magazine articles, the organization is trying to dupe the secular authorities into concluding it did include clear information on how to keep themselves safe from predators.
But what an odd "game" for parents to play with their children - and no organizational guidance on what those scenarios should appropriately consist of.
steve: By cleverly including two references to earlier magazine articles, the organization is trying to dupe the secular authorities into concluding it did include clear information on how to keep themselves safe from predators.
But what an odd "game" for parents to play with their children - and no organizational guidance on what those scenarios should appropriately consist of.
The only ones being duped are themselves. The secular world doesn't buy their bullshit.
And yeah...it is an odd game. What is really bad about it is that if a case ever does make it into the legal arena, those "games" can be cast as activities that give suggestion to the child and corrupt evidence. I could see some defence lawyers trying to toss out the child's testimony by saying that the parents were leading the child to only think they had been molested, and that the questions set the child up to make up a story for attention - you know...play games.
*to add - imagine this line of questioning to the child "did your mommy or daddy tell you what to say?" and the child responding "yes...we played games so I knew what to say...we practised" and the lawyer saying to the judge "I move to have this testimony stricken on the grounds that it has been contaminated by the parents' suggestions."
Questioning small children about sex abuse has guidelines that most professionals try to diligently follow - some times, not questioning children properly has harmed both the evidence for court cases and the child involved. I can think of one notable and prominent case from my neck of the woods that had countless problems because of the way the children had been questioned. It was a horrible mess with far reaching consequences.
For Jehovah's Witness parents who are scared to report suspected abuse to elders, or don't know what to do...maybe scared that if they report it they will be shunned...here is an "out" that may help: take your kid to a child psychologist or counsellor. If there is mandatory reporting, then there is a chance that it will be taken out of your hands.
Which, of course, goes a long way to explain why the WT is so against outside professional help for mental health issues. And why the religion is so insular.
The Jehovah's Witnesses organisation keeps a sex offenders register that nobody outside the church is allowed to see, a former "elder" tellsPanorama.
Bill Bowen, who has spent his lifetime as a Jehovah's Witness and nearly twenty years as an elder, says the organisation covers up abuse by keeping this database secret.
His sources indicate there are 23,720 abusers on the list - who are protected by the system.
"They [the Jehovah's Witnesses] do not want people to know that they have this problem", he tells Panorama.
