Today, the news has something on it that catches my attention. It's the story of that boy named Adam who went missing 10 years ago, but no one bothered to report it. I'm sure you've heard about it because its a story that makes you think "what the heck!?".
How is it possible that a kid vanishes and it takes 10 years for the parents, family or friends to say "gee, I wonder where he is?" When my son is in our home and too quiet for five minutes, I ask myself that same question. I rarely let him out of my sight at age 7 and plan on knowing where he is at all times until he's at least 40.
This missing boy, who would now be 21, was adopted. I adopted my cat, signing a contract that legally made me responsible for her well being. If she doesn't greet us in the morning or greet my son when he comes from school, I worry something fierce. Why? Because I don't like the idea of bad things happening to her! Apparently, I feel for my cat more than this boys adoptive family feels for him.
Beyond family and friends never bothering to look for this kid or even seriously question his dissappearance, what does it say about the community? If my kid is absent for more than a day at school, you better believe the school calls my house to check on him. Not to mention there's a social worker to check on anything that doesn't seem quite right. Even a homeschooled kid needs school district oversight. What the heck!?
I haven't even gotten to the part that caught my attention about this story yet, believe it or not. The above is just the part that confounds my motherly mind and my humanity. It makes me shudder in disbelief.
The part that caught my ears and eyes was an interview with the aunt. She stated in her interview that the last time Adam was seen was at a Superbowl party, where he was handcuffed in a bathroom as a form of punishment, which is not the outrageous part.
Let's pretend you are at party and you encounter your host punishing their child in such a method. Do you:
a) confront your host
b) leave in horror
c) call the authorities
d) all of the above
e) have a beer and watch the game
The aunt picked something resmebling choice "e".
The interviewer was awfully easy on this woman because he didn't point out the obvious- that using handcuffs to punish your child is not discipline, it's torture. Period. I forgave the television newsman for being a wuss because it was a network show. Cable news would have been less forgiving.
The interviewer goes onto ask the aunt if she'd ever seen Adam abused in anyway. What? What about the handcuff thing? That's abuse by normal standards! The reply was scary. "No." said the aunt. The father never raised a hand to the child, though the mother did dish out some corporal punishment. Reading the print versions of the story, their was also oodles of emotional and psychological abuse.
Has this woman never seen an after-school special. She looked as though she watches a lot of television. How could she miss the whole abuse thing? What kind of person thinks that handcuffing is an acceptable part of a punishment? Is it merely a case of "we're not in Kansas anymore?"
While I'm unclear if the family member in the article is the same I saw on television, let me quote the article here and see if you can put two and two together like the boy's family could not. (I have a feeling you are a little brighter than they are):
Linda Bush, a former sister-in-law of Valerie Herrman, remembered Adam as a timid little boy. She has not seen him since he was at least 6 years old.
"He wasn't boisterous, running around making a lot of noise like other children. And he stared a lot. That was strange," Bush said. "He gave me the creeps sometimes because he would stare. But it was nothing to hate him for."
Bush said she remembered Valerie Herrman telling the boy he was stupid.
"It was the tone. It was constant. She constantly berated him and put him down, a hateful tone," Bush said. "It was constant and we couldn't figure out what that boy had ever done to make her hate him like that." [ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer]
Huh? How does that even make sense? Isn't it abuse and neglect,
for starters, for the handcuffing? How about the missing for 10
years bit? I highly doubt that the mother give a tap on the rear
when the kid displeased her.
I need this woman to go on Nancy Grace so she can be ripped a new
one. I want Nancy to tell the aunt "You are not normal. You
are not guilt-free. You did nothing to protect your
nephew."
As aunt who has stuck up for her sister's kids'
well-being in the past, I know I would have no problem calling
the authorities on my sisters if they or their partners abused
on of my family members.
So it leaves me wondering, if you found your niece or
nephew handcuffed in a bathroom as punishment, what would you
do?
