Saturday, October 27, 2007

Why I do not own a gun

This past Thursday I started my afternoon session with a new patient who was 11 years old. She was a very pleasent albeit quiet young girl who was in the office with her grandmother who is her legal guardian. The girls mother was murdered when she was 6 years old. The girl had been a straight A student up to this year, although was now struggling with her schoolwork and acting out at school. She also had some inappropriate encounters with other children. The day before her visit with me, she told her grandmother that her grandfather had been sexually abusing her. God bless this grandmother because the first thing she did was call the police and put his ass in jail. The second call was to DHS to make sure that he does not have contact with any of their grandchildren and the last call was to a divorce attorney. She is a strong women and I admire her beyond words.

This little girl was so very brave to tell. She single handedly turned her family upside down but in telling she in turn protected them all. Unfortunately, child abuse is something I deal with on a somewhat regular basis, but it breaks up me up every single time. I am always in awe of the bravery and strength of the childre who tell and saddened by their loss of innocence. I worry for all the children out there who haven't yet told.

And I hope and pray that the grandfather rots in jail for a very very very long time!

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