Categotry Archives: child welfare

The Mendacity of a Zero Tolerance Bullying Policy

Here is what’s going down in my daughter’s life . . . to protect the privacy of all participants, I’m using initials instead of names, and in some cases have switched initials up. Dear School Board Rep. MM: Re: bullying of MEF I am attaching the e-mail I sent to the principal at TCES. My daughter, MEF, a 4th grader in Ms. GB’s class, has been subjected to bullying all year, which has now culminated in assault. We are considering [...]

Guest Post: With God’s Love I’ll Be Okay

Most mornings start like this morning: I wake from dreams where I’m stuck in the past. In these dreams, I’m trying to run, talk, plead or beg my way out of a remembered time or place, real or symbolic, from childhood.  My childhood, as captured in my dreams, is a prison my mind, my past, and my family once put me in.  I try everything to escape, but the only way out of that hell is by turning my eyes [...]

Baby Steps: Thirty Seconds of Chocolate

After I look out the bedroom window for her black Lexus, I run downstairs and pull all of the blinds shut.  She can’t see in.  But she can still get in through the garage.  The combination is my birthday and I should change that but I don’t remember how.  I gotta figure that out. I check the door that leads to the garage.  We’ve taped the lock so that the kids won’t accidentally turn the lock and now I gotta [...]

Helping Break the Code of Silence, One Tiny Brick at a Time

I have written about the Code of Silence as it relates to PSU, and in Tuesday’s guest post, my friend and fellow blogger, Dawn Sticklen, has written about how it has affected her community.  What I have not written about is how it has affected (and still affects) me. I don’t like my own story.  I feel weak and disempowered when I review the facts of my own abuse.  It’s all messy and wrecked and muddled. And I’m fucking scared [...]

Penn State University: Lessons Learned

Today I’d like to introduce Dawn Sticklen, from Since You Asked…. Dawn lives in Joplin, Missouri and she writes about family life both in her local community and around the globe. Her blog offers ideas for contributing to the overall quality of life and wellness of your community. Dawn and I have been talking about a major issue that, sadly enough, affects each and every one of our communities: sexual abuse. Recently, I wrote about the Code of Silence that [...]