Five Children Kept Hidden

11.28.2010

I came across an article today on Yahoo! that made me shake my head and proves, once again, that any idiot can have kids. And not just one kid but five.[1]

A couple was found in Pennsylvania hiding their five children. What makes this story amazing is that they weren’t living in an isolated part of town and, yet, still managed to keep their kids away from people. They had neighbors who, for 13 years, never knew they had a child let alone five. (Their eldest is 13; the youngest is 2.) Apparently authorities were tipped off several times that there was child neglect happening but the father was consistently uncooperative and, thanks to bureaucracy, it took this long to cut through the red tape and get a warrant (though a family member’s urging for action helped greatly once seeing the condition in which the kids were kept.)

The family was living in disgusting conditions with no water, heat or other utilities. No heat? In Pennsylvania?! I’m sure the parents will be found to be mentally unstable.

I know that we can’t start implementing restrictions on who can or can’t have children. But I don’t understand why those people who really shouldn’t be having kids keep having them. One child can be considered an accident, I guess. But why do these people keep having one after the other? There are now 5 more souls on this Earth who are stripped of anything and everything they know and have to start over. Their “old world,” of course, was abusive but tell that to a little kid who only wants his/her mom. These kids are now in foster homes probably separated from their siblings, scared and confused. Why do people do this? Why?

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[1] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101128/ap_on_re_us/us_hidden_children

Science and Morality

08.25.2010

Two scientists, Dr. James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher, may win their case against the Department of Health and Human Services because they are morally opposed to stem cell research. It is because of them that there is a current injunction on federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells.[1]

What about being morally opposed to scientists creating the atomic bomb that killed thousands of Japanese? Or bombs that kill Iraqi civilians? Or Afghanis?

What about being morally opposed to scientists creating methods to alter cells genetically so that we can engineer an ideal baby?

What about being morally opposed to the hunger of thousands of children already born and living in our own backyard? Or being morally opposed to thousands of children already born who die from neglect and physical abuse at the hands of their supposed caretakers?

My father-in-law has Parkinson’s disease. Stem cell research is one of the biggest hopes we have in finding a cure not just for that disease but also for MS and Huntington’s disease, among others. Is the plan to privatize this research? If so, who's paying for it? We're all going to end up paying for it in some other way; higher health care costs, anyone?

It’s so frustrating to me how much people are willing to fight (and kill) for the possibility of someone else's baby or just for the mere idea of a baby and yet, look away so easily at the death, destruction, and neglect that goes on around us on a daily basis. They may give a voice to the “unborn” but what about those children who already walk, already talk, and already feel? What about those children who already understand from the actions of adults around them that they are not wanted? What about those children…?

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[1] Maugh II, Thomas H. “The Pair Behind the Stem Cell Suit,” Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, August 25, 2010, A10 and Kaplan, Karen, “Scientists Rush to Use or Redirect Stem Cell Funds,” Los Angeles, Times, Wednesday, August 25, 2010, A10.