I just don't understand how these people "go there" You just don't mess with the innocence of children. You just DON'T. And that goes for parents letting their toddlers wear sexy clothing etc. stealing the innocence of children is just WRONG

I know you know this, so now I'm off rant

Oh wow. I have been there. You are pointing out a serious issue. How can we resolve this? Can a child be given a cell phone, that can record the abuse in a hidden manner? Then the child does not have to report the abuse but simply needs to submit the recording? It's terrifying when you are a victim to confront the abuser, often victims will be intimidated to report. Even grown adults who are victimized take a lot of courage to report. Rape victims domestic violence this is known. I am very suspicious of cpa too. As well as medical personel. Any other ideas out there?

Do you know any big, powerful cool dudes that can informally hang with you, visit often, pretend to be your brothers, cousins, uncles, etc. that can accidently have an pleasant encounter with the parents, but get a point across about how much they hate child abusers?

Unfortunately, we live in a world where kids may be better off getting hit with an electrical cord than going into protective services where they may be pimped out. At best, CPS involves extreme trauma of being removed from the home, all social interactions completely disrupted. At worst, they're in on it.

A little off topic- I apologize but I don't have any info that makes this worthy of its own thread. This is a D.C. Shelter I'm wondering about. Courtney's house. Has anyone looked into it? Obama sang its praises.

http://www.courtneyshouse.org/who-we-are.html

I stumbled on it reading this huff post article http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/904680 Excerpt from article: Now, as a mother, I’ve watched children learn about trafficking the hard way. My oldest daughter graduated from a prestigious high school in Northern Virginia. As a teenager, she has referred two of her classmates to Courtney’s House, the Washington, DC shelter for child sex trafficking victims I run. As my daughter watched her peers become trapped and enslaved by pimps she asked me “Mom, why don’t we learn about this in school?” It was a good question without a good answer.

But it’s not just my daughter’s high school teaching the myth that slavery in America ended centuries ago. Most high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools in the U.S. teach the same thing. And it’s written in most history textbooks that slavery has an expiration date, and that date is far, far passed.

@Pgategirl , I think you're soooo sweet for all you do for the neighborhood kids. Honest to god, the world needs more people like you; however, one thing I ask you to always keep in mind is this: as bad as each situation may be, could it be worse if DCFS removes the child from the parents home? I say this only because DCFS is well known for child trafficking, as well, as lots of times kids are placed with pedophiles and worse. Your "kids" are so lucky to have someone like you to talk to; sometimes that's all any of us need... just a person who will listen. It's just that any thing past listening needs to be very, very carefully weighed.

Getting their parents locked up isn't always the answer. Foster system is broken. CPS is broken. Be a beacon of strength, but for gawdsakes stop trying to report and lock up every asshole parent.

You could try recording them telling you things so there is at least a record of what they way.

Sorry to say but these kids know that the devil they know is better than the devil they don't. Cps and foster care may be fillmon child rape orgies nightly for these kids.

Problem is we don't have safe places for these kids to go, report to police and the cps jackals show up and shit gets worse.

You did what most children do so don't feel bad. One of the children I reported to the authorities would not speak against her abuser, even though the authorities had a strong case. But at least she never had to spend any more time with him. Another child was put into a foster home and had it tough for a couple of years. But she is now independent, has a boyfriend, and has made a really good life for herself.

Unfortunately this has happened to me -- three times. You must go to the authorities, not the parents. Or report it to their school principal, who would be under a legal obligation to report it. You have to put the child first.

I won't go into detail here, but twice it was something I found out because the child's friends told me. Most abused children will not talk about it to an adult, whether that be a counsellor or a loving aunt.

I feel for ya . I have a similar situation . Parents play a big part in manipulating the children once they believe "their secrets" are out! I have video of the little person showing me the holes that were punched in the walls and showed me right where her mom keeps her meth pipe! Yes I called the police and yes the mother brainwashed her kids to say it was all lies to get attention !? She went to court high as a kite and got 50% custody ! Cali is a wonderful CESSPOOL ! Oh I forgot to mention they lived a few doors down from a very popular candidate for OC Cali DA ! Maybe that's why the casino prostitute meth attic didn't get in trouble? I wish someone would investigate this woman as she has several connections with dirty cops and city officials! I will give all her info to someone that may want to see why she has over 200k pictures that went through her gmail account and I really wish I could see what those pictures are . I have a sick feeling about it for sure .

You are right to be leery of CPS. We have had articles on here about them taking people's children away. When you went through it yourself, you also needed someone in the family or a very close adult friend to hold your hand and tell you, you were doing the right thing. Children need someone stronger than they are to stand by their side during something so emotionally disturbing.

If there was a relative that they really really trusted. That person is the hand holder and the person that must tell the child that no matter what the truth is, this relative will stand up for the child, no matter what. There should be someone in the child's family or a teacher or someone they are close to that they can trust. It is sometimes hard to find someone that is willing to do this. That is the hard part. They should be told that the person that is abusing them, has no right, no matter who they are. Being a parent, does not make them innocent of abuse or acts that are wrong.

I don't think you should call Protective Services or the cops. These kids need someone to talk to and you calling the cops makes you not trustworthy or safe. You can hand them the phone and let them call for themselves if they want, if they feel that desperate. It could be that their situations aren't as bad as they are saying and they are just venting and you calling the cops only escalates things. If they are injured by abuse, take them to the hospital and let the doctors call CPS. It sounds like you care about these kids, yet I think it is betraying their trust to call CPS (and get them into trouble) without their consent. They probably know that teachers and school and other adults are required by law to call and they might just want someone to talk to who isn't required to tattle on them or involve the law, just to ask questions and get advice.

Understandably these kids are afraid. They have to live with the constant fear of being "found out". They desperately want the abuse to stop, but most suffer from Stockholm syndrome. They think they love the abusers, most are their own parents. However, we adults know that child protective services is a horrible advocate for children. They themselves are 99.9% corrupt and many are POS lazy asses riding out the gov system of once employed by the US gov. it's practically impossible to be fired, BS! Many are in cohoots with the local law enforcement, and prosecuting attorneys. So called foster parents are just as guilty of "playing the system". Kids are not dumb, they know what will happen if the local system is corrupt, which 99.9% of the time they are. So, yes they are abused at home, sadly they know what to expect, but tell and get taken away and the unknown can be more terrifying than anything they have been through at home.

How in the hell do we or can we ever ensure a place for these kids to go that is 100% safe? 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

i empathize. we cant lose everyone so we selectively held back info.. we were sad, scared kids that protected our abusers in ways. But when I got older, I walked away. Ran, in fact. No regrets.

I don't trust my local CPS at all either. I've found that convincing the kids to send a relative to talk to you can be more effective.