Teen mothers, older fathers
Inside Bountiful's baby boom: Pregnancy rate among polygamous Mormon sect's young women up to seven times average, yet B.C. officials watch and wait
Vancouver Sun, by Daphne Bramham, April 21, 2006
Kendall says "social values of this community differ from the norm."
"It may be questioned how voluntary a young adolescent female's participation in a marriage to an older man in this community would be," he writes.
But since no Bountiful girl has stepped forward to complain, Kendall says there's been no reason for the Ministry of Children and Family Development to investigate.
As for polygamy, the chief medical health officer says that's an issue for the solicitor-general, the attorney-general and the Canadian government -- not health officials.
So, what have we got? A policy of watchful waiting by the ministry that is supposed to enforce the Child, Family and Community Service Act that says "a child needs protection if the child has been or is likely to be physically or sexually abused by the parent or another person and the parent is unwilling or unable to protect the child."
Kendall concluded there was no reason for health officials to have used that section of the act.
Yet the numbers guys -- statistics agency CEO Andrew McBride and R.J. Danderfer, the assistant deputy minister -- said it "may be problematic" explaining why no one has reported under the act.
However, they said: "This is due to the potential difficulties inherent in attempting to ascertain whether a child truly needs protection and may be exacerbated by the fact that the Bountiful community and its practices have existed for a considerable period of time."
But that pretty well sums up the Bountiful situation: It's been ignored and tiptoed about for so long that now it's even more difficult to deal with.
The folks in Victoria tiptoe about, wringing their hands over whether this is a cult or a distinct society. They can't seem to decipher the difference between religious practice and child abuse.
And all the while, Bountiful is having a population explosion. Its population has tripled from about 400 in the late 1990s (when the attorney-general overrode the RCMP's recommendation that charges be laid against the polygamist leaders) to about 1,200 now.
Don't they get it? With a policy of so-called watchful waiting, it's only going to get worse.
This is a textbook example of revenge of the cradle. And it's being done literally on the backs of young girls.
BETWEEN 1998 AND 2004 69 BOUNTIFUL GIRLS 18 OR YOUNGER HAD BABIES
46% of the fathers are 5 or more years older than the teenage mother
28% of the fathers are 10 or more years older than the teenage mother
The Vancouver Sun 2006
TV Show about Parental Alienation
W5 investigates: Children on the frontlines of divorce
November 7, 2009
The world of divorce is scary for any child. But when a divorce becomes especially toxic, children can become the target of an unrelenting crusade by one parent to destroy the child's relationship with the other. Experts call it parental alienation.
A Kidnapped Mind
What does Parental Alienation Syndrome mean? In my case, it meant losing a child. When Dash was 4 1/2 years old his father and I broke up. I dealt with the death of our marriage and moved on but Peter stayed angry, eventually turning it toward his own house, teaching our son, day by day, bit by bit, to reject me. Parental Alienation Syndrome typically means one parent's pathological hatred, the other's passivity and a child used as a weapon of war. When Dash's wonderful raw materials were taken and shaken and melted down, he was recast as a foot soldier in a war against me.
Divorced Parents Move, and Custody Gets Trickier
The New York Times, New York city, U.S.A. August 8, 2004
Not too long ago, Jacqueline Scott Sheid was a pretty typical Upper East Side mother. Divorced and with a young daughter, she had quickly remarried, borne a son, and interrupted her career to stay home with the children while her husband, Xavier Sheid, worked on Wall Street.
Early last year, Mr. Sheid lost his job and saw his only career opportunity in California. But Ms. Sheid's ex-husband, who shares joint legal custody of their daughter, refused to allow the girl to move away. So Ms. Sheid has spent much of the last year using JetBlue to shuttle between her son and husband on the West Coast and her daughter (and ex) on the East.
The New York court system, which she hoped would help her family to resolve the problem, has cost her tens of thousands of dollars in fees for court-appointed experts, she said, and has helped to prolong the process by objecting to her choice of lawyers.
The View - Parental Alienation - Alec Baldwin and Jill Egizii - Both Genders Can be Victims
Landmark Ruling Grants Father Custody of Children
PA News (U.K.), July 3, 2004
A key court decision to grant a father custody of his daughters after the mother flouted contact orders for four years was today welcomed by campaigners.
Fathers 4 Justice said that the High Court ruling was a vital victory and called for more judges to take a similar stance when faced with resistant parents.
The comments come after Mrs Justice Bracewell transferred the residence of two young girls to their father because the mother persistently refused him contact, despite court orders. Read More ..