child abuse

Read the latest news and reports on child abuse cases and reports of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect on Newser.com

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2 Shots Fired After Man Challenges Daughter to 'Duel'

Dad was booked for child abuse, among other charges

(Newser) - A Colorado man has been arrested after an alleged domestic violence incident that included challenging his daughter to a "duel," KRDO reports. Robert Williams, 38, of Calhan was arguing with his daughter on Wednesday evening when things "escalated to the point that the father pulled out a...

Cops: Teacher Had Sex With 8th-Grader Daily for 9 Months

Alexandria Vera was allegedly pregnant with the boy's child

(Newser) - A 24-year-old Texas middle-school teacher turned herself in Wednesday on charges she had sex with an underage student nearly every day for nine months, KHOU reports. According to KPRC , authorities say Alexandria Vera was the boy's teacher during summer school at Stovall Middle School. They messaged each other on...

Mother Who Let Son Drive Golf Cart Charged With Child Abuse

A bizarre tale of police brutality during a family's vacation

(Newser) - A 43-year-old North Carolina mom let her 11-year-old son drive a golf cart on vacation and ended up being charged with child abuse. The Charlotte Observer has the bizarre he said/she said story. Julie Mall decided to let her underage son drive the two blocks from the beach to their...

2 Kids Restrained Like Dogs, 6 Others Rescued in Texas

'To call this horrific would be an understatement'

(Newser) - Authorities removed eight children—two of whom had been restrained like dogs in the backyard—from a San Antonio home late Thursday night, the AP reports. Their parents were nowhere to be found. According to KSAT , an anonymous woman called 911 shortly before midnight to report a child crying for...

Researchers Analyze 50 Years of Spanking Studies

It can lead to everything from antisocial behavior to mental illness

(Newser) - Not only is spanking ineffective when it comes to disciplining children, it can actually lead to everything from mental health problems to aggression. That's according to a new study published in the Journal of Family Psychology in which researchers looked at 50 years of prior research on nearly 161,...

2-Year-Old Found With Octopus Stuck in Throat

Mom's boyfriend is arrested

(Newser) - Doctors must have been shocked when they pulled a small octopus from the throat of a 2-year-old boy who arrived at the hospital not breathing. The boy's 21-year-old mother arrived home from work Tuesday night to find her 36-year-old boyfriend, Matthew Gallagher, giving CPR to her son, according to...

Social Workers Charged After Abused Boy Beaten to Death

They should have done something to stop it, prosecutors say

(Newser) - In what the Los Angeles Times describes as a "rare" move, social workers have been charged with a crime following the death of a child. Gabriel Fernandez, 8, died in Palmdale in 2013 after his mother and her boyfriend allegedly tortured him—pepper spraying him, making him eat his...

Cops: Man Leaves Baby in Car to Get a Lap Dance

He's been charged with child abuse

(Newser) - A Los Angeles man has been charged with child abuse for allegedly leaving his baby in the car while he went to a strip club, the AP reports. Authorities say 24-year-old Auwin Dargin left his 9-month-old daughter in the car for an hour last month during an afternoon visit to...

Mom Charged in Tot's Death Ordered Haunting 'Afterlife' Photos

Jeanie Ditty commissioned eerie photos of her with the daughter she's accused of killing

(Newser) - Shortly after 2-year-old Macy Grace Ditty died at a North Carolina hospital in December, her mom asked a photographer to create "afterlife" photos as a way to help her grieve. One image, made with a photo superimposed onto another, shows Jeanie Ditty, 23, strolling through a cemetery hand-in-hand with...

Mom Was High, Drunk When She Put Girl in Oven: Cops

Tasha Hatcher allegedly acted very oddly after the incident

(Newser) - The Texas woman who allegedly put her 2-year-old daughter into a heated oven last week was under the influence of pot, alcohol, and possibly also meth or a synthetic drug (like K2 or spice) at the time, police say. Tasha Hatcher was arrested after her daughter, who was naked when...

2 Pa. Bishops Hid the Abuse of Hundreds of Kids: AG

They paid off victims, moved alleged abusers: report

(Newser) - Over four decades, two Catholic bishops in Pennsylvania covered up the abuse of hundreds of children at the hands of more than 50 religious leaders, according to a grand jury report . A 147-page document notes Joseph Adamec and James Hogan of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese moved offending priests between parishes, paid...

Vatican: Bishops Need Not Report Abuse to Cops

Victims should be the ones to go to police: training document

(Newser) - Catholic bishops who suspect clerical child abuse need not report it to police. That's apparently the opinion of the Vatican, spelled out in a training document for newly appointed bishops. "According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily...

Report: 231 Members of German Boys' Choir Abused

The choir was conducted by the brother of former Pope Benedict

(Newser) - At least 231 members of a Catholic boys' choir in Germany were physically abused over four decades—largely while the choir was conducted by the brother of former Pope Benedict XVI, the New York Times reports. That number comes from Ulrich Weber, a lawyer hired by the Regensburger Domspatzen choir...

Cops: Martial Arts Instructor Knocks Out 5-Year-Old

He's been charged with felony child abuse

(Newser) - A 21-year-old martial arts instructor was arrested this week and charged with felony child abuse after allegedly knocking a 5-year-old student unconscious, the Washington Post reports. Police say Justin Branick was teaching a taekwondo class at Virginia's Tiger Martial Arts Academy in Bristow on Tuesday when he got mad...

Parents Charged After Space Heater Kills Toddler

They allegedly left him alone for 38 hours while doing meth

(Newser) - Authorities say a 2-year-old boy in Missouri died after being left alone in a room with a running space heater for 38 hours straight while his parents did meth, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. "They heard the child's cries and did nothing," a county prosecutor says. The...

Gruesome Child Murders Leave Cops 'Shaken'

Social workers visited children's home 4 times in last year

(Newser) - In the year before two children were found dead in a California storage locker, social workers visited the home of their guardian at least four times but didn't identify enough of a risk to remove the children. "We're looking at the case to see if there's...

Bodies of 2 Children Found in California Storage Unit

A 3rd child is 'fighting for her life'

(Newser) - Two people already in custody on suspicion of child abuse, torture, and mayhem are now being investigated for homicide after the bodies of two young children were found in a California storage unit Monday, the New York Times reports. The Plumas County Sheriff's Office arrested 17-year-old Gonzalo Curiel and...

Baby Dies After Siblings, 3, Put Her in Oven, Turn It On

Children had been left home alone: police

(Newser) - An absolutely awful story out of Houston, where police say four children were left alone Monday night and their mother came home to find one of them dead. The two 3-year-old siblings of the 19-month-old little girl who died, J'Zyra Thompson, told authorities that one of them put the...

Charges: Woman Poisoned Young Son for Months

She allegedly says she 'accidentally' gave her son the wrong medication

(Newser) - A Missouri woman is accused of repeatedly poisoning her 9-year-old son for about a year. Prosecutors have charged 35-year-old Rachel Kinsella of Meadville with endangering the welfare of a child. Court documents allege investigators found that Kinsella was surreptitiously having her son treated at two hospitals, getting unspecified prescriptions at...

Couple Cleared of Abuse Likely Won't Get Child Back

Criminal charges dropped, but adoption has already taken place

(Newser) - A young English couple cleared of child-abuse charges is unlikely to ever see their child again regardless, the Independent reports. Karissa Cox and Richard Carter took their six-week-old baby to the emergency room three years ago after finding it bleeding from the mouth. The couple was accused of child abuse,...

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