protective services should have kept these children

[oldcynic]

and taken the others because this article describes severe emotional abuse. Almost any home would be better than this pair of child-eating carnivores provides.

DaddyOFive parents lose custody 'over YouTube pranks'

The pranks included one in which their youngest son was told he had been adopted by another family. Mike and Heather Martin, of Maryland, denied the videos were abusive and claimed they were fake. Custody of two of the children has now been returned to their biological mother.

In one controversial video, the pair poured ink onto their youngest son Cody's bedroom floor before swearing at him and blaming him for the mess. Cody was then shown crying hysterically.
The pranks also included smashing Cody's Xbox with a hammer.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39783670

[MontanaMama]

1. This breaks my heart.

Who does this to children?? OMG.

[2naSalit]

2. Well...

my brother and father for starters. That was their entertainment, torturing and terrifying me on a regular basis until I liberated myself from them. Child protective services, back in the 50s/60s only existed for those who were actually, visibly being killed by their families... like starving them or hospitalization from physical abuse.

[angstlessk]

3. Yes, my mother had me sent to a reform school at age 13

BonAir School for Girls outside Richmond VA because I ran away...called me 'incorrigible'

[2naSalit]

4. I wish that

someone had stopped my parents from becoming parents, my dad at least, he was a terrorist and held me as a slave for seven years... among other horrid things I won't go into. I would have come to earth without them... and probably fared better as well.

[democrank]

5. Sending a hug to you, 2naSalit.

These despicable pranksters don't deserve children.

Probably for most people, it's difficult to imagine parents treating their children with cruelty. For those of us who lived through it, not much stuns us.

[2naSalit]

6. Agreed...

It sucks but I have managed to become, I hope, a decent human being in spite of it all.

[oldcynic]

7. Was there a BonAir apartment complex nearby?

all one story, used to look cosy with lots of grass.

[MontanaMama]

12. My goodness, angstlessk.

I can't imagine.

[murielm99]

18. Yes, they used to be able to do that.

They believed the parents over the kids every time. I had a teacher who spoke to me and warned me to go home and not run away, so that I did not end up in reform school. She was the only person, other than my brother, who believed me about the abuse.

I came close to being sent away. My mother was, and still is, abusive. I have her blocked on my phone so that she cannot call me and heap verbal abuse on me at all hours.

[MontanaMama]

11. Oh. I am so sorry

To hear this, my friend. No words.

[2naSalit]

13. Thank you, it's okay...

I'm not the Lone Ranger in this, many of my cohorts have had similar experience, it was quite common in US military families in the Korean War era. I finally stopped being pissed off about in my thirties. The bad guy is long gone and nobody misses or respects him. My mom is still here and lucid, that's reassuring as I have always had a mom, even when she was not living with us.

I make every attempt to help young women recognize their worth as a person and hope that my contact with them helps them see and navigate the real world out there. I have a lot of public contact in my work, of late, and I figure that would be a good way to pass on some wisdom.

[MontanaMama]

15. I appreciate you.

You're survival has surely kept many afloat. Thanks for all you say and do here on DU and beyond.

[2naSalit]

17. ...

[3catwoman3]

8. Parenthood should require a license.

The opportunity/ability to juxtapose genitalia is not a sufficient qualification.

I've been in pediatrics for 40 years. I will be happy to sit on the board that reviews applications, and I won't lose any sleep over those to whom I say "No."

[oldcynic]

9. I do so agree..have said so for years..

Maybe require at least a 2-year junior college degree in child rearing.

All children should be required to deal with one of those programed "babies" at about age puberty.

[2naSalit]

14. I'd be behind you

every step of the way!

[3catwoman3]

16. And people would have to get...

...at least an 80% on my test. No Cs or Ds. It is too important an endeavor for mediocrity.

[pnwmom]

10. Yeah, I don't think these parents are fit for any children. I hope the emergency order

becomes permanent and the family is thoroughly investigated for the sake of the remaining children.

[hedda_foil]

19. It's not clear from the above, but the birth parents are divorced. This was dad and stepmom

The bio mother is no in custody of her kids. They weren't returned to the sadistic duo.

[oldcynic]

20. Talking with four female acquaintances...

and discovered three of them had been sexually molested in childhood. 3 out of 5!

As a child, everyone I knew had a seriously fucked up families...alcoholism, sadism, emotional torture, poverty...you know.

Even though I have been told that is not true of all families and my observation was a case of "birds of a feather", I still wonder how often a "happy family" occurs. Is it 2 out of 5? Are the two women who were not raped from happy families?

What the hell is a happy family anyway? The kids don't get punched?