A Conclusion.

I have reached a conclusion. We have program after program and dollars after dollars devoted to preventing child abuse. The assumption being that if people know what they are doing is wrong and what appropriate boundaries are, they won't violate them. Poppycock! I highly doubt it. What we need to attack is a society wide assumption that children are private property. Until they at least reach puberty, they belong exclusively to their parents and society shouldn't get involved, unless any abuse is obvious and severe and clear. This assumption is completely and totally false. Children are, in the sense that they are property at all, belong to society and society should be intimately involved in the care of children. Licensing parents is probably a step in that direction. Another step is believing the child, even when the abuse is not obvious or severe. Just because the abuser is smart hardly means the abuse should be excused.