Family Rights and Child Abuse News

Photos of 'Octomom' Home Spark Childhood Services Probe

Photographs leaked to TMZ by the former hairdresser of "Octomom" Nadya Suleman purport to show the mother of 14 and her children living in "squalor."

According to the gossip site, the hairdresser showed photos she took of the La Habra, California home to cops Tuesday afternoon, and also filed a formal complaint with the department.

abcnews.go.com

April 25, 2012

Michigan Family Alleges Harrowing Misconduct by Prosecutors, Police

by Thomas Berman

(Video Report) Little did family members know that the technique that seemed to open their daughter's world would provide fodder for an aggressive police investigation that nearly tore the family apart.

The story of the Wendrow family's agonizing ordeal began with hope. Diagnosed with autism at age 2, their daughter Aislinn was severely disabled -- so much so that she couldn't communicate. But in 2004, the West Bloomfield, Mich. family thought the girl had experienced a breakthrough: a technique called facilitated communication seemed to allow Aislinn to communicate what she was thinking.

abcnews.go.com

January 5, 2012

Ron Paul Launches National-Security Themed Ad

by Jason M. Volack

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul is out with a new ad that portrays him as a veteran who will secure America's borders and rebuild its defenses.

Unlike most of his GOP rivals, Paul has advocated against building a large fence at the US-Mexico border. Paul said in September at a GOP/ Politico debate that "fences may be used against us, keeping us in." He served as a flight surgeon in the Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and in the Air National Guard from 1965 to 1968.

abcnews.go.com

October 7, 2011

Sterilizing the Sick, Poor to Cut Welfare Costs: North Carolina's History of Eugenics

by Courtney Hutchinson

For the better part of the 20th century, half the states in the U.S. had sterilization programs in place to prevent those deemed unfit by the state from procreating.

Poor, a victim of child molestation and pregnant from rape, 14-year-old Elaine Riddick went into a North Carolina hospital in 1968 to give birth to her son. Though she wouldn't know it until years later, she would leave the hospital robbed of the ability to ever bear children again. On top of the poverty, abuse, and neglect that marked her childhood, Riddick had the misfortune of becoming the target of the North Carolina eugenics board, a 5-person state committee responsible for ordering the sterilization of thousands of individuals in the name of social welfare during the last century. Deemed "promiscuous" and "feebleminded" by a social worker at the hospital, Riddick, who came from a black family on welfare, was recommended to the state for sterilization shortly after arriving.

abcnews.go.com

July 17, 2011

States Look to Internet Taxes to Close Budget Gaps

by Chris Tomlinson

Internet retailers are required to collect sales tax only when they sell to customers living in a state where they have a physical presence, such as a store or office.

Internet retailers cite a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving catalog sales, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, which ruled that states could require only companies that had a physical presence within the state to act as tax collector. Bills are pending in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Texas lawmakers passed such a measure, but Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it.

abcnews.go.com

June 19, 2011