Just wondering .... What WOULD be the proper steps to take if one found his or her son, or daughter, molesting others at this age?
Would you literally call the police on your kid? Just wondering. Seems like a horribly difficult situation to begin with.
This is a heart wrenching question. First, whom do you focus on as a parent? Your teen who is molesting, or the victims? Just using logic, it HAS to be the victims. So besides getting them some serious therapy, they need to be made safe from the perp. Where will he live? Maybe with a grandparent? And when the little girls are taken for sensitive therapy (not from a cultish friend of the family who is himself a sexual predator), the therapist by law has to call the police.
So it’s out of the parents’ hands.
Parents, tell your pre teen boys (and girls) how serious child molestation is. It’s almost as bad as murder. Tell them to make sure never to be in a situation where anyone could even THINK they might have done such a thing. If they are just 14 and molest their little sisters, their life as they know it and their potential might be OVER. It’s a fact.
Thank you for you very cogent reply. This is the crux of this. Liberal Christian haters are basically conducting a public “stoning” right now of this family without offering any idea about what the true and best actions should have been.
And we likely have this going on now all over the world , in many households every single day, yet no major condemnation of any kind being issued forth from the same people.
In my own opinion, as heart wrenching as this story has been, maybe God will use it for good to open up a dialogue about this terrible issue. One in four women report being molested in childhood, or worse. No one talks about it, though.
I myself was sexually abused by my stepfather. To say that it affected my life is putting it mildly. I’ve suffered horrible self esteem issues and depression off and on for decades. It IS like a murder, of sorts.... It kills a child’s innocence and trust of others.
So again, I pray God uses this to open up a dialog and make for some change on this issue for some good.
Gosh, though ..... Could you imagine being at home and watching the police come and take your son away? How horrid .... And where would they take him? Should you have choice? It seems the Duggars were trying to control the consequences for their son ..... But this just can’t be.
Then again, the same thing would happen if your son was 14 and committed a murder....
Gut Wrenching all around.
The more I think about it the more I believe the family were accomplices.... They wanted to handle it their own way .... You can’t do that. Too many families want to “handle it” their own way .... That’s the problem!