Sadly, it appears not a week goes by now, where we do not see some sort of horror story in the news, about children who are at the centre of some terrible murder, torture or abuse case.

Last week, two of the children involved were actually the perpetrators of the abuse on other children.

In Doncaster England, two young boys aged 12 and 10, viciously attacked another two boys, in a brutal and twisted assault that involved burning the victims with cigarettes, beating them with rocks and sticks, dropping a sink on one of them, making them perform sexual acts on each other, and instructing one of their victims to “Go away and kill yourself”.

These are acts that you could barely believe to come from the mind of the most evil and twisted adult, let alone be thought of and actually carried out by two boys that had not yet reached their teens!

Sadly a familiar back-story lay behind the two attackers.

They were brothers from a “broken home”.

Allegedly brought up by a drug addicted mother, and alcoholic father. It has been suggested the pair were fed food laced with cannabis so that the “parents” were able to get them to sleep quickly, and have some peace and quiet.

Another story of a neglected and violent upbringing, leads to the children who suffered that abuse becoming violent and abusive themselves.

Again in the UK there was the terrible case of Baby P, who was tortured and killed by his stepfather, whilst the child’s mother just watched and let it happen.

These people were also from violent upbringings.

There is a clear pattern. People from abusive backgrounds stand a very high chance of becoming violent adults.
So even the children who survive these awful upbringings can be left with scars that never heal, and the circle of abuse begins again.

Had poor baby P survived and lived on through the abuse, is there not a slight possibility he may have become a troubled and potentially violent young man?

What I am saying is the problem has to be sorted at the route. The Parents.

A popular children’s campaigner suggested this week that more children should be taken from these homes and put up for adoption much earlier in their lives.

He talks a lot of sense.

The social workers and carers who try and work with these “broken” families are clearly not able to change the situation in a high number of cases.

These children must be removed before the damage is done.

The RSPCA will not rehome a kitten, without firstly screening the home, and family of the new owner. Yet seemingly anyone, no matter what age, can have a human child, with little done to check the suitability of the family to bring it up.

Clearly something needs to be done to stop the abuse, get these children out of violent homes, and to do it before the cycle of abuse takes hold.

Surely the cost is worth it, to stop the deaths of innocent children, and to stop the creation of distorted, violent adults, who somehow managed to survive the horrors of their upbringing.