DALLAS — The hotel bathroom was a de facto prison cell — a cramped, foul space where three young children were starved, beaten and sexually assaulted for at least nine months.
The toilet didn’t work. The bathtub was a place to sleep. Meals were rare, and the two oldest children — once each a healthy 90 pounds — withered to less than 60 pounds.
Each day for reasons unknown, their mother’s boyfriend would force the 10-year-old boy to stand in the corner with his arms raised above his head; his 5-year-old half brother had to kneel in another corner, arms also raised.
The disturbing details emerged in court records that tell the horrific story of the torture borne by the two boys and their 11-year-old half sister, all of whom have different fathers. The children were found July 2 after their mother called a relative to say she feared for her own life and those of her children.
Dr Matthews, 50, was removed from the panel earlier this month because her view was at odds with the council’s equal opportunity policies.
She said: “As a Christian and a paediatrician I believe that children do best with a mother and father in a committed, long-term relationship.
“Therefore, I cannot recommend a same-sex household to be in the best interest of a child, despite what politicians may have legislated for, and as those on the panel have a legal obligation to do what is in the best interest of the child, then I am not able to vote in favour of such placements.”
Children have a right to the best family arrangement possible, based on the evidence. Adults have to make adjustments for the more vulnerable children, and not the other way round.
Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University and the author of more than 40 scientific journal articles and book chapters. She received a BA in sociology and psychology, and an MA in social sciences from the University of Chicago in 1993 and a Ph.D. in personality psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1998. She then completed a postdoc in social psychology at Case Western Reserve University.
WINTERY KNIGHT 