Interesting that many who claim you can't legislate to encourage moral behaviour now want to legislate to encourage moral behaviour.

I personally know two aboriginal members of the STOLEN generation. Two sisters who were taken from their parents and brought up by a church minister and his wife. Although as they put it they they didn't have a terribly easy life and were made to work hard, there was no abuse or neglect,they were given a good education,and although both are now married, raising families, and not now working, both at various times have held down jobs. A few years ago one of them went back to WA to visit her people. What she saw thoroughly disgusted her. She saw her own people drunk all the time, the men beating their women, the women having sex with almost anyone and both parents abusing their kids. As she put it, she was sure glad they stole her.
Unfortunately things are not that much better in many parts of white mainstream society, just better hidden thats all. Until the so called social workers, the police, and the family courts are made accountable for their actions or rather, lack of them, i can't see things improving anytime soon, especially given the large numbers of young mothers, many hardly more than children themselves, who are ill prepared for the responsibilities of parenthood and who have had their children purely for financial gain.

Eyeinthesky, my original post was to correct misinformation posted by Divine regarding when a benefit to single mothers became available which is what he/she based his/her assertion that from 1972 onwards was “when the rot set in”. I only ever referred to single, never-married mothers - you know, the ones epitomised by Divine as living in multiple partner households where grubby, ungroomed siblings frequently have different fathers and they all rely on welfare, are uninterested in education and abuse tobacco (o.O) and alcohol and other substances.

My post had nothing to do with divorced couples and the ongoing losses that that means for kids, let alone warring ex-spouses who use their kids as pawns or endanger their lives and safety in subsequent relationships. My volley was aimed at those who persist in denigrating single never-married mothers who were left holding the baby because the father disappeared as quickly as one can say “pregnant”.

I was going to apologise to you for not being clear but you’ve since posted a broadside at young mothers who you say have kids purely for financial gain, so I won’t. But you know that already because you can read minds.

Re the Aboriginal sisters from WA, dare I say Stockholm Syndrome? It’s never occurred to you that the behaviour of their tribe now is linked to having their children stolen from them, huh? Unresolved grief - you know, like in kidnapping cases.

Piper, I’ve no argument with you re where foster children come from, nor that they’re the ones who need the most help. Hopelessness and futility is a cancer in too many families and it astounds me that society says it’s best for children if mothers stay home to be raise them and, at the same time, begrudges them the pittance with which to do it.

Suzeonline, why was it necessary to remove Aboriginal children from their families in order to provide them with a good education? The real irony of the Stolen Generation is that most of them were needlessly separated from their families only to be horribly abused in care.

And 2nd base:

Eye:”A few years ago one of them went back to WA to visit her people. What she saw thoroughly disgusted her. She saw her own people drunk all the time, the men beating their women, the women having sex with almost anyone and both parents abusing their kids. As she put it, she was sure glad they stole her.”

YOU BIG FAT LIAR! I saw the WA child abuse stats you boys posted!

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=9402&page=0#150601

You hailed in these stats like you’d found the Holy Grail. If stats could bend over you would have seen the sun beaming. You treasured those stats, you applauded them and reveled in them, these stats were presented like a proud father with his newborn son. How dare you suggest those stats were in any way flawed by letting a real human story corrupt such a concise and damning document?

Your stats said it all; Aboriginals were voted the least likely to abuse children and it would only be the sheila’s beating the children in WA and the blokes having sex with anyone under 4 feet tall.

I HOPE YOUR BIG BOY TROUSERS ARE ON FIRE!

Excuse me there Suzy, I know the practice is that allegedly abused kids are removed and it is something I agree with. But where they are removed to can lead to a whole new set of abuses that little is heard about in this country.

Exam, you confused the bajesus out of me there until I realized who the Jeremy was that you were talking to, now I’m wondering where he worked with child abuse or where his opinion came from.

Jeremy you’re not a mate of Warwick’s are you?

Cheers Missma, I’m all for mums to get help to stay home. Dads too, in fact I think everyone should stay at home.

Sssshhhh Runner, Jesus is watching you

Pied Piper <"..I know the practice is that allegedly abused kids are removed and it is something I agree with. But where they are removed to can lead to a whole new set of abuses that little is heard about in this country."

I beg to differ PP. There have been plenty of stories in the media and by word of mouth about the abuses on children in care, such as the church based homes of old and the child migrant centres. These days we hear about these poor children in some of the foster homes, although I am sure there are also plenty of good foster parents.

So why does this continue to happen if it is well known that some children in care are abused? Is it the fault of the Government agencies who are charged with the job of vetting these foster carers or children's homes? Do we not have enough social workers or child protection agency staff to check that these children are cared for properly if they cannot remain with their own families?

TPP.What i posted was exactly as it was told to me by one of these sisters, to call me a big fat liar is to call her a big fat liar also.I don't know what planet you are on but almost every day in the newspapers and other media here on earth there are horrific stories of child abuse and DV coming from aboriginal communities.The stats you mention are official gov't stats and were posted to disprove the lies and rants by certain other posters on here that almost all child abuse is carried out by fathers. If you can't handle that then too bad.One would have to wonder why the other states refuse to release similar statistics even under FOI requests,what have they got to hide. The NSW gov't has already been caught red handed trying to fiddle the figures on DV and in other areas. I will agree with you though that more care should be taken as to where children taken from abusive parents, are placed. And that more monitoring should take place.
MISSMA.
The fact is that many of the the children from the generation these sisters belong to, stayed in their communities with parents that were neglecting and abusing them.The children of THESE people are now being abused and neglected themselves. In contrast, the children of these sisters [they have 5 between them], are being well cared for and the ongoing cycle of abuse and neglect, which is rampant in the community they came from,has been stopped dead in it's tracks,as far as their children is concerned. Surely that is not a bad thing.
It seems to me that anyone can make a statement like you made regarding fathers walking away from their responsibilities, deadbeat dads,and expect to be allowed to get away with it, but of course no one is allowed to say anything bad about certain single mothers at all.This is on line opinion and i am as entitled to my opinion as anyone else.