Below is a transcript of my radio commentary recorded last Wednesday for the Free Congress Foundation, available for listening and downloading at http://www.fcfnewsondemand.org/. (Sorry to be so slow about distributing it.)

An archive of previous commentaries, also available for listening and downloading, can be found by going to http://www.fcfnewsondemand.org/search.asp and searching under my name on the drop-down menu (to get them all , you must search under both "Stephen" and "Steven").

These commentaries are now being carried by the USA Radio Network with some 1200 stations and the Information Radio Network with 400 stations. If you have local stations that are part of this network, please urge them to pick it up.

Stephen Baskerville

For more then 30 articles from over 4 years, see my website: http://users.rcn.com/baskerville/

Child Abuse Industry Obscures True Causes of Child Abuse

If it’s April, it must be Child Abuse Awareness Month. This means the dishonest child abuse industry is gearing up for another barrage of misleading statistics designed to obscure the causes of child abuse. After twenty years of presidential proclamations, the child abuse industry continues to disseminate its misinformation under the guise of "awareness."

Make no mistake: child abuse is a serious problem. So what does the industry propose? Create needless fear and suspicion in children against their loved ones. Report your neighbors to the police if you disapprove their methods of child rearing. Send government agents into more homes. Seize more children from innocent parents. Arrest parents who discipline their children. And above all, get in touch with your feelings.

These are the measures advocated by the child abuse industry – the vast complex of professionals, bureaucrats, and interest groups whose livelihoods depend upon a steady supply of abused children.

We get the usual vapid psychobabble about the importance of "caring" and "nurturing" and how "precious" children are. I propose we re-name the observance "Child Abuse Avoidance Month."

"You are required by state law to report your suspicions immediately to . . . the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services," Texas Attorney General John Cornyn warns citizens. Or "you could face . . . up to 180 days in jail." Not evidence, just "suspicion."

There is one incontrovertible fact about the vast bulk of child abuse: The main cause is single-parent homes. The main abusers of children are single mothers. When fathers are present child abuse is not a serious problem.

So what can we do when fathers abandon their homes? There is no evidence that fathers are abandoning their homes. There is incontrovertible evidence that fathers are evicted from their homes by family courts judges under the euphemism of "divorce."

The main cause of child abuse, therefore, is family courts. No child abuse epidemic existed before the divorce revolution. No child abuse epidemic existed before the creation of family courts. No child abuse epidemic existed before the government began its campaign of systematically removing fathers from their families.

Appalling as it sounds, the fact is we have created a government machine with a vested interest in child abuse.

The sanctimony surrounding child abuse is not only suffocating; it is harmful. The only way to bring child abuse under control is to rescue our children, first of all, from the child abuse industry and return them to the protection of their fathers.

For FCF News on Demand, this is Stephen Baskerville.