Handcuffed and Committed, at only 6 years Old
CCHR Florida’s ally and award-winning children's author, Tina Turbin, openly shares her opinion as a mother, researcher and humanitarian about the recent displays of school officials in Florida and their handcuffing and committing elementary school children. Many moms and parents are concerned about these issues and are coming forward and doing something about them. Please read on:
Times have been slowly but surely changing and it is stories like this that really can hit home as to the need for teachers and school officials to have some of their control taken into account and looked into. As a mother of three, an American citizen and a humanitarian I can not believe acts like this can not only occur but that they are.
When a simple call to a police official can get your pre-school or elementary school child handcuffed and placed in a mental institution, you know something is VERY wrong. What gives others the right to by-pass the parent’s authority of their own child and by-pass the parent’s right of guardianship. Not that I agree with my 94 year old grandmother when she commented on this by saying,”What happened to the good old days with the simple spanking or slap on the back of the hands with a ruler. Tell me, what has happened to our society?’ Can't we expect and demand simple discipline of children, where we can be confident this is safely applied? Isn't this our right? My advice is that parents need to "get involved" and now.
In Florida on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010 a young elementary school student just 6 years old, was sent to an adult mental institution for being unruly in her school and towards adult employees. This seems to be the way Port St. Lucie's ( FL) school system has been dealing with disruptive students. This same school district allowed an autistic boy to be voted out of kindergarten class for unruly behavior.
Also, a Parkway Elementary School (FL) student was cuffed and sent to an adult mental institution earlier this month after she threw a temper tantrum in the middle of class, reports TCPalm.com. The police report stated the cuffs were for her safety and the safety of others”. The handcuffs calmed the little girl down after an hour in the tight silver handcuffs yet little did her and her family know what was ahead.
A few days later, this same girl had another “fit” and the school called the same deputy, who tossed the little girl in the back of his patrol car and transported her to the local adult mental institution. "The girl’s mother said “These people are going to the extreme.”
Five year old Alex Barton was voted out of class two years ago for being disruptive in class. Alex Barton had a form of autism and his mother is now suing the school board. The School Board official will most likely be looking into this one! I can not see a way to justify autism as being “poor behavior”, by any means.
School officials should have guidelines to adhere to and one of these should be to call the parents upon the first instance which they feel they cannot safely address, when it comes to a child in their classroom. A simple lift of the phone and dial of the number to a parent or guardian is a more logical approach to the option of calling legal authority, when it comes to any minor.
Here are two examples of the growing concern of this abuse spreading:
ttp://www.momlogic.com/2010/02/6-year-old_student_handcuffed.php#ixzz0fkdVvS0w as well as http://www.cchrflorida.org/schools-baker-act.html Many moms and groups are getting on top of facts like this and are not likely to sit back and allow these acts to continue.
Tina Turbin Bio:
Tina Turbin is an award-winning children’s author and founder of http://GlutenFreeHelp.info, a website offering advice and top resources about the topics of gluten issues and celiac disease. Tina can be heard on weekly radio shows with advice and guests of all professional levels discussing many issues involving kids, their safety and health.