Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Is child abuse not illegal in Mexico?

Don't worry, my babies are fine.

A niece and nephew of my BIL's "fiance" (basically my cuñada, or SIL) aren't though. And what is the family doing? Crying. And fretting. And sighing. And worrying. And talking about it.

But not calling the police.

The story -

Apparently my cuñada's cuñado (her sisters husband) gets super drunk, and when that happens gets super mean, super loud and super abusive. He hits his wife, his children, and his nieces or nephews. And he is still with the family? The entire family lives together (by entire I mean the grandma is the head of house, and she has 6 children - with their wives or husbands, and all their children living in one huge house). About 18 children live in this house. Its kinda a "takes a village to raise a child" thing going on. Which, since they are all family, I thought was quaint and good in some ways.

Until they told me the drunk uncle hit his niece and nephew "bien fea" (very ugly, or really bad) on sunday. The mom/ his wife had taken her kids out of the house for the day cause he had already hit her ( the wife) once that day, BUT SHE LEAVES 15 OTHER INNOCENT CHILDREN THERE WITH HIM. Where were the parents of the two that got hit? Little Sophie (4yrs old) and Israel (6yrs old) have nothing to do with uncles alcoholism and abuse issues. If "everyone knows" Pancho ( the abuser asshole) is "like that" when he drinks, why is he A) still living in a house full of children and B) being left in the presence of children when he is drunk ?

Does the name Sophie sound familar?   It should, it was big girls C's first little buddy when we arrived (and they have played together many times since).

Sophie on the left in the grey shirt.

7 comments:

  1. That is extremely horrible. Luckily, I have NO experience with abusive family members, or any abusive person for that matter. So, I am not sure how involved police are willing to get. But, I would have to assume that something can be done. It might be that the rest of the family it too afraid to take action. Maybe your voice can be the breaking point. Just be careful!

    I hope these little kids (and the wife) can break the cycle. It has to be a horrible life to have to live like that.

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  2. That breaks my heart. Children are so innocent. I agree, why is nobody protecting the kids??
    Someone has to stop him :(

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  3. These little ones are so blessed to have you in their life. No matter when/if the police get involved, I know you won't stand for such things. You know God didn't grant you that sharp tongue so you could bite it! Your voice will be just what these littles need on their side!
    Strength
    Sasstress

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  4. I hope something changes soon before something worse happens. Poor little things. I agree with Val I think the rest of the family is afraid to take action also.

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  5. You can call DIF, that is like Child Protective Services but, a little different.
    I have seen that people here tend to look the other way and ignore what is going on due to fear and the "machismo" beliefs that if you are getting abused, it is because you asked for it or that it is a family problem and even though, they may talk bad about the people for what they do, they refuse to get involved. I see this on a daily basis in our neighborhood, unfortunately.

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  6. Hi! I found your blog via a comment you left on Val's blog (This is Life). Anyways, just wanted to tell ya how sad this makes me. The family should stick together and do something. Not be afraid. (in my opinion) If they will listen to you, maybe you could give them a little pep talk. Hope things get better.

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  7. Thank you everyone, for the thoughts. I have only been to the house once since this and havent seen the abuser (but he is living there) nor have I seen the mother of the two kiddos that were hit. I have info to give her about reporting the abuse to the authorites, but after much discussion with my inlaws Im sure she nor anyone else will ever report him. They ARE all afriad. The family is led by the abuelita of the kids, there is no older male in the family. The guy that is hitting the e kids is physically the largest in the house and "used to be in the military" . No one wants to stand up to him. And no one will.

    Oh, and I stand corrected. He doent hit his own kids, just other peoples kids. Because the kids he hit "dont have a father and he has to teach them discipline". In other words, McAHole.

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