Severely handicapped class arrives - The Lowell

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The Unit October 5.19M, Pf 13
.FHTURE
*BQBLEMSJ>EOPLE HAVE
,;—••• ""''Me- •*«• Unified School LHslrkt
Insecurities
BylounePark
. Mon people today are insecure
abtul some aspects cf their Ures.
Whether they we unsure of their
appearances, personalities, or InteDectj.
wry few people are completely
selfconfident.
Ill normil to fed insecure it
lines, but U you nod yourself fedlog
luaoequau: most of the lime.'
yoor insecurities may be geltlcg
tbe belt of you.
Do you continuously put
Child abuse
by Michael Let-
According to Ana Horu. administrator
of pupil services in the
San Frandscn United School
District the finelinc between
dbciplinc and abuse b that
discipline b meant to correct,
even U it means a slap in the face,
but abtne b conducted to satisfy
the abuser's gratification.
la mast child abuse cases, the
child become, an object of
parents' frustrations. These
fnmrations may originate from an
apparent source such as a rough
d*y at work, drunkedncss, an
economic crcts at home, or from
•obeoDSdous forces such as !g-
'.*«.«*» u]d abuse from one's own
parents earlier In life.
;. Abuses include many
crtegorks: sexual, physical, verbal,
and ncjkct.
'-i'A report. Homeless VoulA la
jkn.Frucnxo. submllted by tbe
Sibyor's Criminal Justice Council
:ia;Mareh. 1984. retads. "Three
ont d 6ie youths (from local S«n
f noebco families) had been vietbshed.
Girls and women in the
study were particularly likely to
-Sure been serurlly aoused."
ft' Abttstd children often ronaway
"(roycars-old. She left home
due to conflicts with her father
Jeanna hung around the
Western Addition projects, got in*
Unicated. did dmgt and hustled.
She became pregnant but lost the
baby alter being liealen badly.
Three friends of r«n had been
murdered in drug related in*
docuts...fortunately she managed
to make a connection with a
counselor at the Community Street
Work Center in the Mkston
District
There are hotline senices which
youths can call in for help. One
tuch organization is the Children
Emergency Service
Last year, the Children
Emergency Service handled 236
cases of sexual abuse, 788 cases of
physical abuse, and 1.225 case* of
.neglect
Counselors -t the service try to
resolve these problems instead ol
dragging the whole tituatfon to
co wi Cul If no other alternatives
THs disorder U mat often -
ternal and not physically y
parent. It h most susceptible c r*
ing adolciccnt yean when t> ns
are going through turmoil tryb to
find out uVlrown Identity.
The adolescent Inlertu tzci
frustration and has no self esteem.
Wha> ve tome uf the cautn ot
these disorders?
Parental criticism for one thin*.
Sometimes out ol Ignorance or out
of the best intentions, parent*
over-crttkuc their child.
Critical rriends or classmates
may ahocontribute to insecurities.
With constant peer criucH''
and insults. It becomes easy to
dt-elop a feeling of insecurity.
A penou may tiring the problem
upon himself by setting unrealistic
goals. No matter how well rounded
a person h. there are some thing*
he will never accomplish. People
have to face this fact.
One cure for Insecurity b to Tint
acknowledge the problem and
ihcn develop a poUltve outlook
and attilude. One should try to improve
selMmaje by pinpointing
one's asMts and working on
changing llie negative aspects of
one's life that he thinks are
changeable.
curable, vmtc cases lead to ex*
ireme depression and. at the
wont, suicide.
are possible, the case «ill go In
court, wllch l''cn leaves the judge
with ihrte options 1 tend the child
home, send the child to a relative's
house, or place the child in the
custody of a (enter home. When
the child h placed in a foster
home, the counselor at Children
Emergency Services work to
reunify the child with the parents.
"Brandy." who had been sex*
ually and physically abused by her
father between the ages of eight
and twelve, was placed In a foster
home until she ran away. She
stayed at a group home for a while
but wu returned to her family
where she was abused again.
That b when Brandy" fled to
San Francisco. **here she ga»e up
"...her body in exchange for favors
and necessities,..she did not want
lo contact local social service agenda
because they would contact
her parents again...Shc found a
much older man to care for her
and bore his child. And she con*
tint'ed to be victimized by him and
by others."
Evea though a typical case of
child abuse may not be as serere as
- those of -Jeanna'* or "Brandy."
all abased children live in fear
and/or sbime. They might fed
that they are the cause of their
parents' frustrations or that it b
.wrong to tell anyone that their
parents are hurting them. Usually,
abuses never surface until a severe
crisis occurs.
CHARING GROSS ROAD
previously read books
fT6S7 riaight* San Francisco .552-4122
Single parent families
By Vivian Loulo
"When you lute • parent either
through divorce or death, you
can t just ilt back and* mourn.
There** nothing Wt IP do but get
on with your life," i latex senlw
Maria Paulino.
F
Several Lowell students who
have experienced the km of a
parent spree with Paulino in
responding to the question, "How
rio you feel abcut living In a single*
parer.t family?"
"Great." said an anonymous
junior, "my father jutt suddenly
kit us one day. In the past, ne
would take some money and leave
for (our or five days. Then one day
last year, he look our (the
children'*) college fund and never
came back.**
The clcrmth grader says lh*t he
still feeb Intense anger toward his
father. "Though my life bn't
perfect it's a lot better than it wms
before. My mom and I lived in fcr
whenever he was around. We
couldn't siy or do uiylhlng
without him yeltiug at us."
-1 don't miss having two parents
at all because it seems 1 was alwa>«
thing «Iih one adult and one kid
who never grew up." he noted.
Senior Gloria Ng feels different*
ty. "Sit*e my father died when I
was s-.-ien years old. I don't miss
him that much: but I do miss hav>
Ing two' parents. Everybody
around me has two parents. Even
on television, there's this concept
cc T. ^
5/ .
/
/
I
ot the Idea) family: a mother, a
taihcr. the kids, and a dog."
Ng said she knew wha» •=*> hap- .
pening when her fa't^r died, but
"...Just didn't remZie that he'd be
'**! guess living with only one
parent makes you tougher. You
leaf» lo cope willi problems faster
than the average kid.** she
reflected.
In tbe preceding cases, the
students admired their mothers
tbe most. They were the ones who
pulled through and ntscd a family
by themselves*
Divorce, on the other hand, may
havr resulted from constant
disagreements between the
parents. The child can grow to fed
insecure about his/her relation
ships with members uf the opposite
sex and withdraw.
Alter the death of a parent, a
child goes through * temporary
period of adjustment He/she
gradually becomes a stronger and
mon independeo*. perron.
Chics teacher Robert Jow. who
has counselled students from
single-parent families, says,
"There b a major difference between
death and divorce. One b
permanent while the other holds
the hope of reconciliation.*'
^ ^ HAPPY
yA~A "SWEET 16"
\l )X BIRTHDAY
•MV#A TO
L*3$5\ \ Alaina
•S5ij- Hom
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