Report child abuse

PSYCHOLOGISTS tell us that women are biologically programmed to be nurturers and that their maternal instincts kick in whenever a threat is posed to the little ones they carried for months and forged strong bonds with. Equally important are men’s roles to be protectors of these children, and ensure that no harm befalls them.

But more and more cases of women with little maternal instincts and fathers who disregard their roles to be protectors have come to the fore in recent years, showing just how parents can turn against the very lives they are expected to nourish.

On Wednesday, we published a heart-wrenching story about three-year-old Kayden Smith, who died after he was placed in a boiling hot bath by his mother’s boyfriend.

The boy suffered burns to 60% of his body on that day, but he had been abused many times before the fatal incident last year – a fractured rib, a broken elbow, multiple bruises and scratches.

Burnt as he was, the boy was placed on a bed and an ambulance was only called the next day. By then, he was already dead.

What is disturbing about this incident is that the couple were only arrested eight months later. Perhaps it is time for medical officers to work closely with police in bringing parents like these to book. Maybe, just maybe, abused children will be rescued on time if neighbours, paramedics, nurses, doctors, social workers and police pay attention.

Before Kayden, we had baby Christina, whose parents hung her out of a window of their apartment, suffocating her with a pillow and nearly drowning her in a bath of water.

That abuse resulted in broken legs, ribs and a fracture in her skull. Before baby Christina, there was baby Michael, who also suffered a shaken baby syndrome like Christina and was left blind and brain dead. Let’s mind the children’s business.