>You don't like hearing the pregnant woman next door being beaten up? Mind your own business, nothing to do with you.

Funny you should say that. Something over the weekend reminded me of a family in the neighborhood I grew up in. The kids came to school dirty and smelling of urine. The property was a disaster from the outside. I wondered where was the community, why didn't anyone step in and rescue these kids. But then I remembered that back in the 1960's, we believed that the family was sovereign. Even had the school or the neighbors complained, likely the kids would've ended up back with the parents anyway.

We still don't have that one entirely right, but that's more because we're not willing to spend the money it takes. But we no longer believe that abusive parents automatically get to keep their kids.

Tamar