LETTERS: DIVORCE CAN PRODUCE CHILD ABUSE

To the editor:

Child abuse is among the worst of our many human behavioral problems, occurring more often than we like to believe. The most cowardly form leaves no visible marks or bruises. No one suspects the parent to be the kind of person who could be labeled a child abuser.

Mental abuse of a child is difficult to detect when the abused is not yet able to speak. The confusion and distress of a young mind is not noticed until later years when aggressive behavior starts. No one remembers that the son or daughter had been denied, without just cause, the love and affection of one of the parents. Children have the need, the desire and the right to share the love of both mother and father.

At times, these children are wondering, Where is my dad? Why doesn't he play chase with me today? What did I do to cause him to stop letting me sit in his soft, warm lap to watch my favorite videos? Why doesn't he come and get me as he always did when I first woke and yelled "Dad"? While at the same moment, the father is agonizing, Where is my son?

The news is filled with stories of government plans to help the children. Day care, medical care, school lunches and all the other nice ideas are coming from Washington, but who will speak up for the children held against their will by a parent who uses them as a weapon in the often bitter and protracted war of divorce?

Visitation by either parent must be ordered by the courts without weeks and months of delays when there is no just cause for withholding parent-child contact. Those few parents who engage in mental abuse of a child must be held accountable under the law for their actions.

Who will stand with me and say, Stop hurting that child?

FRANK L. WEST

Cape Girardeau