Australia - Eight children killed in mass stabbing, Cairns, Qld, 19 Dec 2014 *Arrest*

Mrs G, I reckon (and there's NO easy answer, so I'm not offering this as one) it might help, re the truancy issue and several others besides, if more schools like this were funded across the country, perhaps tailored to a region's particular indigenous population where the population heavily represents one particular tribal nation. http://www.aics.wa.edu.au/about-us

Funding could in part come from auditing present funding to find the people rorting the system for personal gain, and to their community's disadvantage, and stepping on them hard. (This boils my blood!)

One of the first Aboriginal schools in this state opened in my home town, and indigenous kids went part time there. The kids *loved* it, and were very proud of the school and eager to participate.

Just one thought there... it's too big an issue to hand out pat answers on...

As for Abbot, I rarely cheer him on, but here I think he has the right sentiment "all kids treated equally". I just think it needs to work by incentive, not dis-incentive.
 
Yes Ausgirl that school does look good, it would be great if every area had a school like that so that every child could choose to either go there or to a european style school. It would be something at least. I'm wondering if Elders should be given more powers too, I remember in the 80's there was a push to allow tribal law to take the place of our courts, but a spear through the leg is not punishment I think we could condone with a clear conscience. http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/tribal-punishment-customary-law-payback At the end of the day the real issue is drugs and alcohol, work on those issues and the rest will follow.
 
Yes Ausgirl that school does look good, it would be great if every area had a school like that so that every child could choose to either go there or to a european style school. It would be something at least. I'm wondering if Elders should be given more powers too, I remember in the 80's there was a push to allow tribal law to take the place of our courts, but a spear through the leg is not punishment I think we could condone with a clear conscience. http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/tribal-punishment-customary-law-payback At the end of the day the real issue is drugs and alcohol, work on those issues and the rest will follow.

I agree with you, mostly. I tend to view these as symptoms, as well as a cause. Alcoholism and drug dependence is the exit wound, so to speak,and I agree it needs dire attention. And not just for the indigenous communities! Every kid raised in a household where drugs or booze is the priority is at risk.
 
I agree with you, mostly. I tend to view these as symptoms, as well as a cause. Alcoholism and drug dependence is the exit wound, so to speak,and I agree it needs dire attention. And not just for the indigenous communities! Every kid raised in a household where drugs or booze is the priority is at risk.

I think we turn a blind eye more when it comes to aboriginal people. Like I wonder .. would a white woman, with men in and out of the house, with 7 kids to 5 different fathers, who had a drug problem, who was violent to her kids in the past (ripping her daughters hair out requiring the child to shave her head), been visited by DoCS? Would the kids even still be there??? Are we so far gone that we accept it as OK now because deep down we've given up and don't want to go all 'stolen generation' again? I think we are so paralysed by our own guilt and past failures that our government agencies don't even have the balls to step in and put the kids welfare first in these situations, and I doubt they'd be equally paralysed if the mother had been white, and now 8 kids have been murdered and we can't even give them names or see their faces so we can even feel a connection to them to get us to the point where we refuse to let this happen again.
 
I think we turn a blind eye more when it comes to aboriginal people. Like I wonder .. would a white woman, with men in and out of the house, with 7 kids to 5 different fathers, who had a drug problem, who was violent to her kids in the past (ripping her daughters hair out requiring the child to shave her head), been visited by DoCS? Would the kids even still be there??? Are we so far gone that we accept it as OK now because deep down we've given up and don't want to go all 'stolen generation' again? I think we are so paralysed by our own guilt and past failures that our government agencies don't even have the balls to step in and put the kids welfare first in these situations, and I doubt they'd be equally paralysed if the mother had been white, and now 8 kids have been murdered and we can't even give them names or see their faces so we can even feel a connection to them to get us to the point where we refuse to let this happen again.

Just speaking for my own life experiences, re white mothers -- yes, they can be equally overlooked. It certainly happened more often than not, in my own case. Police AND social services. I wonder if it's in part to do with unwillingness to deal with mentally ill, drunk or high people, repeatedly. My own terrified pleas, on the phone to police in the middle of the night, were ignored more than once. Once, I was told off for calling. To be fair to our police (except the guy who told me off, that was the night she almost stabbed me to death too...I had to walk a mile to the phone box... I cannot be forgiving toward that guy..) they can only do so much, and must get very frustrated with being called out to same addresses, time and time again, and nothing much changes between one visit and another. Not that it excuses lackadaisical work, but it must be tiresome at least, if not outright distressing.

I was reading a thing the other week, talking about how the Stolen Generation debacle is now having some serious and adverse repercussions for kids at risk.. affecting how workers can do their jobs, even the good ones... will see if I can find it again, very interesting.
 
The children are named in this article:

Eldest son, Lewis Warria, 20, discovered the horrific scene when he arrived at the home on Friday morning.

Lewis and his older sister Norena Warria, who escaped the massacre, had the unenviable task yesterday of identifying their younger siblings at Cairns hospital.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...-cairns-children/story-fnn8dlfs-1227163199495


Petronella, 2.
Rodney, 5.
Daniel, 6.
Azariah, 8.
Rayden, 9.
Shantae, 11.
Angie, 12.
Malili, 14.
 
And just for accuracies' sake... some papers are reporting that the mother gave birth "on the side of the road" like she just squatted down and spat the baby out in a ditch.

In reality, the ambulance was forced to pull over, as the delivery was too rapid to make it to hospital, and the baby (Rodney, 5, born 2009) was actually born in the ambulance.
 
I caught a bit of the presser this morning in Cairns. I think they greatly suspect that ice was involved, though the lead police officer was careful to 'not speculate' about that. The house is now filled with forensic people and scientists (?) ... he probably meant forensic scientists, but maybe not if ice is involved. They are being careful to observe all cultural traditions, and have not officially named the children .. as their culture does not speak of the dead by name. Though I note that some MSM have discovered the names and are publishing.

Many people are driving from far away to pay their respects and lay flowers, such has the tragedy affected people. A growing memorial has started, including flowers and toys and school uniforms, letters and notes. Cairns is shaken to the core.
 
This all sounds just too familiar. Yes, it's a big problem in the US but I,ve heard on good authority that it happens in Germany as well (And probably everywhere). Some women just don't have it together and have kids they can neither support nor care for properly. Social agencies intervene and perhaps remove the children. Invariably they will be accused of racism, cultural insensitivity and forcing middle class standards on people who are not middle class. However, if something bad happens (usually at the hands of some boyfriend mom brought home) the cry goes out: why did the social agencies fail these children?". I don't know what the answer is.
 
The children's relatives seem to have no issue speaking their names to reporters, so that's probably why they've gone with publishing.

Pics of the toys and flowers.. heartbreaking. :(

In one article I linked above, the kids' regular babysitter, a teenager from up the street, said the family was fine until a few months ago, when the mother started acting oddly and sacked the babysitter.

I have to wonder if this coincided with the start of a DOCS investigation, seeing as she was ranting about "them" taking the kids away. Pure speculation, there.
 
So then, I guess every single person that has murdered someone intentionally should be locked up in a mental facility? Gang bangers? Drug dealers? Serial killers?

Please tell me I'm taking this wrong.

Other cases on this forum that involve a man kidnapping, raping and intentionally murdering a child aren't afforded the same mental illness excuse that women usually are. I don't think that's fair.

I know many people disagree with this, and that's fine, but I truly believe that some people are just evil. Period. (I'm not saying the mother in this case is evil, FYI--just generalizing)

Please don't throw tomatoes, they hurt.
Just based on statistics, a maternal filicide very often has underlying mental illness. Mental illness shouldn't imply that a mother should be held to a lower standard. However, socially that is very often the case. Going back centuries, there are patterns to female defendants accused of filicide. During the Victorian era, if a defendant was middle class, she was almost automatically acquitted. We see a similar pattern today. A white, middle class woman is more likely to be convicted on a lesser charge or acquitted than a minority or a woman of lesser financial means; a man is more likely to both be convicted and sentenced more severely. Much less research has been done on paternal filicide. Mental illness does not automatically mean insanity - the legal definition of which is the inability to distinguish right from wrong. Mood disorders top the list for mothers, followed by psychosis. Lower down on the list would be personality disorders - there are a whole host of women who murdered their children afflicted with a personality disorder or several - Casey Anthony, Susan Smith, Diane Downs, Darlie Routier, Stacy Barker - the list is absolutely endless. I don't consider personality disorders mental illness. Evil most certainly applies to the aforementioned women.

The only time I would advocate a mental health facility over lifetime incarceration is when a psychotic mother kills. As in the case of Andrea Yates and Dena Schlosser.

JMO

ETA: If anyone's interested, a few names to look for are Friedman, Resnick, and Bourget. Between them, they've conducted the most research into maternal filicides, afaik.
 
A friend of mine just got back from Kununurra on business and tells me they had to close the local Liquorland because someone was killed just out the front. He would know because he works for the company. I then went on a google search to find it, nothing. Makes you wonder how much grog related violence is just not reported at all unless it's REALLY BAD like in this case. We have stuck our heads in the sand for too long IMO.
 
The children's relatives seem to have no issue speaking their names to reporters, so that's probably why they've gone with publishing.

Pics of the toys and flowers.. heartbreaking. :(

In one article I linked above, the kids' regular babysitter, a teenager from up the street, said the family was fine until a few months ago, when the mother started acting oddly and sacked the babysitter.

I have to wonder if this coincided with the start of a DOCS investigation, seeing as she was ranting about "them" taking the kids away. Pure speculation, there.

That was my first thoughts as well when I read she was talking about someone taking them away.
 
Also, how many fathers the kids had has NOTHING to do with their murders. Many wonderful mothers have kids to different dads. So do many bad ones. IMO it's a pointless moral judgement. I really can never see the point of the "well, there ya go" sentiment, on that issue. If the child of a parent who's had several partners, or the parent themselves, achieves something wonderful, how many sit back and say "ooh, well there ya go...". :\

Hardly pointless when those FIVE MEN should have been involved in the care of their own children. We don't even hear mention of them being quoted in the articles, only the dad of the other girl who was killed, so YES it is perfectly appropriate to JUDGE the the fact five men played a role in this.
 
Also, how many fathers the kids had has NOTHING to do with their murders. Many wonderful mothers have kids to different dads. So do many bad ones. IMO it's a pointless moral judgement. I really can never see the point of the "well, there ya go" sentiment, on that issue. If the child of a parent who's had several partners, or the parent themselves, achieves something wonderful, how many sit back and say "ooh, well there ya go...". :\

I think it is a cop out to say ' It's fine to have kids with different fathers.' Obviously it is fine, for a responsible, reliable mother to have children with more than one man.

BUT EIGHT KIDS BY FIVE MEN? No, sorry, that is irresponsible and I am not making a 'moral' judgment. I am making a logical and practical judgment. Eight children are very hard for one woman to care for, financially, physically, emotionally. Not enough time, nor resources to adequately care for each child, with a single mother, and no stable income.

When you have five different fathers the family unit is very disjointed and chaotic. That adds to the stress and creates family disfunction, imo.

I am sure there are lots of women who have done so admirably. But as a general rule, having 8 kids by 5 different boyfriends, is not going to lead to a sense of stability fand well-being for the children. jmo :cow:

ETA: correction, NINE kids by 5 men.
 

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