Thursday, January 15, 2009

Won't Somebody Think of the Children!?! - Oh, They Did

Thank (insert diety of choice). I just read an article that said that New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services has removed three-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell and his two sisters JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 1, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, 8 months, from their home. Exact reasons for the children's removal was not cited at this time.

You may remember hearing about the Campbells last month when they were in the news because a local ShopRite supermarket refused to inscribe Adolf Hitler's name on his birthday cake.

According to the article, Police, DYFS officials and a court spokeswoman declined to reveal the exact reasons the children were removed from their home, citing confidentiality, but a child protection official indicated it was not because of the children's names. Apparently, the children do not show any signs of physical or sexual abuse.

However, a neighbor did allege to the father, Heath, has some kind of hold over the wife and children, saying the children were only allowed in certain areas of the home and that on some occasions, young Adolf expressed that he did not want to go home.

So I guess we'll see what happens with all of that. When I first heard of the Campbells last month, I couldn't help but feel bad for those children. I mean, talk about setting your kids back from the word go, and then to make it a matter of national interest over a birthday cake, sheesh. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Campbell could have been loving, but misguided parents. Wow, I can't believe I said that, but I guess you've gotta give people the benefit of the doubt. A celebrity isn't necessarily a bad parent because they name their kid Apple or something dumb like that.

So now the kids are in custody and everyone's mum on the exact reason, and I guess all that anyone can hope for is that the children will be put into a loving and nurturing environment, and that they won't be going from bad to worse. I wonder if there is any precedent for children's names being changed once they're in a foster care system.

Children are so precious and impressionable that it's really tragic when someone does something so fucking retarded like this. I know it's a little rediculous to say that people should have to have a license to breed, like a drivers license, but really, some people should have to go through a screening process or something before they breed.

Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a new and happy life for the Campbell children, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

9 comments:

Janiece said...

Matt, I certainly hope the reason the children were removed was one that can be defended (abuse, neglect, etc.).

Because if the real reason they were removed is because their parents are bigoted asswipes with no sense of decorum, I'm going to have to come down on he side of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, throwing up in my mouth the entire time.

Stupid civil liberties.

mattw said...

Maybe it's just my interpretation, but the article seemed to suggest some kind of mental abuse. It did say that the DYFS wouldn't take the children unless it had a reason to believe there was something causing some kind of harm to them.

I see what you're saying though. And if that was the reason that the children were taken, they should be given back. It's just a shame that the children would have to live with that.

Eric said...

Dammit, Matt, now I have to go delete the blog post I have scheduled for Saturday. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

;-)

mattw said...

Sorry Eric, if you'd like to email me your next couple of weeks worth of blog posts I'll make sure we don't overlap. :)

Some dude stuck in the Midwest said...

I feel for the kids and hope they can recover from the ordeal.

BTW, my 4-yeard-old constantly yells that she doesn't want to go home from pre-school. Most of the time she wants to go either to Disney, Restaurant, or some Ice Cream.

I am a bad father for depriving my little one of ice cream.

Anonymous said...

I have to admit, I was practically frothing at the mouth over this while watching AC 360 with CuteFilmNerd last night.

Because I'm with Janiece: if there is a real danger to the children, absolutely get them out of there. But if the kids were taken away because the parents just happen to hold views that I'm passionately against, to the point where I personally consider it child abuse to give them such awful names? Well, that's really no reason at all. Civil liberties are for everyone, not just the people we agree with.

MWT said...

I'm with Janiece and Carol Elaine as well. There's nothing in the article that says to me that they should've been removed. I don't see anything wrong with restricting children from certain areas of the house if the restricted areas contain non-child-friendly items; many families with toddlers have childgates. I don't see anything wrong with a child that says s/he doesn't want to go home, because many children consider being out and about to be more fun than sitting around at home. And there was no physical/sexual abuse.

I guess we'll see what the news says after the hearings, when there might be more public info available.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing that you need training to drive a car but not for parenting. These people are morons. How many people blame their upbringing for their bad ways later in life? How many say they came from a broken home and turn to a life of crime? These kids are going to look back at the names their parents gave them and have major issues. Hopefully they get changed. I can't believe they actually got registered with those names. Stupid people. Poor kids.

mattw said...

Hi Keith, hopefully these kids will be able to rise above the connotations that come with their names and get them changed.