Photo of Eva Mauldin - I was inspired to write this blog entry after visiting the StarFish blog (please see bottom link on the right)...
It is tragic that some women feel that they must stay with their husband, even if he assaults them, and that they cannot forsee the risk to their children.
19-year-old Joshua Mauldin had been dishonorably discharged from the Army and had a history of mental problems before he married Eva and she gave birth to Ana Marie. Still, Eva never suspected that her husband would put her daughter in the microwave and burn her alive.
The interview with Eva Mauldin revealed that her husband had assaulted her prior to the baby's birth. At the time that Ana Marie was born, Joshua was in counseling, and had completed his mandatory anger management classes. Eva had been required to attend parenting classes as well.
Research from the 90's reveals that domestic violence and child abuse often occur within the same families. Child welfare and domestic violence organizations have begun to recognize the overlap between domestic violence and child abuse and the need for collaborative efforts between the two fields.
Domestic violence perpetrators often directly injure children:
- A weapon used against the mother strikes the child in her arms.
- A child tries to defend the abused parent and winds up becoming the target of the abuser's rage.
- An abuser intentionally abuses a child in order to intimidate and control their adult partner.
Domestic violence hinders parenting:
- The physical demands of parenting are daunting for spouses who have been awake all night fighting.
- The emotional demands of parenting can overwhelm an abused spouse suffering from trauma, damaged self-confidence, and other emotional scars caused by years of abuse.
Domestic violence affects child development:
- Infants can suffer from failure to attach to caregiver and "failure to thrive."
- Preschoolers can regress emotionally, and suffer from nightmares and other sleep disturbances.
- Older children react with depression, anxiety and/or violence towards peers.
To learn more about the overlap between child abuse and domestic violence, please visit: Making the Link
2 comments:
This story breaks my heart. And yes if a man hits a pregnant woman then NO! He won't make a good father.
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Wow that is insane. I can not believe that someone would go to that extent to burn there baby alive. I would have left him the first time he hit me. But then again some people are different. I mean obviously he had some kind of mental issues. no offence. I get that you are in love with the guy but love is not supposed to hurt at all, I have met women that have been in abuseive situation and most of them were scared that he would come after them, but why not go to the cops and put the guy away?
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