This past week a WAL-MART employee took it upon himself to report a couple of vacation pictures to the authorities. These were not pictures of buildings or mountains or other landmarks. The pictures in questions were of young, unclothed children and the accusations were pointed firmly at the parents. An innocent roll of family pictures was now be used as evidence of sexual abuse.
The person who was to develop the photos saw these pictures and assumed they had been taken under abusive circumstances. In essence, he thought he was turning in the handy work of a child pornographer. In reality, he was pointing the finger at the parents of the children in the photos.
The good intentions of protecting the child where soon overshadowed when Child Protective Services was introduced to the situation. The kids of the Demarees family were stripped from the home and placed into foster care for a month while the parents stood trial. This was the worst of all outcomes for the family. The children torn from their family and the parents forced to plead their case to a room full of strangers. Thankfully, justice was done in the end, but the damage was already done.
How were the Demarees’s suppose to restore the feeling of safety to their children. How will they calm their kids fears that this will never happen again? Because of these unanswered questions, that may not have answers, the Demarees’s are suing WAL-MART in hopes of preventing this type of behavior from happening again.
It is rare that you will find someone defending child pornography. Just the insinuation that someone may be a pedophile will tarnish their reputation forever. In this case, the parent’s reputation is not in as much jeopardy as the kid’s outlook on life.
