As much as I love my day job, there are some aspects of it that I absolutely abhor.

At least once a week I end up speaking with a parent whose child has been abused, either physically, sexually or both. I have, on numerous occasions, been reduced to tears and have fought the urge to vomit over the horror stories that these desperate people share with me.When you hear stories like that, it's really hard to go home and sleep at night.I find myself wanting to grab some sort of weapon and take care of the pieces of garbage that hurt those innocent children myself.Often, the offender is a member of the extended family. Other times it's a friend, neighbor, sitter or someone else whom the child has contact with on a regular basis.Sometimes it's the boyfriend, and far too often it is Mom or Dad; the people children should be able to trust the most.Often, the abuse happens right under the nose of the other parent.Sometimes, the parent knows exactly what is going on but says nothing, allowing the abuse to continue day in and day out either due to fear, denial, or sadly, indifference.When someone does report a case of child abuse, another nightmare ensues.I have heard many people complain that when reporting an instance of abuse to child services (Children & Youth, etc.) they are often made to feel as if they are the bad guy.I have a friend whose young grandchild had told them of sexual abuse by her mother.My friend took the child to a doctor, who stated that the hymen was not intact on this young girl which, given the nature of the story told by the child, would make sense.When it was reported to authorities and as she was trying to have the child removed from the home, she was told that there was no proof of any abuse and that the tearing of the hymen could have been from a straddling injury, which was preposterous as for as much time as she had spent with her granddaughter, she had never once witnessed her doing any type of straddling to account for it.Additionally, the story of the child was not necessarily valid as she could have been coached.For my friend, it got to the point where C&Y felt that she was calling too much and that she had some sort of mental problem.Several years, one sister and further instances of abuse later, this poor child (along with her sister) was finally removed from her mother, but only when her little sister started reporting that she was being sexually abused by her mother, and now her boyfriend as well.I have other friends who have been going through similar situations for years.Can you for a moment stop and consider what that must be like for a child?Imagine what that would be like for you, as an adult, if someone regularly violated you sexually and you couldn't run away from them, and you were essentially told that you just had to take it because none of the people who are in any position to put a stop to it believe you or must follow laws and procedures that appear to be more for the protection of the rights of the perpetrator (or alleged perpetrator) rather than the victim?It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that this is a very broken process that needs to be fixed immediately.Sure, you have those cases regarding divorce and custody where one of the parties will stoop so low as to make false accusations of abuse in an effort to limit or extinguish custody or visitation rights; but all that does is stretch already thin resources which keeps child services workers from addressing legitimate cases.After a while, I think it jades the youth workers, which could, and I am sure often does, result in some disbelief and desensitization to abuse reports and cases, which is most definitely to the detriment of the children.I know the law is innocent until proven guilty, but there are ways to keep a child safe until that burden of proof has been met, and instead of saying "Well, it could be this ..." consider that it could be abuse and take the necessary actions to protect the rights and physical well-being of the child.Finally, it is a sad and sick world we live in, and it is nearly impossible to know who you can absolutely and unequivocally trust.But since parents are the first line of defense in protecting their children, they should remain diligent at all times and always exercise caution and common sense when making the determination as to who will be spending time alone with their child.Extensive criminal and reference checks should be done when seeking a sitter or day care program, and in my honest opinion, these same checks should be performed if you are a single parent who is considering a relationship with someone.Additionally, and it is a shame that I even need to say this, single parents need to put their own needs and desires aside and put the safety and well-being of their children at the very top of their priority list.Young women, you don't need a man to be someone in this world. You already are and it just isn't worth the risk.Parents need to watch and listen to their children to pick up on any signs that their child may be in some type of abusive situation and then need to seek help and not stop until their child has been rendered safe.People in a position to do something about it need to be untiring in their efforts to do so.If more money is needed to hire more people, find it.If laws need to be changed, change them.If penalties need to be harsher, get it done.It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child.I think it takes a village to protect them, too.