Stepfather Beats 10 Year Old To His Death

I am completely devastated by this story.  According to the Buffalo News, Ten-year-old Abdifatah Mohamud was beaten to death by his Stepfather because he fell behind in his homework.

Listen... I don't normally use profanity but if I were to write what I'm really feeling and thinking right now, I'd be fired.  I'll just say that I have a Stepson and a Stepdaughter and "beating" either one of them is OUT OF THE QUESTION #1... it's hard enough for them (at any age..even be it from birth) that they don't have their biological parent present... my role is to establish TRUST with my Stepchildren... they need to TRUST that they are safe with me and TRUST that I will NEVER hurt them.  It's different than what you may be able to do with your biological children.  I'd say the same for adopted children...but in the case of Stepchildren, there is usually a biological parent present to administer any Corporal punishment that may be deemed necessary...but at the hands of the Step-Parent...NO!  Should the Step-Parent discipline the children...MOST DEFINITELY...in a verbally corrective manner...and even then you have to be conscious of the relationship.... your underlying objective should always be such that you're building TRUST.

There's also an element in this story regarding a neighbor who stepped in to assist the situation between the boy and his Step-Father...whom I feel so very, very, very badly for.  This neighbor was trying to help, but things unfortunately turned out differently...no fault of the neighbors in my opinion.  I have been in a similar situation where some very young children were in my neighborhood playing alone with no parent or adult supervision, and when I asked the children where their parents were...they responded that their Grandmother was in the house (it was an apartment complex).  Because I knew who Grandmother was and not knowing if they were allowed to be out alone, I went inside to let her know that the kids were outside unsupervised.  Well the Grandmother's door was wide open and I could see her knocked out on the couch.  I stepped in and woke her up to let her know and upon waking her, she was "drunk as a skunk".  I felt compelled to call the police.  The police came and questioned the Grandmother and needed to get the kid's mother's info to inform the Mom that her kids were in this situation with Grandma.

I'm not sure what all transpired from the time the police came and left, but the next day the Coroner showed up to acquire the Grandmother's body...she had committed suicide.  My fault?  I felt it was.  I felt like my calling the police, and whatever happened behind that, was the reason the Grandmother committed suicide.  Had I not called the police, I felt the Grandmother would still be alive.  But after thinking it through, I realized that had I not called the police, anything could have happened to the children..AND...that the Grandmother was responsible for her own choices to drink initially and secondly neglect the kids...and lastly also responsible for taking her own life.  The neighbor in this situation (which you'll read about below).... Did the right thing to the best of her knowledge.

This event is so so very, very sad and unfortunate.  Read the story by clicking the Buffalo News link below and the please comment on the WBLK FaceBook Page: http://www.facebook.com/WBLKBuffalo

(Read the full story here: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/east-side/article816245.ece )  Comment on our FaceBook Page: http://www.facebook.com/WBLKBuffalo