At a time when violent crime nationwide is on the decline
–murders down 13 percent from 1999 –one crime statistic is
haunting the criminal justice system. The killing or injury of
children by their parents or stepparents shows an alarming rise.
Between 1976 and 1997, approximately 11,000 children were
murdered by those who gave them life or were supposed to give
them care. Thousands more were the victims of life-threatening
injuries.
So it is no surprise that in this era of information and
cyber-technology, concerned parents and grandparents are turning
for help to one new website on the Internet. WhoisHe.Com and
WhoisShe.Com reports having received thousands of requests from
parents and grandparents to do background and criminal record
checks on the new stepparent or significant other of their
ex-spouse.
” In the past year there has been a tremendous increase in the
number of persons wanting us to do investigations of this
nature,” notes Linda Alexander, a Southern California attorney
and website founder. “Parents and grandparents want to protect
these children from potential abuse.”
Alexander ‘s online company specializes in a wide variety of
comprehensive background checks and criminal record searches
designed to verify if persons are who they purport to be. Have
they ever used an alias? Do they have a criminal record? Have
they committed domestic violence? Are they a registered sexual
offender? A pedophile? Finding the answers to such questions is
all in a day’s work for Alexander and her staff of professional
web sleuths. She reports that the website has over three
quarters of a million hits each month.
The service also assists in tracing lost loves, friends,
estranged family members and old army buddies,cyber-romance,
potential mates, employees, business partners, nannies, in-home
health care workers –to find out if they are really who they
say they are. The cost of the service provided by WhoisHe.Com
and WhoisShe.Com range from $39 to $75. The site’s motto says it
all… “when in doubt, check them out”….
A Child-Abuse Profile?
Present Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics reveal that more than thirty-five percent of our
children are being raised in households with only one of their
biological parents and may include a stepparent or an unmarried
partner. Statistically, a child in that situation shows a forty
times greater chance of being abused than when living with two
biological parents. Small wonder that the increases in child
abuse are skyrocketing, up from 400,000 reported cases in 1976
to almost 4 million reported cases in 1997.
The disturbing reality of escalating child abuse in the United
States today is driven home daily by shocking news reports and
television broadcasts. In San Diego, a seven-month-old baby girl
was burned over eighty-five percent of her body when the child’s
mother left home briefly to run errands, leaving her baby alone
with a boyfriend who police say put the infant in scalding water
in the kitchen sink.
In Springfield, Missouri, an ex-lover and allegedly the father
of an unborn baby, murdered a nine-months-pregnant mother and
her three young children. He confessed to committing these
crimes along with his new girlfriend. In Houston, Missouri, the
Texas County prosecutor charged Bobby Mayes with killing his
wife and teenage stepdaughter. Mayes had a prior record of eight
felony convictions from sexual abuse to burglary.
With tragedies like these reported in every part of the country,
major concerns arise as to who may be trusted with our children.
.
WhoisHe.Com and WhoisShe.Com has been widely recognized on CBS’
“48 HOURS” and the CBS Early Show; The Other Half, Men are From
Mars Woman From Venus, in People Magazine, listed in Yahoo
Internet Life Magazine’s top 100 sites for the Year 2000,
Seventeen Magazine, Entrepeneur Magazine, Kiplinger Magazine,
USA Today. Anyone harboring doubts about anyone else can check
out the website at http://WhoisHe.Com and at http://WhoisShe.Com
and questions can be sent to [email protected] or call Linda
Alexander, Esq. at 760-806-4377.