Dad Gets Restraining Order Against Son’s Bully, Should More Parents Follow His Lead?
Bullying is a big problem in many of our schools. Last year, it seemed as though we couldn’t go a few months without hearing of another child tragically comitting suicide because they were bullied. While many parents feel helpless to protect their children from being tormented, one Southern California man is taking a new approaching: getting a restraining order.
After his fourth-grade son was allegedly threatened with a knife by a classmate, Robert Casteel took it up with the court and filed a restraining order against the accused bully. Casteel said after his son told him about the incident, he was rightfully shaken up.
“My son was terrified,” Casteel told ABC News. “I kept him home for five days until I got the restraining order.”
The school confiscated a knife from the 10-year-old boy, but police are still investigating the incident because of conflicting accounts.
“One side said the boy threatened Christopher, the other side said he didn’t, and there are witnesses on both sides,” said the Jurupa Valley sheriff.
Casteel’s son was awarded a temporary restraining order against his classmate, who has to stay 20 feet away from him at all times.
Although it seems like common sense to use legal actions to keep bullies away from their targets, Casteel’s decision is quite rare.
Casteel told reporters he’s just trying to keep his son safe, and pointed out that just five days after he filed for a restraining order, a 10-year-old boy in San Diego was accused of stabbing his 12-year-old peer.
Should more parents use the law to protect their children?
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What about the parents of the bully? I think parents who ignore school, neighborhood, police warnings about their child’s threatening/violent behavior should be fined.
And yes, the father did the right thing. But this shows you how far our society has fallen.
I want the answer to that question too. If my child was a bully I would be deeply ashamed.
Notonfb:
Absolutely.
And I applaud this father for taking the steps to protect his child. It would take so much for me to not mop the floor with the parents of my child’s bully.
Every other day I’m reading about a child beaten up or to death or a child that committed suicide because of the stress from bullying.
We just did this for my little sister. After telling the administration (who did nothing mind you) the young ladies who were bullying her cornered her in a deserted area and assaulted her. The school wanted to suspend HER for fighting simply because she was terrified and no longer felt safe or that the school would help so she “fled the scene”. They wanted to penalize her for defending herself against MORE THAN ONE person but admitted they did very little to prevent the situation although my sister had told them about the bullying on more than one occasion. So once we saw that the school wasn’t going to protect her we contacted the police. Why should someone get protected from prosecution of something they would otherwise go to jail for because it was committed on school grounds??? We should all take a page out of this man’s book. Because now this young lady knows if she is anywhere near my sister she’ll go to JAIL not detention. If the school doesn’t protect your children it’s up to you to do so.
I think this is a great idea, and of course if the investigation turns up that that the child was carrying a weapon the parents should be fined as well. Restraining orders show that you actually took the initiative to protect your child or yourself. If anything were to happen and you feel you didn’t do enough you would have to live with that for the rest of your life.
This is a good idea and I condone it completely. But if I got a restraining order on the people who bullied me, and they were required to stay 20 feet away from me, I would be the only one in my class. If my child was bullied in school, I would do more than file for a restraining order. I would file a suit if I could. Bullying is outrageously damaging to the psyche of the victim and the perpetrator. I think the parents should be held equally accountable and they should be subjected to family therapy sessions and they should pull their bully child out of the school. There is no way a ten year old should threaten someone with a knife for no apparent reason.
Sure, more parents could use the law to protect their children against bullying, but they would first have to prove that there is bullying. Additionally, I don’t think the law will stop bullying. The kids will just find another way to do it.
This dad did what he had to do. School officials should be terribly embarrassed that it had to go this far.
I think the restraining order is a good way to shake up the parents of bullies. They should recognize there is a serious problem unless…they too are being punked by the child bully. You never know.
But a restraining order doesn’t really help when you talk about cyber bullying. It is probably the next tactic when a restraining order is put in place.
For those saying restraining orders aren’t enough, please consider this:
I think the restraining orders do a great job of holding the school and the bully’s parent(s) or guardian(s) accountable for the neglect of the victim. If anything happens to that child, heads will roll and criminal and civil lawsuits will be in order. They’d be foolish to not comply.
Regarding cyber bullying, I’d forward all e-bullying evidence to the local and federal authorities.
When more parents follow in this father’s lead, anti-bullying legislation could be amended or more could be created.
Agreed.
If the bullied child had been an adult and had been receiving the same sort of treatment, they could get a restraining order and sue for harassment. I don’t know why more adults don’t employ such legal mechanisms to protect their children–especially when it rises to the level of potential physical danger.
Yes, yes and YES!!
We’ve been discussing about these bullying issues with my co-parents in school. And I believe it will be a great idea to teach our children a safety tip on how to deal with bullying. And as been noticed, bullied case has been increasing rapidly, so we’ve come of an idea to search for a mobile safety that will ensure our kids to be safe even when we’re not around. Then we found this link http://www.tsue-thatswhatshesaid.com/2011/09/keeping-your-child-safe-supporting.html that talks about securing every family in modern way. You can also check that link for your own good.