Remembering Lydia Schatz
Posted by TulipGirl | Under Christianity and the Church, Pearls / TTUAC / NGJ Sunday Feb 6, 2011One year ago today, 7-year-old Lydia Schatz died after her adoptive parents disciplined her to the point of death.
Lydia was a vivacious little girl, adopted from Liberia. People who knew her say she had the most heart-warming smile.
I sit here crying. Heavy-hearted. February is a difficult month for me: mourning Lydia and Sean Paddock, facing the reality of abuse within the church and Christian families.
Lydia’s adoptive parents, Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz, are currently in jail in Butte County, California. They are awaiting trial. (See records here: case numbers CM032009 and CM032008.) Later this month are scheduled the trial readiness conference (2/17/11) and the jury trial (2/28/11). They each have been charged with murder, torture, and cruelty to child by inflicting injury. The murder charge is related to Lydia’s death, the torture charge is related to her sister (also adopted) who was hospitalized but recovered, and cruelty charge related to a biological son’s injuries.
Lydia died from rhabdomyolsis, a condition related to kidney and heart failure from toxins released when muscle tissue breaks down. Lydia’s muscles broke down as a result of repeated beatings over time, though her death was proceeded by an especially long “discipline” session.
Lydia’s parents used a plumbing supply line, which is recommended by Michael and Debi Pearl of No Greater Joy Ministries in their book “To Train Up A Child.” Both plumbing supply line and TTUAC were found in the Schatz home and the older children have attested to those methods being used in their home.
While death is not a common result from the implementation of TTUAC, this is not the first time that a child has died when parents have carefully and consistently applied the so-called “child training methods” espoused by the Pearls. In February 2006, 4-year-old Sean Paddock was killed. How many other unreported cases of quiet abuse are happening under the influenced of these harmful, unBiblical teachings?
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will( strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
–Psalm 10:18-19
Compounding the tragedy is the professed love of these parents for their children, the desire to nurture their children through homeschooling, the commitment to seek out help in parenting.
Further compounding the tragedy is that Lydia and her sister Zaraiah were adopted. Her parents needed to provide love, security, attachment. . . and instead beat them with a plumbing supply line. Sean was a foster son in the process of being adopted.
Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD;
exult before him!
Father of the fatherless and
protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
God settles the solitary in a home;
–Psalm 68:4-6
We need to remember Lydia. We need to remember Sean.
We need to remember the children who need families, who are in families.
We need to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
We need to open our eyes to the abuse within our own communities.
May God have mercy on us all.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by TulipGirl and TulipGirl, Barbara G. Barbara G said: RT @tulipgrrl: Remembering Lydia Schatz, 2002 – 2010. http://www.tulipgirl.com/index.php/2011/02/remembering-lydia-schatz/ [...]
I continue to be horrified at the Pearl’s continued indifference over the tragic deaths of Lydia and Sean and the horrific abuse of other children whose parents refuse to recognize, understand and acknowledge the very thin line between abuse and discipline. Further, it disturbs me that many in the Christain community refuse to acknowledge that children with attachment disorders have actual problems that extend beyond their just acting out or to be perfectly blunt, “being bratty” or “rebellious.”
It makes me sad when people who claim be Christains can justify the abuse of their members, both children and adults.
Resa, during the speech tournament last week, one young man spoke about not keeping silent when one sees evil. It was so moving, and I was near tears.
Along with people who claim to be Christians justifying abuse, I find it sad when people want to brush aside abuse (child and adult) because they don’t want to admit it happens in Christian homes. Yet, sadly, it does.
http://www.ezzo.info/charactercounts.htm
He has no license/medical degree! How can people continue to take him seriously? It breaks my heart that parents are so desperate for guidance that they will take the advice of a complete fool on how to raise their children.
[...] posted this update yesterday. For additional information re this particular case, you will find links on [...]
Just a hearty “Amen” to what Resa posted.
Abuse happens a lot in every kind of home. Plenty of fundamentalists are raised with “spare the rod or spoil the child”, which is fine if the kid is being extremely bad. Most kids will stop if warned one time, but these fundamentalists feel obligated to always hit with something. That’s one of the reasons I started going to a Mainline, more “liberal” church.
This was a horrible event. I can hardly believe that it really and truly happened. And I can hardly believe the Pearls’ indifference over it. Even if these parents took the Pearls’ teaching to the extreme and even if this was not want the Pearls had in mind when they gave instruction on how to discipline children; they have no right in the world to act they way they did…I remember reading that Mr. Pearl laughed when he heard about it. Even if the death of these children wasn’t related at all to the NGJ book, the Pearls should be down on their knees crying out to God because of the death of these children.
I do not have any objecting to spanking. I believe that it is neccessary. But there’s a line, and we need to stay far away from it. A wooden spoon is fine; no need to use a plumbing supply line. And you can spank without abusing your child.
thanks so much for this post. i am sickened everytime i think that these parents were truely trying to become “better” christians in following the pearls advise. i do feel sorry for them more than i feel anger. the danger in these books is that the pearls are declaring that beating your children “until they are sweet” with a “switch” is the ONLY way thier little souls will be saved and the only way to be a rightious christian parent. if you dont, they say you are disobeying god. not something any christian wants to hear.
when you think that there are millions of these books in circulation right now and hundreds of thousands of parents following this horrible advise like it is gospel, (which it is not) behind closed doors, it really is frightening.
being in christian circles, i constantly hear advise from this evil litle book by well meaning christians. so much so that i am currently pulling myself out of all of these christian circles and looking for non-christian based friendships…
i have never known a non-christian parent to beat their children dailey for rightiousness. i have however seen christian parents proudly beat their kids all day long, day after day. and smile while doing it. and get praised by other christian child abusers.
it makes me ashamed to call myself a christian.
[...] Remembering Lydia Schatz by Tulip Girl who gives an emotional explanation of exactly what happened and how and updates with current trial information. She also reminds us of Sean Paddock who died on Feb 26, 2006. [...]
Thank you, everyone, for remembering. . . for speaking out. . .
[...] remembers the death of Lydia Schatz–”spanked” to death by her misguided [...]
I have a question, what really is behind the thing that both of these children were either adopted or in foster care? Please don’t take me wrong, I just wonder if the heart of the parent obviously was not towards the child, even so they were making terrible choices.
[...] Paddock died. Lydia Schatz died, her sister Zariah pulled through. How many more children have been abused by loving, [...]
Jane, I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment before now.
From talking with people who are involved with issues of attachment and adoption, I can’t help but think that the foster/adoption status did play a role. The Schatz’s birth son also had severe trauma — but it wasn’t as bad. Some factors may be that the children (Sean, Lydia, Zariah) may have had attachment disorders which made it harder for them to comply, issues that the birth children may not have had. Similarly, did the parents have unrealistic expectations of what to expect from children still navigating the transition of joining a new family?
Did a maternal/paternal instinct help hold them back? Or was it possibly easier to see the bruises on the Schatz birth children that the dark skin pigmentation of the Schatz adopted children hid?
It is complex. . .
[...] last year I read about this little girl, Lydia Schatz, being beaten to death by her parents with a plumbing supply line. This blog post, written by a [...]