DoorClaudia Boyd-Barrett• 10. september 2021
Dawn Tyree says she was 13 years old when her father and stepmother pressed her to marry a 32-year-old children's semester.
The man, a family friend, had to be a babysitter -bull in the house of the family in San Pablo, California, while he ended the sixth grade and her parents moved to Texas to start a business.Her, Tyree said.
"What is a young girl to do?"Tires, now 49, and lived in the north of Oregon.. "
It was in 1985, but the laws that Tyr's marriage caused politics in large parts of the United States.California, a person under the age of 18, can marry the permission of a parent and a judge after an assessment of the case that includes interviews with the parties involved.There is no federal law that prohibits marriage to children.
People who are married as children or teenagers are more likely to experience domestic violence, to contract sexually transmitted diseases, have early pregnancies and end with signs, research shows.called for state and federal legislationTo put an end to the marriage of children.
"Although we like to think of California as always, always for the trend line, this is really an area where we do not lead and where we fail in Californian girls," said Assembly Woman Cottie Petrie-Nordris, D-Laguna Beach, author of oneStop bill this year that would have strengthened the requirements for provinces to report child marriages.
"Our US government regards marriages under the age of 18 abroad as a human rights abuse. If we agree with this assessment, we must undertake to put an end to a human rights abuse here in our state," she added.
Exactly how often young people under the age of 18 get married in California are disputed.Do not report children at all.
An earlier report to the legislative power in 2018 found a higher number of marriage request over a period of five years in some provinces.10 annual report.
Fraidy Reiss, implementing director of Unchained Final, a National Advocacy Group who focuses on ending child marriage, said that they believe that these figures are a huge subatry.Recent researchHer organization performed with McGill University and other research units estimates that nearly 23,600 child marriages took place in California between 2000 and 2018. These figures were based on the US.Census Bureau data and the number of marriages reported in other states.
The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and discovered that the vast majority of minors throughout the country were girls with older men (on average four years older).9,000 marriages concerned children younger than 16. These include 1,233 children aged 14, 78 and five 10-year-olds.
A refuge of the Bay Area
Sophora Acheson, CEO vanRuby's place, an organization in the Bay Area that helps survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, said that she and its employees encounter dozens of children's victims every year.
Some survivors get married in California, and others came from the state, especially the American midwest, Acheson said.
Although people with all races and backgrounds can be the victim of child marriages, it seems that the practice is more likely to affect minors of certain cultures, especially those from Indian and Latin -American heritage, noticed that young people could come from communities where it isIt is considered if it is considered to be acceptable for a girl under the age of 18 to get married.Mormone Sekten in Utah.
Moreover, parents can marry a child with more financial resources because they think it will give their daughter or son more opportunities.And the child sells to the marriage to get money for himself, Acheson said.
"It's a form of exploitation of children," she said."Our assumption as a society is that this is not an American problem, we do not condon children who get married. But in reality it always happens."
When the survivors reach Ruby's place, many are seriously traumatized, Acheson said.They are often forced to have sex and have children before they were physically or mentally clear.
Yet hiding places and services often struggle to help minors, especially if they have children, Acheson said.Minors and meet do not meet those who avoid marriage at childcare, she added.
Ruby's Place currently creates two hiding places for 13 to 17-year-olds to help meet the needs of the survivors of human trafficking, including those who avoid marriages.But to stop the problem, the promises that children can get married, said, Acheson said.
"Marriage legislation is so outdated," she said."That is the only thing we really struggle with in Ruby's place because we are against the law."
Broken dreams
As he grew up, Sara Tasborn dreamed of ending high school and becoming a member of the US Air Force.Los Angeles.Her father was part of a cult, Tasse said.Now prohibits marriages in which people under the age of 17 are involved, but she believes that marriage could take place just as easily in California, given the lack of a minimum adultery from the state.
"My life was literally changed one evening," said Tasborn, 40, who now lives in the bay."I went from a beginner in high school to a woman."
Tasne suffered domestic abuse and wore two children when she was 19.It took her seven years to escape the marriage and three more to end the divorce, she said.Mentor now other survivors of child marriage.
Genevieve Meyer, 41, also spent years with a forced marriage at the age of 15 for a man for almost three decades of her senior.Her, although Meyer now thinks he used her for sex.
"Of all the things I have experienced in my life, it is definitely the worst to protect this marriage and try to protect my child for 18 years," she said."It is something that people do not realize. Had no influence) only me, it was also my child who had nothing to do with this than to have been born."
A struggle to change the law
In 2018, Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) proposed a law, SB 273, who would have excluded all marriages under the age of 18. The proposal was confronted with unexpected pushback from various civil rights groups, including Planned Parenthood, the US Bourgeois FreedomUnion and the Children's Law Center in California.
In a statement that was against the proposed ban, ACLU said that California already has sufficient legal and political protection to protect young people against abuse and that the data does not indicate that forced marriage to minors is a widespread problem.Can young people who are already focused in violent circ*mstances, and parents who intend to force his minor children in marriage can simply resort to unofficial ceremonies - away from the court's control.People who want to get married with that said the organization.
"We know from our work with parents of parents that aging is often a motivator for the youth, which helps them to set new life and educational goals," says the explanation.That it will solve an existing problem - stigmatizes their relationship further and tells them that they cannot make healthy decisions for themselves and their families.
When married, minors in California are also released, allowing them to separate, a lawyer and access services for adults, ACLU said.
Ultimately, the laws voted to give marriages in which minors were involved in continuing, but they strengthened the assessment process for petitions in which younger than 18 years were involved. The STIP bases include the demand of family employees to interview the parties whoare planning to get married and the parents or guardian separately.
The bill was a deep disappointment of fighting to end the marriage of children, including Rima Nashhashibi, founder of Global Hope 365, a non -profit in Tustin, California, she and others said that minor is the marriage unlikely for themTelling courts of the courts..Although these decisions have no legal influence, Nashhashibi hopes that they will increase consciousness and create a tidal golf of support for support at the child at state level.
So far, 10 cities have made decisions, including Irvine, Anaheim, Newport Beach, Fullerton and Culver City.York and Rhode Island.
"We will not wait for Sacramento to become more energetic to protect our children," said Nashhashibi."We hope that our legislators will see the light."
For Bull the damage of her marriage as a child already ready her legal custody of her children until she turned 18 because it was when she was considered a legal adult, she said..
Her hope is that other children and teenagers do not continue what she did.
"Fix-All has to end (marriage under 18)," she said."No child may get married, the legal period."
