As some of you may be aware, in Philadelphia, approximately 6 years ago an infant was believed to have been killed in a fire. It turns out that she was killed, but kidnapped by a family acquaintance and raised in a nearby NJ suburb. The child's birth mother has custody of her now and the kidnapper is in jail. It is on my heart to ask for prayers for this little girl as well as her family. After the media frenzy is over they will have to deal with some real issues. Please keep the entire family in your prayers. Thank you.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2004

Answers

I heard about this story before I left for the office this morning. If I'm not mistaken the child is responding not to her birth name but to the name given to her by her kidnapers. While I doubt the child developed what psychologists call the "Stockholm Effect" (e.g. a situation where the hostage develops an affinity for the kidnapers, i.e. Patty Hearst case) you are quite correct in recognizing there are some emotional issues which the family must address. Also, your second sentence unintentionally left out the word "not" before killed. This is helpful for grammatical clarity. QED

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2004

Thank you brother Dickens for the correction. The infant was not killed in the fire as originally thought.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2004