Marlene Debek, a woman from Middletown, CT, lied about the sexual abuse of her daughter to prevent her

father from seeing her. I think they should have stricter punishments for situations like this. Marlene Debek was functioning from a strictly self centered view of the situation. This situation will cause serious trust issues for their daughter. !hen people are placed in a situation where they feel emotional pain they want to transfer the energy by putting someone other than themselves in an uncomfortable position. The court ruled to remove the daughter from her parents" custody. Debek should have gone to #ail as well because she made a deliberate attempt to take away her ex"s freedom and prevent him from seeing his daughter. $he accused him of sexually molesting their child. If he was convicted of these charges he would have been banned from all contact with his daughter. %e also would be brought up on criminal charges and had to face time in #ail. &nowing these things, she still told these lies in an attempt to restrict his freedom. 'll Ms. Debek cared about was how she felt. $he was obviously hurt from the pain of their ending relationship. $he was willing to go to any length ((to make her story believable, destroying his character. )hatia lost his #ob, $avings, and his reputation, but most importantly precious time he could have spent with his daughter. The court has removed custody of both parents, leaving the child in temporary custody of relatives. *ven though )hatia was ac+uitted of all charges, the #udge still made him have supervised visits, taking away his rights as a responsible parent. Debek proved how she is an unstable overly emotional mother, who does not set a good example for her child. If anyone should have their rights taken away, it should be her. $he should live with the

embarrassing pain and agony she has caused this family. I believe Marlene would fall under what &ohlberg would call preconventional stage, which means they expect others to treat them morally but do not treat others with the same moral respect, unless doing so benefits them. Debek was self centered, and an egoist. )efore she considered her actions, she didn"t think about the conse+uences, or pain she would cause others. $he wanted to cause the father of her daughter strife by getting the child removed from the fathers care. %er plan back fired, removing the child from both parents custody. !hat"s worse is that now everyone has to receive counseling. Their daughter is caught in the middle of this situation. $he had to watch as her mother tried to steal the respect and dignity of her father while her father struggled to maintain it. )y watching her mother fabricate, she is learning how to lie, and that she should not trust the people around her. %er mother is teaching her that the people closest to her will tell lies with no disregards to how it may affect her life. %er daughter will be adversely affected by seeing the way her mother acted. 'll kids look at things from the preconvention stages of responding to the situations around them. . *ven though )hatia won his trial, and was ac+uitted all charges, he still has to attend counseling before fighting the state for custody of his child. !hat this article doesn"t speak about is the father daughter relationship that is now affected by these allegations. It will take a lot of work to rebuild their bond, and respect. ,ow )hatia has to start his life over, and regain the respect of his community. $ometimes, being egotistical has bigger conse+uences than we may think. 'ltogether trying to hurt others to make yourself feel good is wrong. I"m sure Ms. Debek regrets her decisions and will try to use moral reasoning, or even use her conscience when making other decisions