A Virgin Islands Human Services employee accused of beating her 9-year-old son’s face black and blue told police she didn’t know other forms of discipline, according to court records.
School officials called Human Services and the Virgin Islands Police Department Thursday morning when the boy arrived with bruises to his face, eye, arms, palm, and leg. The boy told investigators his mother, Althia Henry, 33, of St. Thomas, had become enraged when he had suggested his younger brother not eat too much Nutella, according to court records.
Henry slammed the refrigerator door and came at the boy with a metal-tipped hanger. She beat him on the foot until the hanger broke. An uncle allegedly gave Henry a belt with which she beat the boy about the face, neck and body. When the alleged assault ended, the boy dressed and went to school, according to court records.
When investigators from Human Services asked if Henry objected to them sharing their findings with detectives from VIPD’s Domestic Violence Unit, she allegedly said: “It doesn’t bother me,” and acknowledged beating the boy with a belt. She then volunteered: “Spare the rod and spoil the child, so how am I supposed to discipline my son?”
Henry’s employer, Virgin Islands Human Services, as well as federal and local partners, have ample answers to her question. In April, Child Abuse Prevention Month, the department organized motorcades specifically against child abuse on St. Thomas and St. Croix. Human Services officials declined to speak on Henry’s case because the department was entwined both in the investigation and as her employer.
The Family Resource Center regularly offers parenting workshops free of charge, emphasizing there is no handbook on being a good parent or child. Karen Blyden, a child and youth counselor at the center, said no two people and no two situations are the same. Sometimes a view from outside the family can help advise and provide parents and children with safe and stable paths forward.
The Family Resource Center sent the Source a list of nonviolent discipline techniques and patterns. Paraphrased here, they include:
- Be clear and consistent about rules, expectations, and discipline.
- Stay calm.
- Listen to all sides of a story. Don’t be quick to blame.
- Don’t belittle or humiliate a child for a mistake. Making a child feel useless only reduces self-esteem.
- Try not to compare one child to another, as it can cause resentment that might harm both children.
- Reward positive behavior and disincentivize negative behavior with warnings and nonviolent punishments like extra chores or withheld privileges. But don’t punish with extra academic work as this may discourage learning.
- After an incident and a period of self-reflection, the parent should feel neither pride nor the need to apologize.
Henry’s alleged “Spare the rod and spoil the child” statement is part of an Old Testament biblical verse usually translated in full as “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.”
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department offers broad definitions of child abuse as well as breakdowns of state and territorial laws.
“Child abuse is an act by a parent or caregiver that results in or risks serious harm to a child,” according to the department’s child welfare arm. “Physical abuse is generally defined as any non-accidental physical injury to the child” and can include striking, kicking, burning, or biting the child, or any action that results in a physical impairment of the child.”
Most states and all five territories also define abuse as threats of serious harm.
Athia Henry’s son was retrieved by his father from Schneider Regional Medical Center. The man said he had been trying to get custody but that both he and Henry had precarious living situations, according to court records.
Henry was arraigned Friday morning, charged with child abuse, assault with intent to commit a felony, domestic violence, and disturbing the peace. Her bail was set at $5,000. She was ordered to remain employed and not have contact with either of her children without special supervision.
