Debra Salazar, 6, of Los Angeles,Wednesday, July 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

 June28, 2009 -The Huffington Post reports on Debbie Rowe, biological mother of Michael Jackson's children, telling "...how, despite Jackson's death, she does not WANT custody of the children and NEVER expects to see them again."  In February of 2008, Annette Witheridge wrote an article about Rowe where she talked about her "beloved babies" but the babies were not the children she gave birth to, but the animals she owns.

Witheridge noticed the absences of the children's photos saying, "Indeed, there is not even a single, grainy snapshot of either Prince Michael, now ten, or Paris, nine, the children taken from her arms in the maternity ward in exchange for a multi-million-pound pay-off.' Witheridge then goes on to show us a Debbie Rowe who wants animals but not the children, also claims that she doesn't seek fame while at the same time asking Witheridge the writer if she would pitch a reality show for her. Not once in that interview last year did she speak of missing the children or wishing to have a part in the children's lives. The article ends with this quote from Rowe, "Rowe pauses, then waves a dismissive hand. "I've done the breeding stage. I don't need the rest."

Sixteen months later Rowe reiterates to The Huffington Post that she didn't want the children and even in light of Jackson's death, never wanted to see them again. Today, July 2nd,with NBCLA's Chuck Henry, Rowe states, "I want my children," claiming that she wishes to protect the children from Joe Jackson, the children's grandfather.

There are times that children know that a parent (or parents) don't want them or that the parents were not cut out to be parents. Not everyone is born to be a good mother, a good father. Michael Jackson of course was questioned repeatedly about his ability to be a father and if the children were safe with him. The one thing that was clear in those stories on television and in the news was that Michael Jackson wanted and loved the children. For Rowe to clearly admit she did not want the children for over a year, makes her motive to seek custody of the children suspect. The most difficult thing of all is knowing that the children are at an age of awareness. Those children can remember all of this and who could ever forget a mother saying, "...she does not WANT custody of the children and NEVER expects to see them again."  Parents make mistakes and sometimes say things unwittingly that makes a child feel unwanted. There are also those parents who are as brazen and unkind as Rowe who admitted boldfaced that the children are unwanted...but most parents are not in the public eye where that message is emblazoned in headlines. Who really cares for these children now?

Kidsource.com tells us that "Children with a healthy sense of self-esteem feel that the important adults in their lives accept them, care about them, and would go out of their way to ensure that they are safe and well."  The article goes on to speak of the importance of the children bonding with the parents and the value of a consistent loving presence of the adult in charge. While Michael Jackson seems to truly have loved the children, it is clear that Debbie Rowe abandoned them.

Andrew Bolt at Australia's Herald Sun writes:

"And is Rowe really the children's natural mother? Yes, says her lawyer. No, say reported "friends" of Jackson and "multiple sources deeply connected to the births". But whether Rowe is the "natural" mother, it's beyond dispute that she's an unnatural one....After all, she signed away her claims to her children in exchange for $8.5 million from Jackson, and later applied to a court to even scrap her once-in-45-days visitation right."

Who will protect these children? They are only children and they are children who have been sheltered in a way that other children have not. Bolt goes on to write: "They were raised largely by nannies and, said Jackson's father this week, tended to be kept from other children. And how close could they have been to a "father" who did not want even to be biologically connected to them?"

Erik Erikson (a Danish-German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst) believed that as humans we are born with an ego that works at developing from the time we were born till the time that we die. From this philosophy Erikson developed what is called Erikson's Stages of Development. The philosophy is that in an ideal setting each individual would learn and grow through each stage in order to mature into a healthy adult. Trauma and other difficult events might allow a person to get "stuck" in a stage. Newspapers and television events have repeatedly covered Michael Jackson's inability to grow up to the point where his home was called "Never land." Let others decide where Jackson might have gotten stuck, the question now is with these living children, what is best for them? While there is no way to know how the Jackson children will handle the trauma of Michael's death and the sudden custody battle, it's clear that these children have a challenge before them.  Erikson's's developmental stages of growth place Prince (12), Paris (11) and Blanket (7) Jackson in the same category of development:

 Stage 4: School Age: 6 to 12 Years/Ego Development Outcome: Industry vs. Inferiority. Basic Strengths: Method and Competence: During this stage  we are capable of learning, creating and accomplishing numerous new skills and knowledge, thus developing a sense of industry. This is also a very social stage of development and if we experience unresolved feelings of inadequacy and inferiority among our peers, we can have serious problems in terms of competence and self-esteem. As the world expands a bit, our most significant relationship is with the school and neighborhood. Parents are no longer the complete authorities they once were, although they are still important.

Physical and emotional growth and development are parts of every human's life. When the physical, emotional and intellectual development of a human being is harmed, the spirit is harmed as well. The ancient Hebrews believed that the body and spirit were one and the same and most did not believe in resurrection because one continued to live through ancestors, through children. From this Middle Eastern culture developed modern Islam, Judaism and Christianity. All three religions have texts and practices that speak of the body as an important vessel of the spirit even if, even when the body must be purified. The mind was to join in with the heart in order to obtain wisdom. In Buddhism, caring for both body and mind was a part of spiritual balance.

Our children are important to us, not merely as mere flesh and blood, but they are still the future. When we make children into objects we ignore the fact that these sentient beings are intuitively trusting, desire love and acceptance above all else. When children are used as an advancement of a project, as a buffer between divorcees, we are harming not only the children but the world to come. The Jackson children are only three, and while these three may not rule the world they, like those who have gone before them have the power to destroy the world or heal the world. Children grow up to be leaders who become presidents or dictators, who become spiritual mystics or murderers, who become benevolent patrons or greedy thieves. The children may seem small and many would say "insignificant" due to their vulnerability and inability to produce a product. The thing is, the children are the product. Not as a gross national product that is to be marketed and sold, but children are the goods we wish to bear. The word "product" comes from the root "produce" which means "(to) lead or bring forth". The prophet Isaiah had prophesied that "a little child shall lead them" and the "them" is you, me, the people around us.

Children remind us of trust and love. Children can lead us to compassion and dreams. Yes, children can be frustrating, inconvenient and demanding. Children grow up into teenagers who want to separate from the primary caregivers; to "individuate" and become a unique gift to the world and in that desire to be unique, children and teens can make hurtful decisions. Those same children and teens need the stability of a mature and caring adult. The irony of it all is that so often when the adults think they are raising the kids, it is really that the kids are teaching the parent or caregiver what it means to be an adult and somehow along that path, wisdom grows.

Luke 18:15-17
[15] People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. [16] But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. [17] I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."