Don’t Blame Teen-Ager for Parents’ Shortcomings

I was horrified by the story about Cara Vanni, the girl imprisoned at a “corrective” school by her parents (“A Family’s Last Resort,” Oct. 14).

Maybe it’s because my daughter’s name is Cara and at 13 she’s on the verge of her own adolescent struggle. Maybe it’s because I had a troubled relationship with my parents when I was Cara Vanni’s age. Whatever the reason, I was sickened by the self-serving, self-forgiving, inhuman cruelty of Mike and Nancy Vanni.

These people admit that they’re unavailable to their daughter--Mike Vanni works 70 hours a week, his wife works two days a week--and yet they choose to blame their child, her school, her friends and society in general for their blatant failure as parents.

As was made clear in the article, Cara Vanni will probably say and do anything to escape her imprisonment. She might even become the “perfect daughter” the Vannis fantasize.

But years from now, when she’s dealt with her rage toward her parents in her own way, I hope she has the strength of character to abandon them the way they abandoned her.

GERRY CONWAY

Sherman Oaks