Love them like there is no tomorrowFrom the very first day:
But above all, PROTECT THEM!!!!
TEACH THEM WHAT LIVES OUT THERE IN THE DARK
PEORIA, Ill. — Child deaths caused by Abuse and Neglect hit a 30 year high last year, according to the Illinois Department of Children and family services.
But there’s a local organization stepping up to help those children.
The Pediatric Resource Center in Peoria sees an increase in Child Abuse cases every year, both Physical and Sexual Abuse. Already in 2014, they have 10 percent more cases than last year.
“It’s hard for our case coordinators to keep up, it’s hard for the medical staff to keep up. We’re seeing difficulty with DCFS and law enforcement, for them to keep up as well,” said Dr. Channing Petrak, the Medical Director for the Pediatric Resource Center.
When a Ahild Abuse case is reported and a referral is made to the Pediatric Resource Center, the child is given a complete physical, a head to toe exam and any necessary tests. Then that child’s full medical history is reviewed.
“We need to make sure that the child doesn’t have injuries that are unnoticed and that they have testing done for infections that might be unnoticed as well, for their long-term health,” Dr. Petrak said. “It’s also important for the child to know that they’re healthy and they’re okay. That’s very important for the child.”
Officials say the high numbers don’t necessarily mean there are more cases of abuse, it could also mean more people are recognizing the signs of an abused child.
“As the numbers are increasing, we are hopeful that the number of cases that are unreported is decreasing,” said the President of the Pediatric Resource Center Community Advisory Board, Kathy Miller.
The center is funded entirely through grants and private donors. And with the increase in cases means the center needs additional staff to handle it.
“Child abuse is hard to talk about, it’s hard to even think about,” Miller said. “But I believe every child deserves a life that is safe from Physical and Sexual Abuse.”
The Pediatric Resource Center’s “Harvesting Hope” fall fundraiser is Saturday, Oct. 25 at the the Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center in Peoria. The event includes live music and a live and silent auction.
CNN – John Grisham is taking back statements he made about Child Pornography and Sex Offenders.
In a recent interview with the UK’s Telegraph, the lawyer and prolific author of books and Hollywood adaptations such as “The Firm,” “The Pelican Brief” and “A Time to Kill” sparked outrage when he expressed his belief that some people who view child pornography online are receiving punishments that don’t match the scale of the crime.
“We have prisons now filled with guys my age, 60-year-old white men, in prison, who’ve never harmed anybody (and) would never touch a child,” Grisham said during a conversation about high U.S. prison rates. “But they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons and went too far and got into child porn. … They deserve some type of punishment, but 10 years in prison?
“There’s so many of them now, sex offenders … that they put them in the same prison, like they’re a bunch of perverts or something.” He then used an old law school friend as an example: “I have no sympathy for a real pedophile. But so many of these guys don’t deserve harsh prison sentences. A friend of mine, this was 10 years ago, was drinking, and his drinking was out of control. And he went to a website, and it was labeled, 16-year-old wannabe hookers or something, some stupid website. And it said 16-year-old girls. So he went there and downloaded some stuff.
“It was 16-year-old girls that look 30… He shouldn’t have done it. It was stupid. But it wasn’t 10-year-old boys, and he didn’t touch anything.” To Grisham’s recollection, the website his friend visited was actually a sting operation to capture sex offenders. He said his friend was then sent to prison for three years. Those comments and the nature in which Grisham discussed the very serious issue of child pornography incited a flood of hurt, disappointed and angry reactions from fans.
“The day that you came out in an interview and said that watchers of child porn get too stiff of a penalty for it (you said 10 years was too much) makes you someone that I cannot support nor no longer want to read,” a reader named Kendra Benefield Lausman shared on Grisham’s Facebook page; another posted that she’s taken her entire Grisham library to her “burn barrel” with the intent to set the books on fire. “How do you think child porn is made?” a poster named John Kelly asked on Grisham’s page. “Someone is still getting hurt you imbecile. I’m sad to say that I will never purchase, nor consume, one of your books ever again. I am disgusted.” After the uproar began, Grisham issued an apology.
“Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure, or who in any way participates in child pornography — online or otherwise — should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” the author said in a statement. “My comments made two days ago during an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph were in no way intended to show sympathy for those convicted of sex crimes, especially the sexual molestation of children. I can think of nothing more despicable. I regret having made these comments, and apologize to all.”
That may not be enough for some of his former followers. “You clearly said in the interview that people (like your drunk friend) who look at child porn don’t deserve severe punishment,” Facebook user Raylene Jolly Wheeler posted in response to Grisham. “Not sure how you can backtrack that statement.”
Last weekend, police broke up a major Child Sex Trafficking ring in Colombia, which has become a destination for tourists looking for sex with boys and girls. The police had help from an American who went undercover to rescue the Children.
Tim Ballard has one mission: to track down Child Traffickers. Four months ago Colombian authorities asked him to investigate a tip that Children were being sold there as Sex Slaves. “Within a half hour this individual walks up to me asking me what I’m here for, what I want and within minutes he tells me that I have kids here as young as 11 years old,” Ballard says. A former Homeland Security agent, Ballard now heads up Operation Underground Railroad, a non-profit group that rescues trafficked kids. After that first meeting, the Colombians asked him to put together a sting.
Operation Underground Railroad spent months planning — renting a house, rigging it with hidden cameras to document the crime, coordinating with Colombian authorities and negotiating with the traffickers. “How they find these kids is they lure them in by pretending to have a modeling agency,” Ballard explains. “They target them at nine- or 10-years-old and they were telling us that at about 11, they’re ready for sex. They’re ready to be sold.” What is it like to look into that kind of person’s eyes? “It’s horrifying and this is why: Because I have to smile in the face of evil,” Ballard says.
Less than 24 hours after the operatives landed, the suspected traffickers arrived on the island and the final deal with the undercover team began. Fifty-four boys and girls, aged 11 to 18, were ushered in for what had been billed as a sex party. They were given candy and drinks and told to wait in a small room. “This little 11-year-old boy, I remember, he asked… one of my operatives for some cocaine,” Ballard recalls with tears in his eyes. “He said, ‘They usually give me something because I’m really scared. To kind of numb myself.’” By the time the deal was done, the alleged traffickers were set to make $25,000. That transaction was never completed.
Twenty-five Colombian special operatives stormed the party, arresting five suspects — four men and one former beauty queen — all charged with Child Trafficking. The victims, 29 of whom are under 18, were evacuated, given medical exams and placed in a rehabilitation center where specialists are working to undo the damage. “Right before we got on the boat, we walked by the room where the kids were and a couple of the kids came up to the screen,” Ballard says. “And they put their hand up on the window) and I go to touch their hand… and I see that there’s liberation now. Liberation, one child at a time.
Pimps and traffickers target vulnerable children and lure them into prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation using psychological manipulation, drugs, and/or violence. Any child may be vulnerable to such a person who promises to meet his or her emotional and physical needs. A trafficker/pimp’s main purpose is to exploit the child for monetary gain. Often traffickers/pimps will create a seemingly loving and caring relationship with their victim in order to establish trust and allegiance. This manipulative relationship tries to ensure the youth will remain loyal to the exploiter even in the face of severe victimization. These relationships may begin online before progressing to a real-life encounter.
