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- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention speaker C. Schwartz discussed statistics and the effects of abuse on children and society of this public health epidemic. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/IPV_Factsheet-a.pdf
- The landmark Adverse Childhood Experience Study was referenced.www.ACEstudy.org
- Andrew Willis from Stop Abuse Campaign spoke movingly about the extent and damage done by abuse.
- Mildred Mohammad (former wife of the Beltway Sniper) said that 58,000 children were placed with their abusers every year. http://www.afterthetrauma.org/bio.html.
- Bob Geffner, PhD, a driving force in creating NPEIV, spoke on the effort needed to stop abuse in 25 years. http://www.fvsai.org/
- Christopher Anderson spoke about hope and healing after sexual abuse.canderson@malesurvivor.org
- Mothers of Lost Children spoke out at the question and answer time, asking for help to stop the current abuse of their children. Their testimony added a powerful, direct and emotional reality to the excellent academic statistics and outcomes.
This was the fifth educational event to the U.S. Congress and Senate on child abuse and violence in the past eight months (Congressional hearings on October 11, 2011, October 12, 2011, and March 2012, and a Senate hearing on December 13, 2011 at which Senator Barbara Boxer from California testified. http://boxer.senate.gov/en/press/releases/121311.cfm).
Wednesday May 9 – We had coffee and photos with Senators. It is clear that 15-20 mothers wearing white Mothers of Lost Children t shirts over business suits is effective. We met with U.S. Senate and Congressional aides, and many agreed that oversight hearings would be a good beginning.
WHAT CAN EACH OF US DO NOW?
Next steps:
We plan another trip to Washington DC in October 2012, Domestic Violence month. Please join us.
Meanwhile, there is much to do on a local level.
We can approach our U.S. Senators and Congress members with one voice to insist onFederal oversight hearings. We can ask them to be our champion.
This is an election year. Congress members are especially responsive to our needs. They are listening. They certainly don’t want us writing letters to the editor saying they support batterers and child molesters. They want letters to the editor saying how responsive they are to child safety.
We were told by some aides that system failures are strictly state issues. However, we have tried for a decade to reform the California family court system through changes to law and policy, and it has not stopped the problem. Since the practice of giving children to batterers and child molesters is a pattern occurring throughout the country fueled by Federal funds, It must be addressed at the Federal level.
You can remind Federal officials that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the Jessica Lenahan Gonzales versus the United States decision found that the United States is committing human rights violations, and recommended multifaceted legislation at the federal and state levels to protect women and children from domestic violence, and to create effective implementation mechanisms with adequate resources.http://www.law.miami.edu/hrc/pdf/USPU12626EN.pdf (page 53)
If our taxpayer dollars are being used to harm domestic violence child victims, instead of protecting them, through systematic failures by multiple organizations including family courts in multiple states, our elected Federal representatives need to investigate this serious breach in our child safety net.
You may be able to meet directly with your Congress member with a delegation of 3 or 4 people. If not, meeting with the legislative aide is very important, since the aides advise their Congress members. Enter your zip code at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ to find your representative.
The purpose of meeting is to educate, so it is important to keep the presentation short and formal. You can provide a one-page synopsis of your history if you wish.
We are moving forward and want to thank you for your wonderful help. We are inspired by your courage, strength, and perseverance.
The Low Road by Marge Piercy
http://iws.ccccd.edu/vsmith/low_road.htm
What can they do to you?
Whatever they want.
They can set you up,
they can bust you,
they can break your fingers,
they can burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you can’t walk, can’t remember,
they can take your child,
wall up your lover.
They can do anything
you can’t stop them from doing.
How can you stop them?
Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse,
you can take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.
But two people fighting back to back can cut through a mob,
a snake-dancing file can break a cordon,
an army can meet an army.
Two people can keep each other sane,
can give support, conviction, love, massage, hope, sex.
Three people are a delegation, a committee, a wedge.
With four you can play bridge and start an organization.
With six you can rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no seconds,
and hold a fund raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.
It goes on one at a time.
It starts when you care to act.
It starts when you do it again,
after they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know who you mean, and each day,
you mean one more.
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