Race Against Child Sexual Abuse
Donation protected
On January 11, 2015, I will run my first marathon in Walt Disney World in honor of my daughter. It has been a personal goal that has helped me through a family crisis. We lost touch with our beautiful, kind daughter who encountered a sexual predator, 30+ years her senior, in the school system during her teenage years. She left her family and friends to be with him. While we wait in hope that one day she will come home, I have joined the fight against sexual abuse, neglect and violence against children by volunteering for MassKids.
MassKids(www.MassKids.org) is the oldest state-based child advocacy organization in the country. As a volunteer and member of the Board of Directors, I have experienced their strong and successful efforts in helping protect our children, educate adults, and change laws in Massachusetts.
Please help me reach my goal of $2,000. It may not seem like much, but every penny counts, and every donation is very much appreciated. Through each of the 26.2 miles I will think of not only our daughter, but all children and their families who are victims of sexual predators. Thank you for your generosity, God bless, and a safe and happy holiday season.
About MassKids
MassKids, founded in 1959, believes that children have the inherent right to be safe from abuse, neglect, and violence; to be economically secure and free from poverty; to receive quality medical and preventive care; to learn in quality child care and school settings; and to live in caring families and healthy communities.
Since 1986, MassKids has served as the Massachusetts Chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America. They currently work to prevent child abuse through the work of the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Center and the soon to be launched "Choose Your Partner Carefully" project. It leads the Enough Abuse Campaign—a multi-state initiative working to educate and mobilize parents, professionals and communities to prevent child sexual abuse.
What your gift would help MassKids achieve in 2015:
-Expand the Enough Abuse Campaign on child sexual abuse prevention to new Massachusetts communities;
-Train and deploy cadres of new trainers on child sexual abuse prevention through our 2-day "Training of Trainers" in new Campaign communities ;
-Provide consultation to schools and youth organizations around improving screening practices for new employees and volunteers, reporting cases of sexual abuse, and establishing codes of conduct to identify inappropriate behaviors before they can escalate to illegal acts of sexual abuse;
-Print and distribute our teaching tools: “Straight Talk about Child Sexual Abuse: A Prevention Guide for Parents” and our “Practical Guide to Make Your Organization Safer” for Youth-Serving Organizations;
-Convene "Prevention Summit II" in 2015 to continue building the skills of schools and youth organizations to prevent child sexual abuse;
-Continue enriching our websites (4 million hits in the past 12 months!) with the latest information on all aspects of child abuse and ways to prevent it;
-Continue to educate parents of newborns, family-serving professionals, health care providers and hospitals about Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head trauma through dissemination of our highly regarded teaching DVDs, booklets and trainings.
Your gift would enable us to push forward our 2015 Legislative Agenda:
MassKids supports mandating comprehensive child sexual abuse prevention education for staff and volunteers in schools and youth-serving organizations. Bill language drafted by MassKids stresses that reporting cases after the fact or trying to identify victims – features of legislation in other states – does not constitute a comprehensive prevention strategy. MassKids supports also training to spot behaviors that might indicate an adult poses a sexual risk to children; understand and respond to child-on-child sexual abuse; and, institute codes of conduct in schools and youth-serving organizations that can identify early-on the physical and psychological boundary violations that, if left unchecked, could develop into reportable sexual offenses.
MassKids proposes a bill to address educator sexual misconduct and abuse – a problem the U.S. Department of Education reports is affecting 10%, or 4.5 million, American school children K-12. The bill would require public and private schools to complete extensive and specifically detailed reviews of applicants who would be directly involved with children. It would prohibit schools from knowingly transferring or facilitating the transfer of any school employee if the school knows or has reason to believe the employee engaged in sexual misconduct with an elementary or high school student.
MassKids supports legislation to make it a criminal offense for any school employee having supervisory responsibility of a student - irrespective of the student’s age - to engage in any sexual behavior with that child or youth. Currently, educators who sexually abuse a student who has reached the age of consent (16) will most often escape any criminal charges.
MassKids seeks to add five new categories of professionals mandated to report suspected child abuse under the state’s 51a child abuse reporting law. These include: coaches, tutors, domestic violence workers, animal control and humane officers, and commercial film or photo processors.
In 2000 the African Women's Health center at Brigham and Women's Hospital estimated that 227,887 women and girls were at risk for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Girls at risk currently reside in Massachusetts, including Boston, Lawrence, and Worcester. FGM is recognized internationally as a human rights violation, torture, and an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. MassKids supports legislation drafted by the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association that would strengthen our state’s current child abuse laws to make sure that the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is understood as being illegal and unacceptable.
MassKids(www.MassKids.org) is the oldest state-based child advocacy organization in the country. As a volunteer and member of the Board of Directors, I have experienced their strong and successful efforts in helping protect our children, educate adults, and change laws in Massachusetts.
Please help me reach my goal of $2,000. It may not seem like much, but every penny counts, and every donation is very much appreciated. Through each of the 26.2 miles I will think of not only our daughter, but all children and their families who are victims of sexual predators. Thank you for your generosity, God bless, and a safe and happy holiday season.
About MassKids
MassKids, founded in 1959, believes that children have the inherent right to be safe from abuse, neglect, and violence; to be economically secure and free from poverty; to receive quality medical and preventive care; to learn in quality child care and school settings; and to live in caring families and healthy communities.
Since 1986, MassKids has served as the Massachusetts Chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America. They currently work to prevent child abuse through the work of the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Center and the soon to be launched "Choose Your Partner Carefully" project. It leads the Enough Abuse Campaign—a multi-state initiative working to educate and mobilize parents, professionals and communities to prevent child sexual abuse.
What your gift would help MassKids achieve in 2015:
-Expand the Enough Abuse Campaign on child sexual abuse prevention to new Massachusetts communities;
-Train and deploy cadres of new trainers on child sexual abuse prevention through our 2-day "Training of Trainers" in new Campaign communities ;
-Provide consultation to schools and youth organizations around improving screening practices for new employees and volunteers, reporting cases of sexual abuse, and establishing codes of conduct to identify inappropriate behaviors before they can escalate to illegal acts of sexual abuse;
-Print and distribute our teaching tools: “Straight Talk about Child Sexual Abuse: A Prevention Guide for Parents” and our “Practical Guide to Make Your Organization Safer” for Youth-Serving Organizations;
-Convene "Prevention Summit II" in 2015 to continue building the skills of schools and youth organizations to prevent child sexual abuse;
-Continue enriching our websites (4 million hits in the past 12 months!) with the latest information on all aspects of child abuse and ways to prevent it;
-Continue to educate parents of newborns, family-serving professionals, health care providers and hospitals about Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head trauma through dissemination of our highly regarded teaching DVDs, booklets and trainings.
Your gift would enable us to push forward our 2015 Legislative Agenda:
MassKids supports mandating comprehensive child sexual abuse prevention education for staff and volunteers in schools and youth-serving organizations. Bill language drafted by MassKids stresses that reporting cases after the fact or trying to identify victims – features of legislation in other states – does not constitute a comprehensive prevention strategy. MassKids supports also training to spot behaviors that might indicate an adult poses a sexual risk to children; understand and respond to child-on-child sexual abuse; and, institute codes of conduct in schools and youth-serving organizations that can identify early-on the physical and psychological boundary violations that, if left unchecked, could develop into reportable sexual offenses.
MassKids proposes a bill to address educator sexual misconduct and abuse – a problem the U.S. Department of Education reports is affecting 10%, or 4.5 million, American school children K-12. The bill would require public and private schools to complete extensive and specifically detailed reviews of applicants who would be directly involved with children. It would prohibit schools from knowingly transferring or facilitating the transfer of any school employee if the school knows or has reason to believe the employee engaged in sexual misconduct with an elementary or high school student.
MassKids supports legislation to make it a criminal offense for any school employee having supervisory responsibility of a student - irrespective of the student’s age - to engage in any sexual behavior with that child or youth. Currently, educators who sexually abuse a student who has reached the age of consent (16) will most often escape any criminal charges.
MassKids seeks to add five new categories of professionals mandated to report suspected child abuse under the state’s 51a child abuse reporting law. These include: coaches, tutors, domestic violence workers, animal control and humane officers, and commercial film or photo processors.
In 2000 the African Women's Health center at Brigham and Women's Hospital estimated that 227,887 women and girls were at risk for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Girls at risk currently reside in Massachusetts, including Boston, Lawrence, and Worcester. FGM is recognized internationally as a human rights violation, torture, and an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. MassKids supports legislation drafted by the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association that would strengthen our state’s current child abuse laws to make sure that the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is understood as being illegal and unacceptable.
Organizer
Laura Siracusa
Organizer
Bridgewater, MA