Save Our Kids from Sex Predators!

Okay, so here goes, my very first blog post. I am a former child advocate and lawyer who now stays home with my son and a new baby-to-be. I have been feeling that perhaps I can do more with my time, so here is a small way I can contribute: by blogging my thoughts on child advocacy. Here's the first one:

You may have seen the Oprah show a few days ago where she highlighted the problem of child pornography and how inadequate our efforts are to stop it. This includes sexual abuse and torture of children as young as infants, which is captured on film or video and sold to other sick people, many of whom also molest children. My husband and I watched 5 minutes of the show and could not watch anymore.

But there are things we can do, and what I am asking you to do is very easy. Please, please ask your state senators to pass the PROTECT Our Children Act, which will provide necessary funding to law enforcement to find and STOP these atrocities. THIS BILL WAS ALREADY DEFEATED ONCE, this past July, and is at risk again because of partisan politics (see article below) by both Democrats and Republicans. I think we can all agree, whatever your political inclination, that our police should have the resources to protect children from crimes of sexual violence.

Please use the following format which I have copied from Oprah's website and email your senators by going to http://www.senate.gov/.

Dear Senator:
I know that you believe, like I do, that we must do everything possible to protect children from sexual predators. That is why I am asking for your help.

Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.

As your constituent, I urge you to do everything in your power to pass the PROTECT Our Children Act (S. 1738, Biden-Hatch). This bipartisan legislation passed the House 415-2, but it is now the victim of petty partisan politics.

Now that we know where these children are and how to protect them, there is no excuse for the Senate to fail to take action this session.

(Your name here)

If you want to know more about the Act, go to:http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators or http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.03845: and click on "CRS Summary" for a summary of the new law's provisions.

If you want to know why this Bill is at risk in the Senate, see: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senator-no-is-facing-his-toughest-foe-senator-o-2008-09-15.html

Finally, please pray for the innocent victims of this kind of violence. They are completely and utterly vulnerable, voiceless, and without recourse. Please ask God to intervene on their behalf and to send angels to them to protect them from further harm.

And please share this blog and the information in it with others.