Childhood Heroes

On June 13th this year was Childhood Hero Day. Megan at Imaginif asked for support in this worthy cause as it raises funds to help with the expense of fighting child abuse. I was supposed to dress as the Flying Nun but with various projects, Hero Day was pushed to the back of my thoughts but never forgotten.

Today I finally donned the habit , alas it was not the Flying Nun one wanted but the end results were just the same. Through much side busting laughter I drove around the CBD and made sure I was seen at a few places by many people , not just ones I know personally.
Finally came school pick up, the looks on the faces of the children was one of amusement and curiosity. The first words spoken was not the likes of "Hi mum" or "Where did you get that", but "Are you Catholic?" The second response was, "Are you religious now?" They thought it was cool and laughed and giggled all the way home.

Megan had this to say in her comments:

How cool if all adults acted as child heroes for all kids.

Thank God we have plenty of new days to start afresh. Thank God we are allowed to make mistakes and to try again. Thank God we have support networks and heroes that don’t wear their underpants on the outside - people like all those that make comments on our blogs - normal people living normal lives and trying to make the world a better, safer place for all of our kids.

We can all be heroes any day of the week/year and it only takes a small amount of time to make the biggest difference as shown today.

Too Late to Shut the Gate....

The children taken from the sect The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the west Texas ranch, are to be returned to the mothers. It is a very grey area when children are involved. So there was errors in numbers, how many does it warrant to then be a problem? This is what is said:

Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.

So, this would mean that approx 15/16 underage kids was then at risk? That is 15/16 too many.

The Third Court of Appeals last week that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.

Only five?? If five were being abused sexually, that is still five TOO many. How is it then justified that the kids are to be returned, with restrictions. Perpetrators of sexual abuse are well known to brain wash and put ideas and use scare tactics against those they abuse. This gives them a chance to give it their best shot and these kids will never speak up against what is happening. They are ALL at risk, if it is occurring with some. High chance it will with others.

In an ongoing criminal investigation separate from the custody dispute, Texas authorities collected DNA swabs Thursday from sect leader Warren Jeffs. A search warrant for the DNA alleges that Jeffs had "spiritual" marriages with four girls, ages 12 to 15.

Jeffs, who is revered as a prophet, is serving a prison sentence for a Utah conviction of being accomplice to rape in the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to a 19-year-old sect member. He awaits trial in Arizona on similar charges.

Adults can ' usually' protect themselves. Who is going to protect these kids from this kind of monster and his teachings. Be damned if you do and be damned if you don't.