Change.org Petition: #Invisible- Help abused Children in Religious Communities and Institutions

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#Invisible- Help abused Children in Religious Communities and Institutions

Misty Griffin started this petition to Joseph R. Biden, and it now has 6,784 signatures

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United States Congress: In 1974, Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), making it mandatory for people in certain professions to report suspected child abuse and neglect. All but three states currently have mandated reporting laws.  In the decades since, nurses, teachers, doctors, and other professionals have reported countless cases of child abuse, and so many children have been rescued. But what about children who attend private schools where the teachers are not licensed and have no mandated reporter training? Children who are homeschooled? Children who rarely are exposed to modern medical care, do not attend public daycare, etc.? These children continue to be left in the lurch and in many cases literally have no one to report abuse for them. A very large percentage of these children live in strict religious communities or organizations that are sheltered away from the rest of the world. Approximately 5.7 million children in the United States attend private schools; 78 percent of private schools are religious-based approx. 4.4 million children. Some churches/religions/organizations do not believe in reporting child abuse or child sexual assault to the authorities, and so they don’t. Some of these children literally have no safe person to tell. To outsiders, these children are mere extensions of their parents’ religion or organization; they are faceless, have no identity, and they are #invisible to the outside world. This is a realm where the law does not exist and is reluctant to go. Freedom of religion is used as an impenetrable wall that few attempt to climb over.  But what about the children’s human rights?  Amish, Mennonite, and other strict religious schools are staffed with unlicensed teachers who are not required to take mandated reporter training. As a young Amish woman I witnessed abuse first hand. I knew parents, teachers, and church leadership who knew about the abuse and did nothing. The strongest punishment anyone ever received was 6 weeks of shunning for raping, molesting, and severely physically abusing entire families of children. The children in my community had no one, literally no one. Religions like the Amish are not sovereign nations. They must be subject to and held accountable to the laws of the United States. At a minimum, the children in these communities deserve basic humane treatment and a government that ensures they receive it.  In order to combat this very serious issue, legislation needs to be passed requiring: -Every teacher in the United States must take mandated reporter training. Unlicensed teachers must take the same mandated reporter classes that licensed teachers take. It is an online class, and it takes approx. 7 hrs. Through this certificate, they become mandated reporters and are held accountable for reporting suspected child abuse and neglect.   -Teachers must be of legal age, 18 or older (Amish can start teaching at 15 or 16). -All schools in the United States, including private schools, must teach Erin’s Law (a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program that teaches: Students in grades Pre-K-12th grade age-appropriate techniques to recognize child sexual abuse and tell a trusted adult). It can be provided in booklet form for parochial schools that do not use video. -Homeschoolers must take the same mandated reporter training and become mandated reporters. They must also teach Erin’s law. The above actions must be enacted on the federal level to create real change and protect children. This cannot be left up to individual states. It must be standardized. Every state, every school, no exceptions or loopholes. Much like the Civil Rights Act this can achieved on the basis of child rights, we need congress to pass a Child’s Rights Act here in the United States and in addition we need the Senate to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children are deserving of basic human rights just like adults. At the very least they deserve to have someone in their orbit who is trained to report suspected abuse for them and they deserve to be taught sexual abuse prevention education. Every child must have access to these resources. Right now all but three states have some form of mandated reporting laws but they are only partially enforced. Erin’s law is largely non funded and not enforced even in all public schools. These things must be standardized at a federal level and above all enforced for child safety. President Biden: On behalf of America’s children, send the Convention on the Child’s Rights to the Senate for ratification. It is a sad reality that the United States of America is the only country in the UN not to have ratified (make officially valid) it. Ratifying the UN Rights of the child would go a long way in combating child abuse here in the United States. Child abuse -breaking a child’s will is literally preached from the pulpit and published in child-rearing books here in the USA.  Breaking a child’s will can mean a few hard swats on the bottom or lead to hours-long sessions of “discipline” where a child can be subjected to 50-100 or more blows. Entire churches have adopted the idea of “breaking a child’s will,’’ and religious leaders preach it to their congregations. Some instruct parents to start breaking the will at 3-6 months old.  Very small children and babies have literally been spanked to death right here in the United States because religious leaders are not confronted and told they can not preach child abuse from the pulpit; their congregations are not told that if they do indeed carry out these horrific acts of abuse, they will be subject to prosecution.  Children are left in these situations; little children screaming in excruciating pain, sometimes several times a day. If any adult were subjected to this kind of treatment it would be considered torture. Why do we allow child torture in this country? And yes, it is allowed because people know it’s happening. Time and again, teenagers and adults have come out of ultra-strict religions/organizations and recounted the horrors they have endured to news orgs and documentary filmmakers, and yet the government does not step in. It is time that the United States stands up and says enough. United States Senate: Show the world the United States takes a firm stance against child abuse and ratify the UN Convention on the Child’s Rights. Let the world know that we the people of the United States of America value our children, our future generation, and our greatest resource. In Summary: To everyone reading this: Freedom of religion or any other personal freedom/ rights, including parental rights, should not allow one to exploit, abuse, threaten, silence, conceal crimes, or knowingly put others in harm’s way. But as it stands now, that is exactly what is happening, and it’s happening to small innocent children. Teaching children age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention education (Erin’s law) should be the right of every child. Why do we allow it to be kept secret from them and let them walk into it head-on? Are we not all accountable for doing nothing to stop abuse that we know, based on current statistics will affect 1-10 children? Current data shows that at least 1-10 children will experience some form of sexual abuse before their 18th birthday. Last but not least, children should not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment any more than adults should. Beating a child repeatedly, like in cases of breaking the will, is just that, cruel and unusual punishment. In the United States spanking is defined as being abusive when it leaves, bruises, scratches or is considered unreasonable and excessive. Having this on the books is a great guideline but if it is not enforced then it is of little consequence. As stated above, entire churches here in the United States adhere to the doctrine of breaking a child’s will. The very mindset behind breaking the will is excessive and cruel. Breaking the will tactics can include severe beatings, withholding food and water, imprisonment and working the child to the point of extreme physical exhaustion.  If we, the people of the United States of America, agree that children are deserving of basic human rights, then we must put measures in place and enforce those rights for every child. Where does freedom of religion end and human rights begin? America, we can do better! Sincerely, Misty Griffin- Author of Tears of the Silenced, Consulting Producer on the docu-series Sins of the Amish.  To learn more about Misty and #invisible visit her website Join the #invisible Facebook group!

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