About The Foundation
The goal of The baby James Foundation is to prevent children from being returned to the people that abused them and eliminate false child abuse charges. Many people believe you cannot support both sides of this issue. Our reply is that we do not. A true abuser should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, while we believe in better case management and evidence gathering practices to prevent false convictions in order to free our court system to more fully accommodate victims of abuse child.
How are we going to cut down false charges? By making it so that there is more evidence of the crime done. Making sure there are rape kits and / or hospital visit done in sexual abuse charges. Sexual abuse has the most percent rate of false charges. Why is this? Its parent’s in divorce situations trying to get even or win a custody battle; it’s teen girls wanting to date older men and then crying wolf when they get caught, or its an upset parent not liking who their teen is dating. I can go on and on as to why the false allegations, the point is it shouldn’t be happening so much.
How do we propose to reduce false charges? We hope that by promoting more through investigations and better evidence gathering practices fewer cases involving false allegations will consume the court’s and child protective services’ time. In all cases of alleged sexual abuse every victim should have a full examination and sexual assault kit collected and analyzed to ensure that the valuable physical evidence can be preserved and documented. Taking these steps will reduce false allegations. It is also important for thorough forensic interviews to be performed by qualified professionals so that any false allegations or misunderstanding or interpretation of events can be ruled out. Again, it is vitally important that only cases that should be in court using resources should make it there.
Situations like the above is making it harder and harder to convict the ones that are really abusers. However, we say when we got an abuser don’t put those children back in arms danger. We say all forms of abuse is equal no matter if its emotional, physical, or verbal they should be treated the same.
When our court system and resources are over taxed and misused there are less resources to go around for the children who are truly in need of services. In addition to dealing children in need a huge blow there is also the threat of false allegations leading to wrongful convictions and further reducing the effectiveness of our courts and stretching resources to imprison true offenders too thin.
Children should be questioned, either by play or one on one according to the age. Children should as well have the right to testify in court, in situations that they aren’t in court then on video where it could be used for evidence. The child should as well be asked who they want to an adult in the room and who they want with them during this procedure, however the adult should sit in a area where the worker can work one on one. Children tend to tell false statements less then adults, older children if they are giving false statements won’t be consistent in their accusations if its false.
Would you want to know if the teacher or babysitter of your child was convicted in the past of physical abuse, or even emotional abuse? Of course you would who wouldn’t’t, so with this in mind why register just sex offenders? Why not register all forms of abuse?
Another passion of those here at The Baby James Foundation is getting legislation passed which would allow the government to establish a child abuse registry. Would you want to know if the teacher or babysitter of your child was convicted in the past of physical abuse, or even emotional abuse? Of course you would! Who wouldn’t? Why register just sex offenders? Why not register all forms of abuse? This would empower parents, caregivers and others to better protect children and allow easy access to the information needed by anyone caring for a child to protect them from danger, as well as restore power and peace of mind in situations where it matter the most.
Why do a person who killed a child end up with less sentencing then a drug user? For that matter, why does any abuser period get less sentencing then a drug user? Sure it’s wrong to use drugs or sell them don’t get me wrong but this is murder in many cases.
We believe that there should be tougher sentencing guidelines available to judges who hear these terrible cases of child abuse and murder. In some cases the abuser is given no more than a slap on the wrist sentence for abusing a child because the state laws do not allow a judge to pass a harsher sentence. By increasing the maximum sentence for child abuse offenders we could keep them behind bars and away from the most vulnerable members of our society who need the most protection. Why should an abuser get a less time behind bars than a non-violent offender?
Then lets go to talk about rehabilitation of these abusers. I will say people change but do we experiment with a child to find out if they did? Why remove a child once for abuse and then send them right back to that home to be harmed again or even dead?
We do not believe that it is worth the risk to a child to test the “rehabilitation” of child abuse offenders. While some people can change it is a sad fact that many times children are sent back into the home of an abuser and continue to be brutalized. In many cases there were only cursory interventions by child protective services, such as basic parenting classes and anger management where the offenders tell the counselors what they want to hear in order to graduate from the class, but they do not know how to actually apply what they seem to learn and repeat the behaviors of their past which results in more abuse inflicted on children. Often this abuse will escalate and increase in severity leading to fatal results. It is up to all of us to ensure that this doesn’t happen and that children can be rescued from the torment that is inflicted on them in an abusive household.
Another thing we would like to see happen is when people witness abuse and don’t make the call. I was told recently that there is no possible way to convict those individuals. Why isn’t there? If you hide someone on the run you can as well be convicted. If you are in a car with someone who has drugs on them you as well can be convicted. Why not be convicted when you see a child being slapped around or called every name in the book? We are all responsible for keeping these children safe. If their parents aren’t going to do it then who will? If someone were kicking you, slapping you around, cussing at you, wouldn’t you want someone to help? Imagine how a small child feels, its time we grow up and smell the roses before more children end up severally injured or dead, harsh but true.
We also need to see that those who witness abuse and stand by silently while our children are ravaged pay the price. Anyone can call into the child abuse hotline to report suspected abuse or neglect. Too often we hear neighbors, friends or relatives say that they saw or heard things that made them suspicious, or that they knew for a fact that children were abused and neglected, yet they did nothing to help. Similarly, many times an abuser flees and hides in another area to escape prosecution. We feel that people who remain silent or harbor abusive fugitives are responsible for the abuse of children as well, and should face punishment. Everyone is responsible for their community and what occurs there. If parents are not willing to keep kids safe it is up to the larger community to speak for those with no voice. It is as simple as putting yourself in their shoes. If you were being hit, kicked, burned, abused and berated wouldn’t you want someone to step in and help? Imagine being a child and enduring these injustices. We must wake up to the realities of our world before more children are severely injured or even killed. This is the harsh and true reality.
It’s about time we fight back for our children, don’t put them back in those arms again and its up to you to help. We need signatures for our law, we need help, and most of all we need prayers. Please go through our menu see if there is a way you can help some don’t even cost a dime, some you have around your home, and I know prayer don’t cost anything.
It is time we fight back for our children! We should not be placing these children back in the arms of an abuser. It is up to us to help. We need your signatures for our petition to pass tougher laws, we need your voices to never fall silent, most of all we need your prayers, and so do the children. Please explore our site to see how you can help. There are many ideas, some will cost you nothing, some you can do at home, but above all they are ways you can change or save a life.
One final thing if you are a child of abuse or a non-abusive family member that needs assistance for a child of abuse please feel free to fill out our application. We will try in every possible way to assist you.
Finally, if you are a victim or survivor of child abuse or a family member or friend who needs help with an abusive situation you find a child in, please feel free to fill out our application. We are here to help and will do everything we can to assist you.
Thank you for stopping by and God bless you all.