Lizzie Fletcher: “As people honor April as Child Abuse Prevention Month by wearing blue ribbons, listening to speeches, mourning innocent…”

“As people honor April as Child Abuse Prevention Month by wearing blue ribbons, listening to speeches, mourning innocent lives lost or damaged, and celebrating the valiant efforts of those who have made a difference, my prayer is that we as a Nation would recommit ourselves to this issue. We as parents and Americans must realize our collective responsibility for the well-being of our children. Their future is, indeed, our country's future, and therein lies a moral imperative that we cannot afford to ignore. The numbers are daunting. In 1997, there were 3 million cases of child abuse and neglect. Today, at least 500,000 American children are in foster care and institutions because they cannot live safely with their own families. Unfortunately, costs of government programs skyrocket, while there are more broken families, more abused children, more teenaged parents, and more foster children getting bumped around for years without being adopted. This resolution expresses the sense of Congress that current statistics merit our commitment to intervene in the vicious cycle of child abuse.”