The Power of Potential

The Power of Potential

One of the greatest gifts of love that a parent can give a child is to learn of all the potential difficulties that might lie ahead and to prepare them for the journey.  A parent's true role is to guide their young away from unnecessary anguish and point them in the direction of free will and enduring relationships, starting with their sole caregiver - the parent or guardian (some are without a mother or father).  For children dealing with child abuse victimization or parental abuse this is critical in their developmental growth.  For the child torn from the security of family, the other intervention is with police officials or public services to help bring them home.  One tremendous example of family perseverance are the parents of Elizabeth Smart and others who have dealt with family abductions.

After the media's interest, the road to recovery is often lonely and less glamorous but for the loving and caring people in the lives of these children, it is the most tantamount testimonial of love.  The Surviving Parents Coalition is a nonprofit organization that lobbies for funding and legislation to protect children from abduction and sexual abuse.  The founder, Ahmad Rivazfar who's a father of six children decided to organize members to promote awareness and to find a workable solution.  Rivazfar tragically lost one of his daughters, when the boyfriend of his ex-wife took two of his children.  One was able to escape and the other died.  The Surviving Parents Coalition is one of the more progressive and effective groups that can guide others to the ideas of child protection.  Their methods so far have been through revamping the The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974.  As the decades passed, this federal Act delineated from its original purpose - protection and treatment.  Somehow the law went through an osmosis of sorts as the information of child abuse and maltreatment broadened the scope too broad to narrow down the purpose of the law.  Eventually, leading the massive issue of child abuse into the hands of family courts.

The new guidance of direction has been correctly assessed by the parents of these very children who were not "abused" by their own family members but by various community members and other institutions that have failed them.  One of the more obvious case was the kidnapping of Stacy Dugard, where police entities failed to protect her and the State of California recognized this unfortunate series of events by awarding her a $20 million settlement for her and her children.  Hindsight is twenty twenty but costly.  For the heart of the matter begins in the home, with awareness, education and recognition of the previous tragedies of abuse and violence.  In dealing with the words alone, often the terminology "abuse" makes everyone cringe and distinctions needs to be made.

Their are predatory behaviors of people that should be singled out and recognized and they are violent offenders.  If the officials are not given the proper tools to understand the motivations, the social environment or the potential dangers of certain people than it is going to be a long and ineffective battle.  The criminal behaviors of the child molester is often hand in hand with the violent criminal who seeks control of his/her situation and utilizes children as a mark to express their rage.  It is not necessarily the pedophile who seeks to dominate children for sex as a game of enticement or trust, eerily similar to the numerous recollections of priest molestations.  The work in the families of victims is very important for today's time as many decades before, the issue of child maltreatment was only a family/personal issue or hidden issue in society.  Today is should be known as child survival.

The parents of The Surviving Parents Coalition takes the issue and puts it in the hands of adults.  In Ed Smart and Ahmad Rivazfar leadership, they both decided to ride across America to bring awareness to child advocacy, raise funds and to introduce their campaign to the public.  The campaign is called, The Ride for Their Lives and their trek from Rochester, New York to Los Angeles, California had gently reminded me to keep fighting for the cause.



Links:
http://www.spcoalition.org/
http://www.ridefortheirlives.com/
http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20153759_20152178,00.html