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Some of the
Changes We'd Like to See
Note: All of the
"Thoughts on..." pages represent Safer Child opinion and/or advocacy efforts.
Remember: we aren't psychologists, psychiatrists or social
workers. Our thoughts come from experience, observation, feedback and research.
If
you aren't interested in our opinion or advocacy efforts (and we aren't offended if you
aren't), you can still obtain the information you're looking for from the other pages. If
you would like to comment on anything we've said,
please do so.
We'd love to hear from you and learn from you, and we thank you for visiting our site.
This article, and all other articles posted on our Web site,
are protected by copyright and may not be reprinted or distributed without
express permission from Safer Child, Inc.
We've written several articles (displayed to
the left) on social issues, and we're working to educate and to make positive changes in
these areas. But as a nonprofit corporation, Safer Child, Inc. is not allowed to advocate
for legislative change. We must, therefore, work behind the scenes in appropriate ways
that do not involve political activity. We encourage you to also press (in ways that are
appropriate, ethical, compassionate and legal) for whichever improvements you feel are
necessary in the areas of child health, child safety and child welfare.
Here are a few other changes we'd like to see
in the area of child health and child safety. If you're working on any of these areas and
have ideas or suggestions for how we can help,
please let us know.
 | Removing
violent games from video arcades. We are solidly behind Cool-No-Violence, a project by a
13-year-old who wants video arcades to voluntarily remove violent games from their
machines.
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| Implementing
Code Adam policies. We would like all retail stores to have a Code Adam
policy, in which they lock down the store immediately if a child is reported missing --
and no one is allowed to leave or enter until a complete search has been conducted. For
more information, or for help in setting up a Code Adam policy at a store in your area,
please see the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.
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| Implementing
Amber Alerts. The police department in Arlington, Texas, has a great idea
for helping abducted children get home alive. When
a child is abducted, time is of the essence. Every hour the child is in the hands of a
stranger, the likelihood that the child will not return alive increases exponentially.
After Amber Hagerman, 9, was abducted and killed in 1996, Arlington police instituted a
new crime-stoppers program (as reported in the November 2000 issue of Reader's Digest)
"This is An Amber Alert" describes how police - when faced
with an abduction - now call radio stations to activate the Emergency Alert
System. Within minutes, normal broadcasts are interrupted by the distinctive
Emergency Alert alarm tone, and information about the child and possible
abductor are broadcast - and rebroadcast every 15 minutes. This plan has
already saved lives and costs almost nothing to implement. To set up an
Amber Alert in your community, contact the
National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.
On April 30, 2003, President Bush
signed into law a nationwide "Amber Alert" system to assist in the recovery
of abducted children. The "Amber Alert" is named for Amber Hagerman, who was
abducted and killed in Texas in 1996. The law also includes federal grants
for creation of a national network of Amber Alerts; the possibility of
lifetime supervision of sex offenders; the possibility of no pretrial
release for accused sex offenders; lifetime sentences for repeat sex
offenders; and tougher child pornography laws.
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| Alerting
grocery customers to FDA alerts. We'd like to see grocery stores
voluntarily alert their customers to FDA alerts. Currently, many grocery stores will not
pull a product from the shelf unless the FDA warning specifically tells them they must.
This means that, for example, should the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration advise pregnant women, women who might become
pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children to avoid eating shark, swordfish, king
mackerel and tilefish (as they did in January 2001), this advisory will not make it to the
grocery counter. Grocery stores therefore will continue to sell these products to all the
people who, according to the FDA, shouldn't be eating them.
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| Publishing sites in more
than one language. It would be a good idea if child advocacy
sites were published in more than one language -- perhaps English and
French in Canada, perhaps English and
Spanish in the United States. We're looking into this for Safer Child. If you
have suggestions for us on this, we're open to them, and we thank you for your help.
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Promotion of effective
teen-pregnancy prevention programs.
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Promotion of reading and
literacy programs, for adults and children.
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Better education opportunities for
homeless children (such as the Thomas
J. Pappas Schools in Phoenix, Ariz.
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Promotion of effective
drug and substance-abuse prevention programs.
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Encouragement of breastfeeding within
public places (such as workplaces, malls, stores, etc.).
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Passing of state-wide child-abandonment
laws. Such laws allow parents to leave
their children at a "safe place" without fear of prosecution. Several states,
including Florida and Idaho already have such laws. The laws should include
plans for effective information campaigns alerting the public of the presence
of these laws (there are a few non-profit organizations working hard to do
this).
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