Waging War

In a small California town tucked away in Tulare County, a woman died this morning. The victim of a violent attack she was stabbed repetitiously. The motives for the crime are unknown. The woman was a mother of four, but her kids had been removed from her care months prior to her death. She was a drug addict, hopelessly devoted to the pleasures of methamphetamines. She was a stripper and a prostitute. She was bipolar and she was a battered wife. She was somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister, and she was the product of a system failure.

The war at home is a forgotten one. The un-scrubbed faces of our neglected youth lack the celebrity endorsements of Africa’s children. Meth and mayhem mark the battlegrounds of urban streets and rural dwellings, yet they fail to receive the attention the oil-laden areas of the world do. Crime is on the rise in this nation; however, as most reprobates are not linked to terrorist cells funds are not allocated en masse. The impoverished of America lack the glamour and corporate sponsorship of other global communities and as a result it is our children that are suffering and ultimately we’re raising a generation of broken souls.

“It shouldn’t hurt to be a child” or so the saying goes, yet for almost ten percent of Tulare County’s youths under the age of eighteen, hurt, neglect, and abuse at the hands of those who are supposed to care for them is a daily occurrence. To look upon them one might not be immediately aware that there are kids among us whose existence is comprised not of the joy or blithe of childhood but rather they are marked by the repercussions of their parents substance abuse or mental health issues. You have to look closely to see the dark circles under their eyes, the pangs from hunger, the constant state of worry, but if you look closely, you’ll find them.

Once a year, in April, Americans formerly recognize the violence imputed upon our children with National Child Abuse Awareness Month. This is the one time a year when those who live blissfully unaware of the grass on the other side are confronted by the crimes against our children that take place everyday of the year, including Christmas. In Tulare County, California most families are unconscious to the conditions facing over 10,000 of our local kids every year. Of this number over a thousand child abuse referrals that are investigated will be found true. That means ten percent of reports made to county Child Welfare Services regarding physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, or neglect will be substantiated and action taken to prevent these children from having to experience one more instance of exploitation.