A pregnant Shreveport woman whose 1-year-old daughter died Friday from injuries police say are consistent with abuse has been charged with killing the child.Alasundria Avery, 19, was booked into Shreveport City Jail the same day and charged with second-degree murder. Avery is eight months pregnant with another child, a friend says.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20111023/SPECIALPROJECTS12/110230367/Mother-charged-in-beating-death-of-1-year-old?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

One in eight confirmed physical child abuse cases last year in Oklahoma were babies born exposed to illicit drugs.

Out of 128 cases, at least seven infants died of birth complications and dozens of others were sent home from the hospital with their drug-using mothers, according to a Tulsa World analysis. Several cases in which newborns died after going home with drug-abusing parents have sparked a renewed look at how to handle child safety in those situations.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20111023_11_A1_ULNSyd871409

BREAKING THE SILENCE

In response to the recently aired investigative news report on child abuse fatalities in the United States by the BBC, I want to call attention to the importance of child advocacy in the U.S. This issue deserves our attention now more than ever before. This multimedia, 22-minute story, entitled “America’s Death Shame,” began airing Monday, Oct. 17 on BBC World News affiliates, including PBS and NPR stations in most American cities. The focus of the broadcast is on the magnitude of child abuse — and particularly child-abuse-related deaths — in America.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/teresa-huizar/child-abuse-america_b_1025890.html

MORE STATISTICS HERE:

http://dreamcatchersforabusedchildren.com/abuse/statistics/

http://www.haltnow.ca/abuse/child-abuse/190-statistic-of-child-abuse.html

A true story about the shattered lives of a family of children who were abused and tortured, survival was all they knew…

For one child to be abused, it is a travesty. Yet, for a family of children to be abused, physically and mentally, on a daily basis for over 15 years, at the hands of various adults—caregivers, parents and guardians—is beyond words. Nevertheless, in this book, JoAnn found the words and strength to capture her childhood story of loss, suffering, hope and survival. Like the song, “Hot Peas and Butter,” she and her siblings would sing in the basement to brighten their darkest days, this resulting book is a moving tale of a child’s resilience in the face of unspeakable atrocities. As well, it is a tragic case study of violence in the home, serving as a heart-wrenching account of the vicious cycle of brutality and ignorance. Now an adult and mother herself, JoAnn’s struggle still continues today, as she comes to terms with her harrowing upbringing and the mixed feelings harbored towards her father, her deceased mother, and her step-mother. But, incredibly, in spite of everything, JoAnn has become a happy and spirited person—no longer the little girl, “trapped in the mirror.”

READ MORE ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hot-Peas-and-Butter-The-Children-in-the-Basement/219512131400536?sk=info

PURCHASE BOOK HERE:

https://www.createspace.com/3652846

MIAMI — Miami-Dade County has named a street after a 10-year-girl who died after chronic child abuse and launched a new poster to make people aware of an abuse hotline. Officials on Friday renamed a portion of a street “Nubia Way” after Nubia Barahona. Her decomposing body was found in her father’s truck along Interstate 95 in February. Her twin brother Victor was badly burned by a toxic chemical.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/miami-dade-names-street-after-child-abuse-victim-1928062.html

ERIE, Colo. — An Erie woman and her boyfriend face charges of child abuse, false imprisonment and crimes against an At Risk juvenile after police say they locked a 14-year-old boy inside a small room in their mobile home, often with no food. Amanda Jolliff, 36, and Richard Smith, 31, were arrested late last month after a neighbor called police when he found the frightened boy hiding under his porch.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.kwgn.com/news/kdvr-police-say-erie-boy-locked-in-room-fed-once-a-day-20111020,0,341238.story

It’s nearly unthinkable, but every year thousands of children become victims of crime—whether it’s through kidnappings, violent attacks, or sexual abuse.

The mission of the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Program is threefold: first, to decrease the vulnerability of children to sexual exploitation; second, to develop a nationwide capacity to provide a rapid, effective, and measured investigative response to crimes against children; and third, to enhance the capabilities of state and local law enforcement investigators through programs, investigative assistance, and task force operations.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/cac

Mother, daughter indicted in death of newborn

A Wythe County mother and daughter have been indicted by a grand jury in the death of the daughter’s newborn baby girl. Twila Jean Meadows, 60, is charged with felony counts of child endangerment and concealing a dead body, while her daughter, Ashley April Meadows, 21, is charged with one count of felony child endangerment.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/299874

Baltimore City School officials have confirmed a joint investigation by their police force and Baltimore City Police.  The investigation stems from the sex tape scandal in Baltimore City Public Schools.  WJZ TV first broke the story of a 14-year-old Baltimore City Public Schools student who was allegedly taped having sexual relations on Baltimore City Public Schools Property.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.examiner.com/gifted-children-in-baltimore/baltimore-city-public-schools-the-midst-of-a-sexual-tape-scandal

TONAWANDA, N.Y. – A youth volunteer from Tonawanda faced a court appearance in a child endangerment and pornography case on Tuesday. Scott Peterson is accused of trading lewd pictures with four underage girls. Girls, met through a church group, were Scott Peterson’s target, police say. He’s pleaded not guilty to allegations that he sent naked pictures of himself and received naked pictures of girls, as young as 14-years-old.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/Teen-mentor-accused-of-sending-nude-pics

Members of  The Anonymous Hacktivist Movement are claiming responsibility for taking down more than 40 secret child-pornography websites and leaking the names of more than 1,500 members of one of the illegal sites. The Anonymous campaign began Oct. 14, when members of the hacktivist group found a cache of child-pornography websites while browsing a secret website called the Hidden Wiki, a guidebook to hundreds of underground websites invisible to search engines and regular Internet users.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/anonymous-hackers-child-porn-sites-1260/