A Philadelphia mother allowed her 3-year-old daughter to starve to death while she stole her disability checks to spend the money at casinos and nightclubs. Nathalyz Rivera, who suffered from an undiagnosed genetic condition that left her partially blind and unable to walk or talk, starved to death in September. The child died in her father’s bug-ridden home, as her mother, Carmen Ramirez, 27, abandoned her to spend more time with her new boyfriend. READ MORE HERE

When she fell pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to the convent of Roscrea, Co. Limerick, to be looked after as a ‘fallen woman’ and at the age of three her baby was whisked away and ‘sold’ to America for adoption. Coerced into signing a document promising ‘Never to Seek to Know’ what the Church did with him, she never saw him again. She would spend the next fifty years searching for her son, unaware that he spent his life searching for her.

Philomena’s son, renamed Michael Hess, grew up to be a top lawyer and then a Republican politician in the first Bush administration. But he was also gay and in 1980s Washington being out and proud was not an option. He not only had to conceal not only his sexuality, but, eventually, the fact that he had AIDs. With little time left, he returned to Ireland and the convent in which he was born to plead with the nuns to tell him who his mother was, so that he might see her before he died. They refused.

“The Lost Child of Philomena Lee” is the story of a mother and a son, whose lives were blighted by the forces of hypocrisy on both sides of the Atlantic and of the secrets they were forced to keep. A compelling narrative of human love and loss, Martin Sixsmith’s moving account is both heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive.

FEATURE NEWS ARTICLE:

Early in 2004, I was approached by a woman who knew I had been a reporter. She said she had a friend who thought I could help her solve a family mystery. I told her that wasn’t my sort of journalism; but she insisted and I went to the meeting.  The woman’s friend was called Jane, a financial administrator from St Albans. She was in her late 30s and had been through an emotional experience.  Just before Christmas, her mother Philomena, tipsy on festive sherry, had revealed a secret she’d kept for 50 years: she had a son that she had never spoken about to anyone. The reason for the secrecy was that he had been born illegitimate in Ireland at a time when such things were considered shameful and to be hushed up. Jane said her lost brother would be in his early 50s and probably living in the United States. READ MORE HERE

PURCHASE PUBLISHED MEMOIR: The Lost Child Of Philomena Leeby Martin Sixsmith

Twenty private schools are facing compensation claims from former pupils who say the Jimmy Savile scandal has made it ‘easier’ for victims of sex abuse to come forward. Among the institutions which are facing legal action are some of the country’s most expensive schools including those attended by Nick Clegg, Boris Johnson and Tony Blair. The allegations range from rape to fondling and date from the 1950s to 90s, the Sunday Times has revealed. READ MORE HERE

Harrowing family photographs have revealed how a Virginia father posed with his newborn son just weeks before he began the relentless abuse that led to the infant’s death four months later. Cory Daniel Walls, 24, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and felony child abuse Thursday after admitting there was enough evidence to prove he killed little Shane Daniel Walls. Little Shane was born prematurely and spent much of his 120 day-life in hospital, initially because he was so underweight and then from injuries his father inflicted. READ MORE HERE

Police are looking for a woman who attempted to snatch a newborn baby from a hospital. The woman in her early twenties reached towards a cot saying she “wanted to see” the three-week-old girl as she was wheeled between wards at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. The baby was wheeled in to a nearby lift and family members prevented the woman from entering before she left the hospital on Saturday. Police said the woman – described as “a light-skinned black woman”, around 5’2” tall and of slim build – did not touch the child. READ MORE HERE

PELICAN BAY – A 19-month-old baby was found in Pelican Bay on Monday, covered in cockroaches and feces and crawling across a busy street. Pelican Bay Assistant Chief of Police Stephen Combs says a resident was driving northbound in the 1400 block of Sheri Lane on Monday at 3 p.m. when she spotted something. “She spotted something in the roadway,” said Combs. “The closer she got to the object, she realized it was a 19-month-old baby crawling in the middle of the road.” READ MORE HERE

Parents who consider their children “safe” from sexual victimization live in false security and set a dangerous course for their families. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 67 percent of all sexual assault victims are children. Another study by the National Center for Victims of Crime (2000) shows that 33 percent of girls (1 out of 3) are sexually abused before the age of 18. Sixteen percent of boys (roughly 1 out of 6) are sexually abused before the age of 18. These alarming figures demonstrate why parents must work diligently to keep their children out of potential risky situations and teach them what to do if someone tries to exploit them sexually.

The person most likely to sexually abuse your child is a person your child knows – and trusts. The sex offender looks for a child who trusts him and can be convinced to stay quiet about inappropriate physical contact. It could be a family member, close relative, neighbor, or trusted youth worker. Discussing sexuality and/or sexual abuse with your child can be uncomfortable, but in today’s world responsible parents cannot afford to skirt the issue. Here are some practical suggestions to incorporate in your home… READ MORE HERE

Talking to Your Child About Sexual Abuse

How and When to Talk to Your Child About Sexual Abuse

10 Ways To Talk To Your Kids About Sexual Abuse

TALKING TO YOUR CHILD ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE  (PDF)

Protecting Your Children: Advice from Child Molesters (PDF)

ISLAMABAD – People in Pakistan are praising a teenage boy who residents and police say died this week while trying to stop a suicide bomber who was targeting his school in the country’s violence-prone northwest. Local police official Raheem Khan said Thursday that 17-year-old Aitzaz Hasan died Monday in a remote village in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A teacher at the school told investigators that he saw Hasan chasing the attacker and then saw the attacker detonate the bomb that killed the teen, Khan said. READ MORE HERE

Think it’s not happening in your neighborhood? Think again. Get the facts on child sex trafficking, and let your voice be heard. There are fewer crimes in society that trigger greater public outrage than sex trafficking of children.   Trafficking is a serious problem in the United States, yet many of the stereotypes surrounding the issue and the counter-productive approaches to fixing the problem, make it increasingly difficult to address the real dilemmas and oppression of those children in need of help. At present, the commercial sexual exploitation of children has become a staple of often scary tabloid and other media coverage.  The sensationalist sex trafficking narrative commonly depicted in mass media by celebrities and activists doesn’t always reveal the full story of this complex and misunderstood phenomenon, which is often buffeted by data and themes that detract from potential remedies.  Here are 10 child sex trafficking statistics that you most likely did NOT read…. READ MORE HERE

What You Need to Know

• Sex Trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.
• An estimated $9.5 billion is generated in annual revenue from all trafficking activities, with at least $4 billion attributed to the worldwide brothel industry. (Ibid.)
• An estimated 2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry. (UNICEF)
• An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. (UNICEF)
• Around the world between 50 and 60 percent of the children who are trafficked into sexual slavery are under age 16.
• Human trafficking is the second-largest organized crime in the world.
• 25 percent of all child sex tourists around the world are U.S. citizens.
• The largest number of people trafficked into the United States come from East Asia and the Pacific (5,000 to 7,000 victims). The next highest numbers come from Latin America and from Europe and Eurasia, with between 3,500 and 5,500 victims from each. (U.S. Departments of Justice, Health & Human Services, State, Labor, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. 2004. Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

SANFORD, N.C. — The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Sanford man with one count of first-degree rape of a child under the age of 13. Thirty-three-year-old Bailey Joe Mills was jailed under $500,000 bond Deputies said the investigation began after the alleged victim’s parent spotted a disturbing Facebook message and called the sheriff’s office. Deputies and an SBI agent served a search warrant at Mills’ Nicole Drive home late Sunday night. READ MORE HERE

A Tampa man accused of raping an underage relative was arrested in Lakeland early Monday after authorities received an anonymous tip from a citizen who saw the suspect’s photo on a billboard. Christopher Jones, 37, a registered violent sexual predator, had been eluding arrest since the sexual assault, police said. He had removed an ankle bracelet used to monitor his whereabouts, police said. READ MORE  HERE

Police are still looking for Heather Elvis, 20, missing since 12/18

There is now a $25,000 reward for information about Heather Elvis’ disappearance. The father of a South Carolina woman missing since December 18 has begged for the public’s help to find his daughter after hundreds of volunteers turned up no sign of her during a weekend search. Terry Elvis along with about 300 people scoured the woods, swamps and beaches of Horry County for 10 hours on Saturday looking for Heather Elvis, 20. She was last seen in the early hours of December 18 after a date. Her abandoned car was found the next day at a boat landing spot in Horry County. READ MORE HERE

Chris Ling, 56, accused of preying on girls at Chetham’s School of Music

A violin teacher accused of a catalogue of sex abuse against young female students faces the threat of extradition proceedings so he can be put on trial in this country, it emerged yesterday. Chris Ling, 56, moved to the U.S. after a previous police probe over allegations that he preyed on girls at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester ended without charges. However a series of new allegations were made following last year’s conviction of the school’s former director of music, Michael Brewer, for indecently assaulting Frances Andrade 30 years ago. READ MORE HERE

Released less than a year after being sentenced for attack on 16-yo girl 

One of the Steubenville rapists has been released from a juvenile detention center less than a year after his conviction for raping a 16-year-old girl following an alcohol-fueled party. Ma’Lik Richmond, a high school football player who was 16 at the time of the sexual assault, was let out of the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Detention Center in Ohio some time around January 1.  His attorney, Walter Madison, says in a statement that the youth is a ‘better, stronger person,’ and requests privacy. READ MORE HERE

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