International Stand4Change is this Friday! And what a day it will be. We now have over 1 MILLION students in every state in 70 countries, making a global stand on the #1 issue in schools after funding. Be sure to check out the website www.stand4change.org for the flier and more info.

JACKSON COUNTY — An airman temporarily stationed at Keesler Air Force Base has received bonds of $125,000 on charges of statutory rape and child pornography, Sheriff Mike Byrd said. Deputies arrested Michael Burl, 23, on Wednesday. Byrd said Biloxi Regional Medical Center called authorities regarding the alleged sexual assault of a girl under the age of 16 from an incident that reportedly occurred Monday.

THE thought of thousands of Jamaican children living the nightmare of sexual abuse has motivated three adults, scarred by this horrific act, to share their stories with the hope that the victims can be rescued. The three — a man and two women — decided to speak after reading an April 1 Sunday Observer article in which Dr Sandra Knight painted a gruesome picture of abuse of Jamaican children, including four-year-old girls she has treated for gonorrhoea, a nine-year-old boy who was raped by his mother’s pastor, and an 18-month-old boy who died after being buggered by an uncle.

Rape — forced, unwanted sexual intercourse — can happen to males and females of any age. Rape (also called sexual assault) is about power, not sex. A rapist uses actual or threatened force or violence to exert control over another human being. Some rapists use drugs or alcohol to take away a person’s ability to fight back. Rape is a crime, whether the person committing it is a stranger, date, acquaintance, or family member. No matter how it happened, rape is frightening and traumatic. Someone who has been raped needs care, comfort, and a way to heal. As a parent, how can you support a child who has been raped? Here’s on overview of the tools you’ll need to help your child.

We have an update on the case of a former Fort Drum soldier and his wife who were accused of sexually abusing a three year old girl in Pennsylvania. According to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette newspaper in Pennsylvania, 38 year old Richard Lafayette pleaded guilty last November to criminal solicitation to rape a child. He was sentenced to a 7 1/2- to 15-year prison term.

A man who gave Seattle police a false name and tried to run away early Saturday morning was wanted on an escape warrant for child rape. According to the Seattle Police Department, officers stopped the 40-year-old man for trespassing at Eighth Avenue South and South Jackson Street at about 1:26 a.m. Saturday. He gave them what they said was “obviously” a false name, and when officers tried to walk him back to the patrol car to figure out his true identity, he took off.

PORT RICHEY – An infant who was seriously injured earlier this month when his mother held him under scalding hot water for several minutes has died. Emilio Jesus Bautista passed away Saturday morning at Tampa General Hospital. The baby was approximately nine weeks old. His mother, Chekayla Ariel Dampier of Port Richey, is being held at the Pasco County Jail on a bond of $150,000.

AVON PARK — An Avon Park man remained in Highlands County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond Thursday after Highlands County Sheriff’s investigators accused him of abusing his children with a stun gun. Allen Bradley Sconyers, 35, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse — cruelty toward a child by torture to punish or cage a child.

While social media has been a useful tool for connecting with lost relatives, one Philadelphia software salesman used a missing child website to stumble across his own past. As reported by CBS News earlier this week, a Philadelphia man named Steve Carter discovered his own baby picture on a site designed to help reunite missing children with their parents. Carter was adopted at age four from an orphanage in Honolulu, Hawaii, but details prior to that time didn’t add up for him.

Camden, SC – On Sunday the Camden community came together to support a 4-year-old Kershaw County girl who was hospitalized due to what deputies say is abuse. It’s been one week since two adults were arrested and charged with abusing the child, so much so, she suffered two broken arms and one leg. Her mother, 24-year-old Catharine Ammons and her boyfriend, 27-year-old James Watson were also charged with unlawful neglect of a child.

Despite promises of transparency by Gov. Steve Beshear, state officials are refusing to release child-protection records about a man who was convicted of beating his 3-month-old son prior to the mysterious deaths of his two infant daughters. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services won’t release records about Jesse Allison, who is charged in Caldwell County, in Western Kentucky, with murder in the 2009 asphyxiation death of his 7-monthold daughter Ariel.

Charges of sexual abuse against children and teenagers have been made against a Christian commune in Waco, Texas. Homestead House has been upheld as an utopia with wholesome Christian values for thirty years and is well known in the local community. But those who have left the church, which sits in a gated compound of 500 acres, have revealed a dark side to the secretive religious group.

SAN DIEGO– Police arrested a San Diego man on Saturday after he said “voices in his head” told him to slice the arms of his 8-year-old son. The 30-year-old man was arrested in San Diego’s Mount Hope Cemetery on suspicion of child abuse and assault with a deadly weapon, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sexual abuse is one form of child abuse. It includes a wide range of actions between a child and an adult or older child. Often these involve body contact, but not always. Exposing one’s genitals to children or pressuring them for sex is sexual abuse. Using a child for pornography is also sexual abuse. Most sexual abusers know the child they abuse. They may be family friends, neighbors or babysitters. About one-third of abusers are related to the child. Most abusers are men. If you think a child may have been abused, it’s important to report it.