Below are some of the messages incorporared in the CWLA mural: |
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This
National Child Abuse Prevention Month, let’s really commit to STOPPING
THE VIOLENCE AND PREVENTING ABUSE!
Jane |
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“My
message is my life.”
Mahatma Ghandi |
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What
could that child have possibly done to you?
Annonymous |
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“Like
an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away at
its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his
objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the
ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the
false with the true. “
Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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“Our
lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that
matter.”
Martin
Luther King, Jr.
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“In
the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the
silence of our friends.”
Martin
Luther King, Jr. |
If I am not for myself,
Who will be for me?
If I am only for myself,
What am I?
If not now,
When?
Rabbi
Hillel
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“I pledge to do everything in my
power to keep every child safe from harm. Please join with me.“
Sharon,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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“Human
beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back
home.”
Bill
Cosby
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“Brighter Futures Are Within Our Reach!”
Melinda Schriver,
Washington, DC
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“Be
gentle with the young.”
Juvenal
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“Children succeed when they can reach for the stars.”
Anonymous, Washington, DC
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Let's live our lives as though
children truly are "our most precious resource"
National Center for Assault Prevention,
New Jersey
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Let Our children speak,
Their voices be heard
Our time has expired;
No more words.
They’re the future, we the past
Listen to their song
A future to forecast;
Let Our children speak,
Of mistakes we’ve made
Help them to understand
You can’t keep pulling down shades
Let Our children speak
Or there will be
No tomorrow.
Submitted by Dahveed
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I'm feeling so worn out...I just can't scream and shout
You're coming home for me...
Whatever did I say...To make you act this way?
I'm your little angel...So why am I cryin?
What would you say if I would tell?
Would you release me from this cell?
You said this
would not hurt, would not hurt
But I don't feel well. I said that I don't wanna...
How do you see to be loved?
Wonderful view from above
How does it feel to be loved
I wouldn't know...
Freudian Slip
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Please
Don't Believe Me
Jimmy's walking home from school
talking with his friend
But when they get to Jimmy's house
he can’t invite him in
Jimmy says his mom's not well
and tells his friend good-bye
He keeps a secret as he slowly walks inside
Cause Mom's been drinking
and right now she doesn't care
About this awful burden her child must bear,
he's begging
Please don't believe me when I say I'm ok
Look a little deeper for the words that I can't say
I'm too small to stand alone, I sure could use a friend
Help me learn to trust someone again
Don't leave me
Please don’t believe me
There's a house that's dark and quiet
where little Amy sleeps
There's footsteps in the bedroom
where someone shouldn't be
Somebody whispers I'll hurt you if you tell
Amy keeps the secret and blames it on herself,
her smile is just a shell
Oh the years fly by for the ones who survive
Till they look like grown ups, and nobody hears them
Nobody hears them cry
From Terry Sue Crawford’s new album, Deep |
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“The
test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of
those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who
have too little.”
-FDR,
1937 Inagural
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“Many
of the things we need can wait. The child cannot wait. Right now is
the time its bones are being formed, its blood is being made and its
senses are being developed. To this child we cannot answer,
"Tomorrow." The child's name is Today.”
Gabriella Mistral, Chilean Nobel Prize Winner
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Children are 25% of the US population and 100% of our future. |
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Our kids need us. Ever notice that a
human child doesn’t walk until it’s tall enough to reach a parent’s
hand?
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"At
our best level of existence, we are parts of a family, and at our
highest level of achievement, we work to keep the family alive."
-
Maya Angelou
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"If
our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all."
-Pearl
Buck
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"Children are the largest minority group in society, and the minority
that is most subject to discrimination but least recognized as being
so.
Penelope Leach, Children First |
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"Too
often children get the worst of both worlds: neither the privileges
accorded to adults nor the care and protection that should be their
birthright."
Anon.
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"In
the little world in which children have their existence, there is
nothing so finely felt, and so finely perceived, as injustice."
-Charles Dickens
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“We
look forward to a time when our children will be judged not by the
color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Martin
Luther King, Jr.
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“When
will justice come? When those who are not injured become as indignant
as those who are.”
-Leon
Tolstoy
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400,000 US kids have fallen below the poverty line since we invaded
Iraq.
(Dec.
’04 stat, probably lots larger now)
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We now
know that babies as young as 4 months old can suffer from depression,
and that people suffer long-term effects from witnessing trauma in the
first 4 months of life. Just because infants cannot speak is no reason
they should have no voice.
Joy
Osofsky,
Pew Commission member, April 2004
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In life, as in
basketball, you always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
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“Of
all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for
5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental.”
W.E.B.
DuBois
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“If
there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that
matters to me, even if it's not my child.”
Barak Obama
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“Nothing stops a bullet like a book.”
Shay
Bilchik |
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If I
had my child to raise over again I’d do less correcting and more
connecting.
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Fact: US prison spending grew five times as fast as education spending
between 1985 and 2002.
Spending
more money on prisons than schools
Is government by, and for, felons and fools.
Anon
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If
present trends continue, one of every three US black children born in
2001 will go to prison by age 30.
Marian
Wright Edelman,
1/27/05, The Tennessean
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Since
1993 teacher wages have fallen 11.5 percent relative to other workers
with similar education and skills.
Economic Policy Institute
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Title
IV-E foster care and adoption dollars – federal support for those
children who need our help the most -- account for less than ½ of 1%
of all current federal entitlement spending.
CWLA Govt. Affairs, 2005
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The
United States ranks 23rd among 26 developed countries in infant
mortality, although we rank first in medical technology. Ghana,
Croatia, and Syria all have better rankings than the USA.
CDF
web site
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All
works of love are works of peace.
Mother Teresa |
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"If we want
peace, we have to begin with the children." Mahatma Gandhi
Mary
Liepold, Washington, DC
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I have no
children of my own. When I was a young girl I read, "The Baby Trap"
and decided just a husband and a wife could be a family. I'm still
single. So all the world's children are my family.
Barbara
Roos, Arlington VA
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Honor the
courage and bravery of all who have survived child sexual abuse.
Mourn the souls of those lost. Create a world of safety, free of
abuse and violence for all who follow.
Lukima,
Mechanicsburg, PA
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I weep and
no one answers. My voice is hoarse because I cannot cry anymore. Why
won't anyone come to my rescue? What did I do wrong to make people
not hear my cry? Finally, I realize I did nothing wrong. They could
not hear me because nothing was coming out any more. I had screamed
myself silent Maybe someday GOD will hear my silent cry and I will
be free again until then I just weep in silence. Stop the violence.
Speak out. It can never hurt. Just help
Shawn,
Temple Hills, MD
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The most
powerful emotion we have is love and compassion. Share it freely
with the children of the world and the world will be a better place
for their children. Protect the children of the world.
Carol
Corden, Belmont, California
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We are
guilty of many errors and many faults, but the worst crime is
abandoning the children, neglecting the foundation of life. Many of
the things we need, can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the
time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his
senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer, Tomorrow. His
name is Today.
Gabriela
Mistral, Chilean poet, Nobel laureate
submitted
by: Therese Libert, Pittsburgh, PA
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"Who's for
Kids and Who's Just Kidding?" We must do the hard work of supporting
children and families over time, and stop talking about what's wrong
and making excuses for inaction…
Mark Riley,
Arlington, Virginia
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A child
doesn't want to have a saddened story but a child wants to
experience glory. They want to have hope but they don't want their
mom to do dope. They want a voice because they don't have a choice.
They want love because they are just like a gentle dove. Help a
child live a good life without strife. Children are one of a kind
and now is the time to lend a piece of your mind.
Margaret
Horner, Rome, NY
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It's time
to turn all facets of our world into hopes and dreams for all our
children.
Dale Ann
Cox, Maryville, TN
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Walking
through the woods,
From Georgia to Maine,
Taking steps to help kids,
Steps to lessen their pain.
We can each
make a difference,
We must all do our part,
To keep our kids smiling,
And close to our hearts.
Moo & 42,
Birmingham, Alabama
Appalachian Trail Hike for Kids '03,
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Jesus said,
"Suffer not the little children...."
Lucy
Cormier, Columbus, Ohio
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Las ninas y
los ninos reflejan la verdad de nosotros. Protejanlos.
Girls and
boys reflect what is true in us.
Protect them.
Eloisa
Abislaiman, Tampa, Fl
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Child
welfare cannot be founded upon money-as it is across the Nation
right now- the only best interest is in the green dollar bill, not
children. CPS is not protecting children, they are harming them and
the long lasting impact from that destruction is breaking our
traditions, values and family makeup to the point of oblivion.
Children deserve to have a family and know who they are and where
they came from. Relatives and friends should be the first ones
chosen to care for a child removed from parents' care and home, not
the last! Stand tall and together- protect children from CPS-
corrupt to the core.
Robin Scoins, Peoria, AZ
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My thoughts
and prayers are with all children who are denied the safety and
security of a well balanced home with a loving parent(s)or
care-taker whom they can trust in and rely on for unconditional love
and support throughout their childhood years. No child should feel
unloved or unwanted.
Barbara
Miller, San Jose, CA
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Yes I think
I'm okay
I walked into the door again
Well, if you ask that's what I'll say
And it's not your business anyway
I guess I'd
like to be alone
With nothing broken, nothing thrown
Just don't
ask me how I am
Just don't ask me how I am
Just don't ask me how I am
Suzanne Vega, Luka
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Sometimes,
when I read about yet another child who is hurt or killed by the
people who are supposed to love and protect them, I wonder why I've
been in child welfare for over thirty years. Sometimes it seems like
nothing changes. But every now and then I get a letter or a phone
call from a child now grown who says thank you. They are thanking me
for trying and just maybe, in some small way, that was enough.
Beth
Tarquinio, Detroit, Michigan |
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Violence
against children is intolerable. All children deserve to be in a
home that creates a supportive and loving environment for them to
grow and thrive in.
Kimberly
Fischer, New York, New York
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Children
are the lifeblood of this county. Every child deserves our
protection, love and care. I ask the Goddess to watch over all of
them.
Linda
Cornell, Hesperia, California
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Every child
born has the right to be wanted, loved, valued, and respected. As
adults we must determine that NO ONE tramples on or ignores this
right, because children cannot do this for themselves.
Roberta
Nauman, Elgin, IL
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God gives
us a blessing when he allows a child to be born. When someone hurts
a child, they are dishonoring him because these children aren't
our--they are God's own. Love and protect your blessing always.
Kimberly
Nelson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Per Colin
Raye's song: "The 11th Commandment" as adults we should "Honor Thy
Children"
Randy
Hildebrand, Aurora, IN
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We must
join together to protect our MOST Precious Resource, Our Children
Pamela
Rowse, RN, Las Vegas, NV |
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"Neither
the Fourteenth Amendment nor the Bill of Rights is for adults alone"
- Application of Gault, 87 S.Ct. 1428
Corinne
Stashuk, Gainesville, Florida
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"With each
child, the world begins anew"
--Midrash, the written interpretations of the 5 Books of Moses in
Judaism
submitted
by Randi S. Rubin Rodriguez, New Haven, CT
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All
children have the right to fulfill their full potential as human
beings and the right to be free of abuse, neglect and exploitation.
The best way to protect their rights is to provide their parents
with the best training to raise them effectively and peacefully.
Kerby T.
Alvy, Ph.D., Studio City, California
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What could
be more important, more productive, more ethical, or more just than
a clear commitment by our society to the PREVENTION of child
maltreatment?
Preston
Britner; Editor, The Journal of Primary Prevention, Hampton,
Connecticut |
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Every
person can make a difference. Celebrate children and their parents.
Thank them for taking care of the little ones. Watch out for them
too. Wrap your community's arms around them. Report suspected abuse
or neglect.
Lynne
Martinez, Lansing, Michigan
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Every child
deserves respect, affirmation, and the unconditional belief that
they are valued and wanted.
Judith
Brown Clarke, Lansing, Michigan
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