[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7142″ img_size=”980×230″ alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advocacy for Children’s Rights
Protect Children from Abuse

 

American SPCC Advocates for Children’s Rights

American SPCC was founded to prevent cruelty to children in all its forms on a national level. Instead of treating the unending supply of victims, our organization focuses on dedicating resources to reduce the number of victims our society produces. Effective prevention of child abuse could save thousands of American children’s lives annually, not to mention the millions of American lives that will be fuller and richer without having to deal with the scars of an abusive childhood.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed with all of the statistics we hear reporting the rate of drug abuse, high school dropout rates, and the occurrence of violent crime in America. What if we could find a way to improve a large number of these depressing statistics by identifying, isolating, exposing, and preventing one of the root causes? Would it be worth the ounce of prevention to prevent the pounds of cure our society must administer each and every day dealing with the fallout from cruelty to children in all its forms? The American SPCC and its supporters believe that it is more than worth preventing child abuse, exploitation, and neglect, which are some root causes of this country’s social ills.
One individual who clearly agrees with American SPCC’s position on this is Michael Petit, President of the non-profit Every Child Matters Education Fund (ECM). Lobbying for dramatic reforms nationally, Michael Petit asks, “Why is the problem of violence against children so much more acute in the US than anywhere else in the industrialized world?”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_wp_custommenu nav_menu=”50″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”welcome-feature-1”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Learn More | Take Action
Awareness, Education, and Action are Powerful Tools for Change!

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Visit the United Nations website to read the full version and check the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Visit the Unicef website to find more information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Write to President Trump urging him to submit the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) treaty to the Senate for ratification. Let him know that you support children’s rights in our country. Sample letter.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Send a message to your Senators, asking them to take concrete action to promote children’s rights and welfare, and to protect children from abuse and neglect in our country. Sample letter.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Send a message to your members of Congress asking them to support legislation in your district to promote children’s rights and reduce the incidence of children abuse and neglect. Sample letter.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

United Nations | Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United States is one of only country in the world that has not joined the other 196 nations in embracing the quarter-century old “Convention on the Rights of the Child” (CRC) treaty, the most universally-ratified human rights treaty in history.

Convention on the Rights of the Child | Four Core Principles:

• (1) non-discrimination,
• (2) consideration of the “best interest of the child” regarding any decision affecting them,
• (3) the right to survival and development, and
• (4) respect for the views of the child in all matters affecting them.

The American SPCC supports all efforts encouraging the United States’ ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”). On November 20, 1989, unanimously the United Nations General Assembly adopted the CRC, a landmark treaty protecting children from neglect, abuse, and exploitation. The CRC, which entered into force in 1990, is the most universally ratified human rights treaty.
The United States signed this multilateral treaty in 1995, obligating the U.S. under international law to refrain from any acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. For the U.S. to be legally bound by its terms, the CRC must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Senate and ratified by the President. To date, the U.S. Senate has not approved the Convention. The United States thus remain the only UN State Party to not yet ratify to this global children’s rights treaty.
[expand title=”Read More”]
The CRC recognizes the particular vulnerabilities and needs of children, sets minimum standards for their protection, survival, and development, and obliges governments to respect their basic human rights consistent with the principles of non-discrimination and the best interest of the child.
The United States has ratified two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child— (1) on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and (2) on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography. The American SPCC is committed to raising public awareness of the importance of U.S. ratification of the parent treaty, the CRC, at the earliest possible date.
The Convention’s objective is to protect children from discrimination, neglect and abuse. It is the principal children’s treaty, covering a full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It grants rights for children in peacetime as well as during armed conflict, and provides for the implementation of those rights.
Here are a few facts:

• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a human rights treaty for the protection of children and families
• The CRC is the most universally ratified (approved) international human rights treaty in history
• The Convention has been in effect for over twenty-five (25) years
• The CRC was adopted unanimously by the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September 1990
• It has been ratified/approved by 196 State Parties
• The United States of America is not yet one of these 196 State Parties even though it signed the CRC almost 20 years ago
• The US is the only country that has not yet ratified the CRC

CRC – Full Version | CRC – Professional Version | CRC – Condensed Version | CRC – Child Friendly

[/expand][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

How Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Would Help Improve Conditions for Children in the U.S.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Synopsis Paragraph
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), as the most universally-ratified human rights treaty, establishes a framework binding State Parties that ratify it (194 countries to date) to ensure children and families have certain legal protections and rights. U.S. ratification of the CRC will catalyze a comprehensive review of federal and state laws and policies and implementing legislation, as necessary, to harmonize these with current international laws and standards protecting children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. This systematic evaluation of domestic laws, along with the periodic reporting on U.S. children’s status to the CRC Committee, will provide government actors, non-governmental organizations, and child proponents with data and tools to develop better laws and influence policies that advance children’s welfare and rights in the U.S. The CRC has already led the U.S. Supreme Court to change its interpretation of domestic and Constitutional law in accordance with the CRC’s prohibition on the juvenile death penalty. If the U.S. ratifies the CRC, its many other provisions protecting children and families will be a permanent authoritative source for judicial and administrative bodies to interpret and apply.
The CRC establishes that children have affirmative rights (to survival, development, education, nurturing parenting, protection from violence such as abuse, etc.) that the state has a duty to ensure, not just negative rights such as protection from undue state interference with their privacy, home, and family. Incorporating the CRC’s internationally-recognized core human rights into domestic laws and policies governing the lives of children in the U.S. will provide powerful protection against child abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Once the US ratifies the CRC, United States’ experts will be eligible to serve on the powerful 18-member Committee on the Rights of the Child, which interprets and makes recommendations on States Parties’ compliance with the treaty.
A More In-Depth General Analysis and Specific Examples
[expand title=”Read More”]The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a powerful international tool that legislators, jurists, and advocates have used to enhance children’s lives across the globe. Its provisions on civil, political, social, economic, and cultural human rights and responsibilities of children, according to their age and development stage, reflect the CRC’s four core principles:

• (1) non-discrimination,
• (2) consideration of the “best interest of the child” regarding any decision affecting them,
• (3) the right to survival and development, and
• (4) respect for the views of the child in all matters affecting them.

The United States stands much to gain from joining the 194 other nations that have ratified the CRC.
As a State Party to the near-universally adopted CRC, the U.S. could credibly exercise leadership and share expertise within (instead of on the sidelines of) the existing international system devoted to holding all State Parties accountable for their policies and practices regarding children. Once the U.S. ratifies the CRC, it can partner officially with UNICEF to protect children and families globally, as well as convincingly assert that it is doing its utmost to support children and families at home.
The CRC establishes a legal framework and positive rights for all those under age 18. National and state legislatures, courts, and administrative bodies can use this template to promote domestic laws, policies, and practices that protect children and promote healthy families. Ratification would mean the U.S. agrees to be bound by international law on children’s rights, as set forth in the CRC. This step would trigger a comprehensive U.S. review of federal, state, and local laws and policies to best align them with CRC obligations through domestic implementing legislation. Such a review will help highlight areas where the U.S. can improve its efforts to advance children’s rights and strengthen families. The reporting requirements of the CRC (that State Parties submit detailed reports to the CRC Committee on children’s status within the first couple years of ratification and every 5 years thereafter, per Article 44) will motivate federal and state governments to periodically evaluate policies affecting children. Such systematic evaluation will identify areas of strength (that can be shared across state and national borders) as well as needs for improvement. The U.S. already reports to the CRC Committee due its ratification of two of the CRC’s Optional Protocols on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, and on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. This process since the bipartisan U.S. ratification of these two CRC Optional Protocols in 2000 has proven to be productive and positive.
American children need the CRC to provide an incentive to enhance federal and state laws to better protect the lives, safety, healthy development, protection, and welfare of all those under 18, including the most vulnerable and marginalized children. Submission of reports to the CRC Committee would provide reliable data, which children’s and family advocates could use to inspire reforms addressing problems such as:

• High child death rates linked to abuse
• High rates of infant mortality
• Child poverty and hunger
• Disparate rates of child incarceration by race in the U.S.

The CRC Committee’s non-binding recommendations may prove useful to the U.S., as they have in countless countries, in instituting child-oriented reforms.
While the CRC provides no enforcement mechanism (except through its three Optional Protocols, two of which the U.S. has already ratified) to halt violations of the human rights of children, shedding light on the worst abuses of children and youth in any given context often leads to mobilization for remedial action. There are many realms ripe for such change in the U.S. today, including the treatment of children in state or public institutions.
Juvenile Incarceration and Sentencing
The U.S. arrests and locks up 2 million children a year in juvenile detention, 95% of whom did not commit a violent crime; most committed “status offenses” (like truancy) that would not be criminal if committed by an adult. The U.S.’ annual incarceration of over 60,000 children exceeds all other industrialized countries and surpasses any other nation by a 5:1 ratio.
Incarcerated children in the U.S. face use of excessive force, isolation, restraints, physical and sexual abuse, and suffer loss of education due to the school-to-prison pipeline. Racial inequality is rampant in the juvenile justice system, with black children almost five times more likely, and Hispanic and American Indian children two to three times more likely, to be incarcerated/residentially placed as white children. http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/state-of-americas-children/juvenile-justice.html
The CRC states that arresting, detaining, and imprisoning children should only be a measure of last resort, for the shortest time possible, and that every child deprived of liberty “shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age.” (Article 37(c)). Applying the CRC’s provisions to the above U.S. practices, including the prohibited mixing of child and adult prisoners as well as trying and sentencing youth as adults in the U.S., would likely galvanize federal and state legislative and policy reform.
Already, the CRC served as a catalyst for U.S. jurisprudential reform regarding the juvenile death penalty and life imprisonment without parole for those committing crimes under age 18. Both of these practices have been struck down in the last decade by the U.S. Supreme Court, which cited the CRC in rendering its decisions.
Corporal Punishment
In the United States, over one-third (19) of all states still allow corporal punishment, including hitting with an object or paddling, of children in public schools. While the CRC does not explicitly prohibit corporal punishment, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which makes non-binding recommendations to State Parties, concluded in its General Comment No. 8 (2006) that the treaty’s “best interest of the child” standard cannot be interpreted to justify corporal punishment. The Committee recommended that the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment was consistent with States’ obligations to protect children from all forms of violence.
The CRC Committee also concluded that the “best interest of the child” determination should not be excluded from domestic situations. Article 19 of the Convention requires protection of children from “all forms of physical and mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.”
Yet 1,825 children are abused or neglected each day in the U.S. and “reasonable physical punishment” (corporal punishment) of children is permitted in the home in all U.S. states except Minnesota.
Child Fatalities Due to Abuse and Neglect
While the definition and data collection systems regarding child abuse and neglect vary widely across states, leading some to believe the actual figures are as much as 50% higher than reported, national estimates of child deaths from abuse and neglect in the U.S. totaled 1,640 for 2012. This amounts to at least four child maltreatment fatalities per day.
Joining the CRC regime could help bring the U.S. rate closer to that of other industrialized countries that have ratified the CRC. Consider the following:
“The US child maltreatment death rate is three times higher than that of Canada, and 11 times that of Italy. It is also more than double that of France, Japan, Germany and Britain. Noting far lower teen pregnancy, violent crime, imprisonment, and poverty rates in these countries, the ECM [Every Child Matters] report points to more extensive social programs—child care, state health insurance, paid parental leave, visiting nurses—that help to serve as a safety net against child abuse and neglect.”
Supporting Families
This legal sanctioning of routine breaches of children’s physical integrity and human dignity in both public and private spheres reflects the low status of children, just as the law sanctioned domestic violence against women before they gained protection under the law. The CRC recognizes that the child is a human being, a subject not an object, entitled to the full range of human rights. Applying these principles would stimulate a robust evaluation of state laws regarding child abuse, neglect, and exploitation, which could lead to better protection of children and support of families.
The CRC stresses the essential role of parents and the protected nature of families in raising children and obliges governments to assist families in fulfilling this role. Article 5 of the CRC establishes the right of parents to provide guidance and direction to the child. Article 16 prohibits unlawful interference with their “privacy, family, and home.”
Article 19, among many other CRC articles, emphasizes the family as the best environment for nurturing children and aims to protect children from maltreatment. As a result, the Committee on the Rights of the Child repeatedly and consistently encourages State Parties to improve efforts to support struggling families and children at-risk so that children do not end up, or remain, in government custody and state institutions. This approach is consistent with the growing body of research indicating that the best way to address the maltreatment of children is through developing comprehensive community supports strengthening families and children rather than mandatory punitive measures towards parents. (Worley & Melton, 2013)

CRC Treaty Full Version | CRC Professional Version | CRC Condensed Version | CRC Child Friendly

[/expand][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]

UNICEF | Convention on the Rights of the Child

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”5/12″][vc_column_text]

UNICEF celebrates the CRC
with a photo gallery.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/12″][vc_column_text]

Child Friendly Version of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]

Additional Children’s Rights Legislation

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

The Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013 (S. 1799/H.R. 3706)

Child Abuse Legislation update. This bill was passed by Congress on July 28, 2014 and goes to the President next. Last Action: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. Explanation: This bill was passed by Congress on July 28, 2014 and goes to the President next.
[expand title=”Read More”]
Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013 – Amends the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to authorize appropriations for FY2014-FY2018 for: (1) the children’s advocacy program; (2) grants from the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to develop and implement multidisciplinary child abuse investigation and prosecution programs.
Introduced: Dec 11, 2013
Status: Referred to Committee on Dec 11, 2013
Prognosis: 13% chance of being enacted
Link: S. 1799 (same title) Passed Senate — Jun 26, 2014
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
6/12/2014–Reported to Senate without amendment.
Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013 – Amends the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to authorize appropriations for FY2014-FY2018 for:
(1) the children’s advocacy program;
(2) grants from the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to develop and implement multidisciplinary child abuse investigation and prosecution programs; and
(3) grants to national organizations to provide technical assistance and training to attorneys and others instrumental to the criminal prosecution of child abuse cases in state or federal courts, for the purpose of improving the quality of criminal prosecution of such cases.
Directs the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct audits of grant recipients to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees.
Defines an “unresolved audit finding” as a finding in the final audit report of the Inspector General that the audited grantee has utilized grant funds for an unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallowable cost and that is not closed or resolved within 12 months from the date when the final audit report is issued and any appeal has been completed.
Directs the Administrator to give priority for grants to eligible entities that did not have an unresolved audit finding during the three fiscal years prior to submitting an application for a grant.
Disqualifies a grant recipient that is found to have an unresolved audit finding from receiving grant funds during the following two fiscal years.
Directs the Administrator, if an entity is awarded grant funds during the two-fiscal-year period in which the entity is barred from receiving grants, to:
(1) deposit an amount equal to the funds that were improperly awarded into the General Fund of the Treasury, and
(2) seek to recoup the costs of the repayment to the fund from such entity.
Prohibits the Administrator from awarding a grant to a nonprofit organization that holds money in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax on unrelated business income.
Requires each nonprofit organization awarded a grant that uses prescribed procedures to create a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness for the compensation of its officers, directors, trustees and key employees to disclose to the Administrator in the grant application the process for determining such compensation, the comparability data used, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision.
Prohibits amounts authorized to be appropriated to DOJ from being used by the Administrator, or by any individual or organization awarded discretionary funds through a cooperative agreement, to host or support any expenditure for conferences that uses more than $20,000 in DOJ funds, without prior written authorization by the Deputy Attorney General or other specified officials.
Directs the Deputy Attorney General to submit an annual report to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on all approved conference expenditures.
[/expand][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (S. 1738/H.R. 3530)

Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2013 – Amends the federal criminal code to impose an additional penalty of $5,000 on any person or entity convicted of crimes relating to: (1) peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons; (2) sexual abuse; (3) sexual exploitation and other abuse of children; (4) transportation for illegal sexual activity; or (5) human smuggling in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
[expand title=”Read More”]
Introduced: Nov 19, 2013
Status: Passed House on May 20, 2014
Prognosis: 24% chance of being enacted
Link: S. 1738/H.R. 3530
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2013 – Amends the federal criminal code to impose an additional penalty of $5,000 on any person or entity convicted of crimes relating to:
(1)  peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons;
(2) sexual abuse;
(3) sexual exploitation and other abuse of children;
(4) transportation for illegal sexual activity; or
(5) human smuggling in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Establishes in the Treasury the Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund into which such penalties shall be deposited and which shall be used in FY2015-FY2019 to award grants or enhance victims’ programming under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, and the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990.
Allots funds to provide services for child pornography victims.
Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make a determination, based on credible evidence, that a covered individual (i.e., a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident) has been a victim of a severe form of trafficking.
Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 to authorize the Attorney General to award block grants to develop, improve, or expand comprehensive domestic child trafficking deterrence programs to rescue and restore the lives of trafficking victims, while investigating and prosecuting offenses involving child trafficking.
Amends the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to include human trafficking and the production of child pornography within the definition of child abuse for purposes of such Act.
Amends the federal criminal code to:
(1) increase restitution for victims of human trafficking;
(2) set forth provisions for combating aggravated human trafficking racketeering;
(3) allow state and local prosecutors to obtain wiretap warrants in state courts for investigations into human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and child pornography production;
(4) increase penalties for offenses involving enticement into slavery, sex trafficking of children, child exploitation, and repeat sex offenders; and
(5) revise the definition of the crime of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct to facilitate prosecutions of such crime.
Directs the Attorney General to ensure that all task forces and working groups within the Innocence Lost National Initiative engage in activities, programs, or operations to increase the investigative capabilities of law enforcement personnel in the detection, investigation, and prosecution of persons who patronize or solicit children for sex.
Requires the Attorney General to audit grants awarded under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005. Imposes limits on the use of Department of Justice (DOJ) funds for DOJ conferences involving more than $20,000.
[/expand][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act (S. 1596)

Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act – Requires states that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to: require criminal background checks for each school employee that include searches of the criminal registry or repository of the state in which the employee resides, the child abuse and neglect registries and databases of that state, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the Federal Bureau of [expand title=”Read More”]Investigation (FBI), and the National Sex Offender Registry.
Introduced: Oct 29, 2013
Status: Referred to Committee on Oct 29, 2013
Prognosis: 0% chance of being enacted
Link: S. 1596
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act – Requires states that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to:
require criminal background checks for each school employee that include searches of the criminal registry or repository of the state in which the employee resides, the child abuse and neglect registries and databases of that state, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Sex Offender Registry; prohibit the employment of an individual who refuses to consent to, or who makes a false statement in connection with, a background check or who has been convicted of one of specified felonies or of a violent or sexual crime against a minor; require background checks to be periodically repeated or updated in accordance with state law or the policies of the state’s local educational agencies (LEAs); provide school employees who have had a background check with a copy of the background check if they request one and a timely process to appeal the results of the background check if it blocks their service as a school employee; ensure that such policies and procedures are published on state and LEA websites; and allow an LEA to share the results of a recent background check on a school employee with another LEA that is considering that individual for employment.
Prohibits states and LEAs from knowingly transferring or facilitating the transfer of any school employee if they know, or have substantive reason to believe, that such employee engaged in sexual misconduct with an elementary or secondary school student.
Allows:
(1) the Attorney General and state law enforcement officials to charge reasonable fees for conducting the background checks, and
(2) states and LEAs to use ESEA administrative funds to pay such fees. [/expand][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1405644183127{background-color: #e2ebfc !important;}”]

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
– Elie Wiesel

Please join American SPCC in supporting children’s rights, increasing awareness of child abuse, and giving a voice to our most vulnerable citizens. Check out our Get Involved page.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]