I feel like at least once a week Anthony tells me “I feel a blog post coming on,” because he knows me so well. For the last few weeks there have been so many things to write about, but work has just been a nightmare. So this is going to be a bit of a ping pong, but mostly around the same topic.

For some reason in my life, the past few weeks have been bringing up this reoccurring topic of children. I didnt have the best experience volunteering at church with the kids ministry at church so I’ve been a bit down on myself. The adults weren’t the most welcoming group of individuals, which sucks because I love kids. I love working with kids and I especially love the naughty kids. Those are my favorite because 95% of the time, they’re good kids that are just a little misunderstood. So in the midst of this wallowing, we started watching the Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. If you haven’t watched it, I would recommend it. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s something I think everyone needs to know about. If you haven’t watched it, a quick summation: Gabriel Fernandez was an 8 year old boy who was brutally tortured to death by his mom and step dad. In the 8 months he lived with them they had a number of CPS referrals and there was very clear signs of abuse, but he wasn’t removed from the home once. So I’m watching the pictures of this sweet little boy who looked like a little boy I probably would’ve had issues with from being rowdy, but ultimately he was a good kid, and my heart is breaking. 8 months; That was all it took for them to torture and kill this little boy. 8 months of people turning a blind eye and things falling through the cracks. When I say tortured, I mean that boy endured more physical pain and anguish in 8 months than most people do in their lives. They kept him locked in a fucking cupboard. They made him eat cat litter. They put cigarettes out on him. They broke his teeth out with a bat. He had so many healing rib fractures that the coroner said he must have been in constant pain. My final breaking point was at the sentencing of his mother and the only thing she could apologize for was putting her family through the situation and she hopes her other two kids will come see her. All of this with a blank face. No remorse. How could you do that to a child, much less your child? Someone you grew inside your belly. Someone who is a part of you.

I keep thinking about how many kids fall through the cracks. Or how many kids get dismissed as trouble makers. I held it together through most of the docu, but the whole time I just wanted to reach through the TV and hug this little boy. I feel like our system is so broken and there are so many kids suffering. There are people that want to love a child and give them a home, but we are charging them an insane amount to adopt a child. While at the same time, paying foster parents to care for foster children, which results in a system of abuse and neglect.

A couple weeks ago, I went to a class on human trafficking. That shit was heavy. We all know about prostitutes, but our society doesn’t talk about child prostitution often. The average age of sex trafficking victims is 14. I’m sitting in this class thinking about how I have nieces that are 15 and 13 and a step daughter who is 12. And I’m thinking about how easy it would be for someone to take them. For someone to take advantage of them and manipulate them. I think about how many kids come in and out of my hotel and how many times I have just overlooked things out of laziness and normal life things going on. It is crazy how many things we avoid or overlook in life because we’re so preoccupied with ourselves, but a couple seconds of stepping outside your world could save someones life.

On top of all of this, I seem to have this rotating situation in my life of people who think they’re children are pawns or pieces to use as leverage in their lives. It astounds me how much disregard people have for their child’s safety and well being. A lot of the time I ask myself if my animosity is because I haven’t been able to have my own children, but even before I was thinking about kids, my passion was helping kids. I originally started my degree in Social Work. I wanted to be one of those people that saves children from shitty situations. That didnt work out, and that’s okay, but more people should care about this. I grew up watching kids suffer and die in my hometown because they had terrible parents and the system wasnt strong enough to support the need that was there. Teachers can only do so much. Counselors can only do so much. Churches can only do so much. Society as a collective whole, needs to step up to the plate and take care of our kids. They are the future, as cliche as that is, it’s the truth. I’m not saying everyone needs to open their homes for foster care, because that’s not always practical, but you can volunteer your time and your energy. Reach out to those kids that arent doing okay. The few minutes extra you take to just be kind, could save someone’s life.