Child Rights Act Petition

Congress- Pass a Child Rights Act. At a minimum, these rights should include Erin's Law being extended into private/religious schools (age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention education) and unlicensed religious school teachers need to be required to take mandated reporter training and be held accountable to report suspected child abuse. Homeschoolers must take the same mandated reporter training and must also teach Erin’s law. 

I left the Amish in 2005 due to the rampant unreported child abuse (severe corporal punishment) and child sexual assault. Many strict religions strongly discourage or even forbid reporting child abuse.According to the CDC, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. Child sexual abuse is a public safety emergency.  

To Everyone Reading This: Right now, in the USA, religions and cults can isolate children away from the rest of the world and strip them of all basic human rights. Children in religions/churches/cults that do not believe in reporting child sexual abuse and encourage severe corporal punishment suffer greatly and are continually overlooked when it comes to child safety measures. Religious rights should not outweigh the kids' human rights.

We need a safety net in place for every child in the USA, basic human rights that cannot be overridden by adults. Children deserve to reach adulthood without being sexually assaulted or physically abused (Some religions/churches encourage breaking a child's will, this can start as early as 3 months old and it amounts to child torture, it can be very severe).

This can only be achieved by teaching children age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention education and having mandated reporters who are trained to spot the signs of child abuse in every child's circle. If there are cracks in a system children’s will fall through them and right now our system has gaping chasms that thousands of children are falling through every year. Please join me in making history by demanding Congress pass a Child Rights Act!

Sincerely,

Misty Griffin