"No One Comes Looking" - A Poem by Alice Silvers

I'll never forget the first time I read this poem, how it made me feel.  At the time, I was trapped in my own version of the boy's attic.  I was a kid no one kept an eye out for, living in a physically & emotionally abusive home, and I couldn't be hugged without flinching for fear of what might come next.  If you relate to this poem, feel free to share in the comments, or if it just breaks your heart knowing there are kids out there suffering like this, do something about it!  Volunteer for a local non-profit working with kids, donate to a charity for abused & neglected children, and always keep an eye out for the children in your life.  You may be the voice that they so desperately need to save them before it's too late!

No One Comes Looking by Alice Silvers

There`s a boy in the attic
Pulling the wings off angels
His brain filled with static
Hiding in the dark
Waiting for the spark
That`ll burn his whole world down

No one comes looking here
No one wants to find him
Doesn't matter where he's gone
There's nothing to remind them
And no one comes looking here
No one comes looking

All he knows is
A slap is a touch
A punch is a touch
The hand that breaks
And shakes is a touch
And nothing he can do
Will matter that much
Because
No one comes looking here
No one comes looking
No one comes

All the wingless angels
Surrounded him asking why
Listen to him cry
In that old gray room
He dreams his name carved
On a small gray tomb

And no one comes looking here
No one comes

- Written by Alice Silvers

100 Days No Facebook Challenge

Please excuse the temporary disappearance of the ACE Facebook page as I've begun a new journey/social experiment, which hopefully will help get me back into blogging more actively!  http://100daysnofacebook.blogspot.com/

Join me in the #100daysnofacebookchallenge !

Great news coming your way soon regarding an upcoming event where I will have the pleasure of publicly speaking & thanking an audience of dear volunteers for a non-profit that helped change my life once I became a foster child, & continued to play a role in my life long after.  I'll be back soon!

Bikers Against Child Abuse

This is awesome and, unfortunately, something I am only just now hearing about so I HAD to share with the world...

Bikers Against Child Abuse:
"Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.) exists with the intent to create a safer environment for abused children. We exist as a body of Bikers to empower children to not feel afraid of the world in which they live. We stand ready to lend support to our wounded friends by involving them with an established, united organization. We work in conjunction with local and state officials who are already in place to protect children. We desire to send a clear message to all involved with the abused child that this child is part of our organization, and that we are prepared to lend our physical and emotional support to them by affiliation, and our physical presence. We stand at the ready to shield these children from further abuse. We do not condone the use of violence or physical force in any manner, however, if circumstances arise such that we are the only obstacle preventing a child from further abuse, we stand ready to be that obstacle." (taken from their Facebook page HERE)

"...a group whose sole mission is to empower children who have been victimized. Dressed in leather, the rough looking group stood guard at her house 24 hours until she felt safe. The experience changed the course of her life." - Yahoo!  Yahoo article HERE

If only ALL bikers in the country would join this fantastic group, maybe more children will become empowered and less victimized!  Please "like" their page and "share" with all of your biker friends!!!

Parents Brutally Beat 7 Year Old Son with Metal Pipe & It's Not Their First CPS Case

Not that the gruesome details of the brutal beating or the trivial reason for what supposedly caused the mother and step-father to beat this poor child with a metal pipe are insignificant, but the most tragic sentence in this entire article is:

"According to the police report, the family has “multiple cases with CPS.”

Read more: http://ktla.com/2014/03/23/mom-stepfather-beat-boy-with-metal-pipe-for-eating-chips-police/#ixzz2wuejoHfY

WHEN will we learn to stop placing children back in the homes of abusive parents?!?  At some point, an abusive parent no longer deserves the opportunity to raise a child, and as much as I am not a fan of the system and people popping out babies they are not emotionally, physically, mentally, and/or financially equipped to take care of,  I am a fan of allowing a voice-less child the opportunity to grow up in a safe(r) environment than what these nutcases can provide.

Yes, there are reports of abuse in foster homes and group homes, and no, they are not all peachy, but they should at LEAST be given a chance!  If a parent has proven that they are not capable of providing a safe, nurturing environment for a child, they do not deserve to be that child's legal guardian.  Being a parent is a gift, not a right.  You do not have the right to physically harm your child, just because you are legally responsible for them.

How many more battered children or murdered children will it take before our government just accepts the fact that some parents just are not meant to be parents, and STOPS placing these poor children back in these terrifying, abusive homes???

 

10 Year Old Starved to Death then Burned Right in Your Home Town, Atlanta

AJC Article - 10 Year Old Emani Moss Starved to Death in Atlanta then Burned

32lb., 10 year old girl dies from starvation, and is then burned by the father and step-mother in an attempt to cover it up...

The most disturbing piece to this tragic ending to Emani Moss's short life, "the Georgia Division of Family and Children’s Services saw upheaval after a revelation that the agency had previously investigated allegations of Emani’s abuse without removing her from the home." (AJC)

These are the kind of incidents that cause you to wonder why celebrities buy expensive plane tickets to third world countries to adopt children in need, when they could be saving children from their own psychotic, selfish parents in America's own back yard.  This horrific story of this poor little girl may not prove that point to Hollywood at all, but the least we can do to ensure she didn't die in vain is shed some light on this ridiculously HUGE problem in our country of child abuse & neglect, which do typically go hand in hand.  Emani's story can help to bring home the gravity of the situation on a large scale that is all to often avoided and skirted around in the international news media. 

It is disheartening to read about stories like Emani's, where someone HAD a chance to make a difference in a kid's life and for whatever reason decided to leave the kid in a life-threatening situation that ultimately wound up ending in the child's death.  Obviously there is some terrible disconnect between what these "professionals" are learning in college (or pretending to learn), and what they really should be learning.  That being said, it is not only the social workers and law enforcement officials that need to be better educated and informed on child abuse and what to look for in order to save the lives of kids like Emani, and myself.  Kids that are being abused need to be educated as well, on what is right and wrong when it comes to parenting and providing for a child, because if their own parents don't even know, or choose to ignore it, how can we expect a kid to be able to properly defend themselves and ESCAPE if they believe that every child in the world is being treated this way, secretly?

I will never forget that feeling, and ultimately, it is the memory of that feeling that keeps me plugging away at this blog and a larger dream I have that some day it will all make a difference in the life of at least ONE kid.

Back to the worst part of the entire article (aside from the obvious, the death of a poor, innocent little girl), shouldn't we be asking what our tax dollars are being spent on in the Department of Family & Children Services?  It's obviously not being spent on proper education and training of social workers, who barely make enough to survive as it is, much less tend to their overflowing caseloads appropriately.  I recall vividly the heavy issue at hand 13 years ago when I was in the system, so I can only imagine how overworked and underpaid they are nowadays.

What drives these women and men to pursue this career given the circumstances and low quality of life derived from such poor working conditions in some of the most impoverished and dangerous cities in our country?  Even in small towns, like Gainesville, Georgia, the men and women who choose these career paths each day of their lives are subjected to some of the most traumatic, dangerous situations and obstacles anyone can face in their professional lives.  Not only do they see neglect on a massive scale, but somehow they have to train themselves to prioritize which kids are really in the worst situations, so that they can divide their time appropriately.  That being said, while there is a tremendous amount of respect for the sacrifices they make to ensure that stories like Emani Moss's do not make headlines often... maybe it's time they should ensure these kind of stories make national headlines for much longer than they ever do, and really help to shed some light on this horrific epidemic.

I know I am only one person, with only one story, and one heart... but together, we can build an army of advocates to actually make a difference!  If not in the entire country or world, maybe we can band together to make the difference in the life of one little Emani out there!!! 

Please "like" our new Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/abusedchildrenescape.com or CLICK HERE to follow the on-going updates and stories that are helping to shape our soon-to-be non-profit "Abused Children - Escape!"  We will need all the help we can get and hope that in sharing stories like Emani's, that she will be immortalized in the fight against child abuse and TAKING BACK CHILDHOOD for what it is supposed to be... happy, innocent, fun and free.

In honor of the stolen soul of such a beautiful little girl, R.I.P. Emani Moss... May your spirit live on through the hearts of us all as we fight for the voice you never had.

How Easily We Forget

How easily we forget...

the kid with the black eye
the kid with the torn clothes
the kid that twitches when you raise your hand quickly in their presence
the kid with the eyes of a doll... plastic, lifeless

I used to be that kid... and a short 13 years later even I forget. I feel ashamed when I realized I've forgotten, because that kid is everywhere.  I have a hard time believing I was one in a million.

If you are that kid... please keep up with this blog because it's the least I can do.  I owe it to you.  I owe it to myself.

GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE!!!

If I had known at 10 what I wound up knowing at 15, I would not have wasted 5 years of my life being abused by A-holes that I thought really loved me.  "Oh they're just showing me tough love.  This is what it's like to have parents that really care about you" I would tell myself all the time, subconsciously... But I was SO WRONG and if you're thinking that, then you are wrong too.  In the grand scheme of things I was one of the lucky ones, because 5 years compared to 18 is near nothing, so I feel like the least I can do is hope that this blog somehow makes it to those of you who are suffering through it right now, and that it can do one thing, if nothing else, and encourage and inspire you to get out!

Some places and people may discourage this, but I can damn near guarantee that they've never been through it themselves, and sometimes in life you are gonna have to take that risk to save yourself cuz I can assure you... no one else will.

If this doesn't reach a kid in need for another 5 years, just the fact that I'm putting it out there when it weighs on my mind is enough to make me feel a little bit of relief.

At 28 years old, I'm finally ready to lay it all on the line, show my cards and fight for what's right in an attempt to save one kid from any more horror than they have already experienced.  Child abuse is real, and it could be lurking just next door... STAY ALERT PEOPLE!!!

Writing to Heal Wounds of Child Abuse - How Pain Inspires Creativity

Inspired by and excerpt from an awesome post on Psychology Today: Writing Heals Wounds of Child Abuse, Part Two

"In Creativity and Repair, Andrew Brink observed that the impulse to create usually comes from some early damage to the self, and this wound or loss initiates a life’s work of healing. Writing can use language to repair psychic wounds.
Southern author Rosemary Daniell in The Woman Who Spilled Words All Over Herself explained that “…each time I wrote about my pain, I would feel the stitching and restitching inside my brain, as though festering tissue was actually being trimmed away and sealed over, to at last heal. The longer each book had taken to write, the longer had been the revision process, and the stronger the fabric of that healing.”
We are the accumulation of stories we tell ourselves about who we were. Changing our stories can change us. Through writing we can revisit our past and revise our relationship to it.
In Writing as a Way of Healing, the above mentioned book by Louise de Salvo, she advises four essentials for those of us who want to write for the purpose of deeper healing:
1. Write regularly, in a relaxed way.
2. Watch with a relaxed awareness what occurs as we write.
3. Don’t judge ourselves or our work.
4. Be patient. Write routinely. Don’t hurry it."
.............
"“If creative power is crippled or lost through violation, it is unleashed through healing…The creative act is a healing experience for artist and viewer, writer and reader, singer and sung to…The journey from silence into speech also breaks the barriers of shame…So breaking through the shame demands and unleashes a tremendous creative energy.”"

**********************************************************

I'm on Day 23 of writing my 1st ever novel (National Novel Writing Month), and I can not tell you how much this article (excerpt above) from www.psychologytoday.com spoke to me.  The last 23 days have been a very interesting journey that spawned this blog, in an attempt to reach out to the world on the issue at hand... child abuse.  I don't have much time to write right now as I'm trying to pick up the pace on this novel (lagging behind a good 15,000 words!), but man, it sure is exciting!

I hope to use this blog more and more not only as an outlet for myself but in an attempt to reach any of those kids that I talked about in my last post.

The time is here.  The time is now.  Get out.

(Oh and, to all those kids, I hope you are figuring out an artistic way to release your pain whether that be expression through painting or drawing or singing, for me it has always been writing.  If you are not able to get out just yet, if you just can't bring yourself to do it for whatever reason, please keep reading this blog and I will continue to try to post when possible inspirational and motivational pieces for you.  Seriously, for you, because in my heart of hearts, I have always wanted to help other kids that are in the same/similar situations as what I found myself in for those 5 years of hell.  Don't give up on yourself and your ability to break free and BREAK THE CYCLE!!!)


Hugs,
T. S. Hori


*“A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.”
― Stephen King