No timeouts in fighting child abuse

By Vicki Spriggs

Special to the Star-Telegram

Much news coverage on the first weekend of college football focused on the NCAA's sanctions against Penn State University following disclosures that Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky molested boys in the showers and that the deified Coach Joe Paterno did little to stop it.

Clips were shown of new coaches trying to fire up players and students in a bid to reclaim Penn State's pride. Close-up shots were taken of blue ribbons affixed to players' helmets next to the U.S. flag, an illustration that Penn State is against child abuse and for America.

Occasionally, rarely and incidentally, the victims of the assaults were mentioned.

Sports commentators can be expected to rehash the story every weekend up to Sept. 22, when Penn State has an official Blue Out at the house that Joe Pa built in a game against Temple University.

Then the story, like the blue ribbons, will likely fade away.

The real tragedy is that the boys, now adults, who were deemed "at-risk" to begin with are at risk of never fully healing from the assaults by someone who was supposed to help lift them out of lives headed for disaster.

And though briefly the whole country was talking about child abuse, many of us comforted ourselves that this was a seemingly isolated incident in a state far away so we can pretend it doesn't have implications in our own community.

But child abuse happens every day in every community. According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, every eight minutes a child in Texas is a victim of abuse or neglect. Most cases involve parents, relatives or friends -- people who should be protecting children. About 46,000 children were in the care and custody of the state of Texas because their homes are unsafe.

We cannot just slap a magnetic ribbon on our car or wear the appropriately colored wristband and assume we've done all we can to prevent child abuse. We each bear a responsibility to speak up when we see abuse and stand with and support those organizations dedicated to helping children who have been harmed.

For the sake of the victims, we cannot take a timeout in the fight against child abuse.

Vicki Spriggs is chief executive officer of Texas CASA, a network of local programs, including CASA of Tarrant County, that serve abused and neglected children in the foster care system.

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