Alabama Has “most Risky Day Cares,” Investigation Shows; Victims Respond

SNAP
April 15, 2016

http://www.snapnetwork.org/al_alabama_has_most_risky_day_cares_investigation_shows_victims_respond

A disturbing new investigation has found that “Alabama offers religious day cares the most freedom of any state, shielding them from most government oversight.” As a result, innocent children suffer.

“More than 900 Alabama day cares say they are affiliated with religious groups, leaving almost half of all child care in the state free from most regulation,” according to licensing documents, the new report says.

The horrifying details are here:

https://www.revealnews.org/article/she-runs-disastrous-day-cares-but-her-church-makes-her-untouchable/

It’s time for action.

Surely Alabama’s governor or attorney general have some emergency powers they can use to better protect kids. Surely there’s one Alabama legislator who cares enough to introduce a bill to better safeguard kids. Surely there are a handful of lawmakers who would at least insist on a public hearing to warn parents about these dangers.

Surely there are Alabama religious leaders, agency officials and law enforcement personnel who have the courage to use their bully pulpits and hold a few news conferences to let families know of this troubling situations.

Surely managers of secular Alabama day care centers can do likewise.

Surely Alabama adults care more about kids’ safety than adults’ beliefs.

We urge lawmakers to toughen laws so that kids are safer in every day care facility. The religious beliefs of adults cannot trump the physical safety of children. Adults can believe whatever they like but cannot do whatever they like, especially when innocent kids are at stake.

We urge parents to think long and hard, and do considerable research, before putting kids in religiously-affiliated Alabama day care programs.

We urge religious day care owners to voluntarily comply with or exceed state safety standards for secular day cares and prod other religious institutions to do likewise.

And we urge police, prosecutors, judges to do all they can to deter church employees from endangering kids by exploiting religious exemptions for their own financial benefit by aggressively investigating, charging, convicting and punishing wrongdoers.

No matter what lawmakers, officials or church personnel do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Alabama day care centers to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.