Child Abuse Prevention Month

April 28 has always been a special day to me. It's a my birthday that I share with my dad and my twin sister. In 2010 it became an even more important day to me when I gave birth to my second child. A son. A child born after much heart ache and fear. As I sat in my hospital room snuggling my newborn across my state another family was mourning.

April is Child Abuse Prevention month. And April 28 is Kelsey Briggs day. If you don't know Kelsey Briggs let me catch you up. Kelsey was 2 when she died due to blunt force trauma to her abdomen. Her mother and stepfather have been convicted of this crime.

Parenting and Mommying is hard. Some days it's walk-away-from-it-all-hard. And sometimes that what we need to do...take a break. Walk away and let someone else listening to the whining and crying for a little while so that we can come back refreshed and ready to love our babies.

There is a 10 year old boy in OKC who has been in foster care since he was a very young child. His profile says he loves Minecraft and Legos.  What he wants is a home. To be adopted. To have a mom and a dad. To be loved. For days after reading that I tried to figure out how we could re arrange the house to accommodate one more. Cause if you know much about my family it's that I have 2 boys already who love Legos and Minecraft.

Just a few weeks ago two small children were found wandering the streets of a nearby city in diapers at 4 AM.  It was three hours later before they were claimed. As I read that story I felt like saying with Jesus "Bring the little children to me."

Be a foster parent. Love on a foster family. Be part of the solution.

As citizens we must be alert to what is going on in the lives of people around us. if you see someone struggling lend a helping hand. But if you suspect a child is in danger or being harmed you must call and report this. There are services DHS can put into place to help families. Not all children need to be removed. Some families just need help. But some children need to be removed from an unsafe situation.

All children deserve to be loved like my sweet middle child who turns 7 today. Please hug your children and love them well. Take care of yourself. And don't be afraid to make the calls for help from other authorities when needed.