WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush on Wednesday celebrated the one-year anniversary of his "No Child Left Behind" education reform program, but Faheem Williams was not at the celebration.
The Newark boy is one of the 1,500 American children who die as a result of abuse and neglect in their own homes or the homes of caregivers every year.
"No Child Left Behind" is a catch phrase the president has made in many ways an admirable mark on improving the educational lot of American children. The education initiative calls for every child to be reading by the time they reach the third grade. First lady Laura Bush has touted a "Ready to Read, Ready to Learn" program in which she maintains that some children enter school without knowing the names of letters or how to count.
During a speech last year, the first lady told supporters she would not stop with asking the White House for help.
"I'm going to call in the military! Retired members of the military protected our nation in war and led the world in peace, and they are well qualified to guide children in school," Laura Bush said.
But the children hidden in the dark side of American life are being ignored by the federal government.
New Jersey children found Saturday in a dirty, fetid basement in Newark who had been starved, beaten and forgotten. The boys told Newark Mayor Sharpe James that they have never been to school.
So the nation again listened this week as police detailed the death of a child at the hands of a caregiver -- beaten, starved and crammed into a Samsonite.
New Jersey has launched a sweeping investigation of its child welfare agency after Raheem Williams, 7, and his brother, Tyrone Hill, 4, were found malnourished and suffering from abuse in the basement of a home in Newark. A third child, Faheem Williams, Raheem's twin brother, was found dead, stuffed in a trunk.
Bush's administration once held the promise of admitting the abuse of children in their homes was a national travesty. During his inaugural address Bush declared "whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love."
Somewhere during the last few years that focus was lost. Children were invited to the White House South Lawn to play tee ball and roll Easter eggs, but what about those who have only seen a bat as it was being wielded against them? And what about those children who would give anything to have one of those eggs for breakfast because they have not been allowed food for days or weeks?
It was October when Bush convened a White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children in Washington. During the summit featuring child advocates and business leaders, the president decried the abduction of children and wailed that the exploitation of kids via the Internet must stop.
But the president has failed repeatedly to address the thousands of children who are burned, beaten and battered in their own homes -- something that has become one of America's dirty little secrets that the White House is loath to openly and honestly discuss.
During the summit, the president recognized the responsibility of adults to the nation's children.
"Our first duty as adults is to create an environment in which children can grow and thrive without fearing for their security. That's what we've got to do. Because children are so vulnerable, they need the care of adults. Because they're so vulnerable, those who are cruel and predatory often target our children," Bush said during the White House conference.
The Bush administration has said it is waging a nationwide effort to prevent the use of the Internet to sexually exploit children, doubling the funding for the Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. And in the FBI's Operation Candy Man Operation, law enforcement officials dismantled a major child pornography ring, making more than 100 arrests.
The administration has also embraced the states' support of the Amber Plan, also known as the Amber Alert. The program is a voluntary partnership through which police and local broadcasters issue urgent bulletins to the public as soon as a child is missing.
The Amber Alert has its origins in Texas in 1996 after Amber Hagerman was kidnapped off her bike by a man who threw her into the front seat of a pickup truck an and drove away at high speed. Four days later, Amber's body was found in a drainage ditch four miles away. Her throat had been cut. Her kidnapping and murder remain unsolved.
The issue of child abuse and neglect has reached epidemic proportions with experts such as Howard Dubowitz, physician and co-director of University of Maryland Medical System Center for Child Protection, calling it a public health issue.
The problems within state child protection agencies are common from state to state: A high staff turnover rate, high caseloads, poor training and dismally low pay for caseworkers and badly written policy with little real guidelines for decision-making. When these cases emerge, the factors cited are always the same.
Randy Burton, founder of Justice for Children, called children the victims of terrorism, saying that as many as 1,500 youngsters die each year from abuse and neglect. Because those numbers are often under-reported, Burton said, it is likely double those figures -- as least as many as those who died on Sept. 1l, 2001, in the terrorist attacks.
The time has come for the White House to declare the abuse and neglect of children within United States borders a national emergency. It is time for the federal government to marshal its resources to rescue children living in environments of abuse, find safe and stable families for them, and provide them with an education.
Bush has an opportunity to impact generations by making that simple bold step. The president in promoting his faith-based legislation called on Cabinet agencies to become involved in accessing funding for social programs run by religions organizations. His moral leadership on this issue can be no different.
If his words that "children at risk are not at fault" have any ring of truth, then it is time those words spark action. The thousands of cases each year is proof that child protection as it exists today does not work.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services needs to undertake a massive reorganization of its children and families division, making the safety of children a top priority. It needs to hire law enforcement officers with investigative experience to replace low-paid, low-experience caseworkers to review complaints of abuse. Those officers would have the ability to make arrests and find safe harbor for at-risk youth.
Attorney General John Ashcroft should immediately institute stiff penalties for those who batter, beat, burn, and otherwise terrorize children, the nation's most vulnerable citizens. Penalties for the abuse of children should be raised to the same level of first-degree murder, with perpetrators risking spending the rest of their lives in prison without parole for hurting a child.
And the department should provide immunity for overwhelmed mothers and fathers who rather give up their children than risk hurting them. They should be able to leave their children in a police station, hospital, or with the fire department if they feel they cannot take care of them, or choose to immediately terminate their parental rights so the children can be adopted.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to provide affordable, subsidized housing for all homeless families with children, since experts agree that poverty and lack of stability can lead to the neglect of children.
And the federal government should undertake a major education campaign on strategies parents can use if they feel stressed, overwhelmed or unable to take care of their children. Communities, physicians, teachers, and those who come in contact with children every day should be called to action to watch for the signs of abuse and feel free to take steps to rescue those they feel are being abused.
The Williams brothers, the thousands of other children who long for the chance to go to school if only to escape being burned and beaten, or to get a hot meal they are denied at home, these are the youngsters left behind.
And America's most shameful secret.
