GEORGE NEWS - A dramatic increase in child abuse and neglect is being described as a 'tsunami of cases' by George's media personality and George Child Welfare volunteer, Chantal Rutter Dros. She is making a plea for Georgians to take collective responsibility for the protection of the children of our community. Rutter Dros said because of the flood of abuse, each of close to a dozen social workers at George Child and Family Welfare deals with an average of 150 cases.
Rutter Dros, mother of two-year-old Daniël, said, "Over the past 25 years that I have been a journalist I have witnessed first-hand an increase in child abuse cases. It is chilling. This is not a drop in the ocean or a trickle - it is a tsunami of cases: children who have been neglected, abused and used as pawns by a society that has forgotten its moral and civic obligation to protect and nurture. Behind each case is the story of a child with trust in tatters."
Case-load
There are several other organisations that also work tirelessly to ensure the children are removed to a place of safety and that these abused and neglected children get the medical treatment, nutrition, care or legal aid that they require. "It does not come cheap. These are often temporary solutions. It is thankless. It takes a physical and mental toll on everyone who is involved.
"When I ask people to assist, the most common response is that this is a government problem, or tax-payers' money should be properly allocated, or that people should have fewer children, or that they would rather donate to an animal welfare organisation.
Birth control priorities
"I cannot argue with any of this. In an ideal world, the government should have systems in place to protect children. More taxes should be spent on birth control education and less should be spent on welfare grants to support these households.
"But that is not the world we live in. Our world requires us to step up and take responsibility. Our world is a brutal one. It requires us to open our eyes, to take stock of what is happening and to respond the way we, as empathetic parents, would respond to our own children - with love. It requires us to acknowledge that each of these broken children is going to grow up and enter into our world and that all these lives will, in one way or another, have an impact on other lives, possibly ours."
Child Protection Week
Rutter Dross said, "What we need to know with certainty is that we have it within our power to respond to this challenge and to bring about the changes we would like to see.
"As we enter into Child Protection Week, I ask you to think about this. One week is not long enough to raise awareness. One week comes and goes quickly. But it is my hope that you will hear the silent voices that cry for our help and find it in your heart to respond to this call. That you will understand that one child who slips through the net is one child too many.
"That what we are dealing with is an epidemic that requires a decisive, dramatic and immediate response from every single human being who is consciously aware that all our children require protection."
People who would like to assist George Child and Family Welfare can contact Sue du Toit on 044 874 0424.
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