Here is an excerpt from my book “father Figure – my mission to prevent child sexual abuse” about ordinary citizens getting involved if there is an opportunity to prevent abuse:
“If there is one message in this book to ordinary citizens everywhere; it is to fully realize, appreciate and understand the difference that we can each make in the life of a vulnerable child. This is only possible to achieve, of course, when we listen to our gut instinct and then choose to become involved. Right there are two of the simplest concepts that most people fail to apply on a daily basis. Yet, you can see how they played such key roles here in Father Figure. Oh sure it is nice to jump on the bandwagon when we hear such topics discussed at length on our favorite talk shows, but to follow one’s gut and become involved are things that most people don’t do.
Why is this so often the case? Well, most of us have busy lives and cannot easily find time to go out of our normal routines for a possible worthy cause. Also, when it comes to issues regarding someone’s family, we are raised to believe that families are to be respected and not interfered with. Certainly, people are frowned upon for being nosy and butting into the personal lives of others, let alone daring to question what a parent chooses to do with their own child.
Yet there can be situations, such as described in Father Figure, where interference becomes necessary; as I simply cannot imagine what Lisa and Laura’s lives would be like right now if I hadn’t chosen to intervene! Based upon what I had observed occurring in these young girls’ lives, doing the background check and everything else that followed was certainly warranted, and as you can see from reading Father Figure, the end result speaks for itself”.