Dear Mr. Barack Obama,

       I am writing about a very important and urgent matter going on in the United States and all around the world. This matter is child abuse, a very cruel thing that brings tears to your eyes when you think about it. A 2007 census shows that 65% of the children growing up in the U.S. and Puerto Rico have been victims of child abuse.

   Nixzmary Brown was stripped naked, beaten, held under cold water in the bathtub and left on the bed moaning until she died, She was beaten by her stepfather (while her mother watched) over a missing cup of yogurt and a broken printer. Nixzmary died on January 11th, 2006 at 7 years old. Her last words were “Mommy don’t leave me”.

       Elisa Izquierdo was slammed against a concrete wall, by her crack addicted mother, causing her brain to swell. She died November 22, 1995 at 6 years old.

     Recently Alejandra Vazquez was beaten by her mother with a mop handle and left in her be to die. The wood handle was hit against her head so hard it snapped in two. The mother took time to tape the mop back together but took no time to call an ambulance. Alejandra was beaten because the mother did not like the father and transferred her hate from him to her daughter. She had only spent only a month in America sine living with her father in Mexico. Alejandra died October 26th, 2008 at 11 years old.

        There are plenty more stories on child abuse and hearing them will make you cringe. What can we do to prevent this? One idea is to improve ACS (Administration of Child Services) by giving them less power and using guidelines on taking a child. They are bigot, hypocritical, and sometimes take away children who should stay and alienate children who should be taken away. They abuse their power, a family lawyer named David Lanser said “I’ve had many ACS case workers tell me: ‘We’re ACS, we can do whatever we want’ and they usually get away with it”. Some of the children taken away from their parents and put in foster care that were HIV positive were used as “human guinea pigs” in test for experimental AIDS drug trials authorized by ACS. Nurses would give children the drugs (not knowing they were experimental) and when the kids vomited, lost their ability to walk, and were constantly dizzy the nurses were told it was from the HIV when it was really the drugs, ACS reported the final trial was in 2001 and the “guinea pig experiments” were stopped.

        Another is to increase awareness on child abuse, by setting a goal on how much money to spend and using this money on things for example: money for kids who have been abused and need psychological help, creating more foster homes so there would be no overcrowding, making school employees more aware about signs of child abuse, making speeches at schools about child abuse etc.

       I hope after reading this letter you would use some of you government power to stop this cruelty. Child abuse not only affects kids but as they grow older they are still affected. When surveyed in 1997 36% of the females in jail where abused at age 17 or younger. 14% of male inmates were also abused as a child. I thank you for your time and I hope for you to shine more light on this matter.

     Sincerely,

     Maya Gibson