Please join this cause I started on behalf of my son and kids like him. His attacker is walking freely while my son lived with terror and fear daily. The legal system failed my son even with medical proof of the assualt. Due to my son's inability to accurately describe the years of attacks, the legal system felt as though he was not telling the truth and did not want to risk a trial against his biological father. Please join the fight in raising our voices to change the system and obtain the assistance these children need and DESERVE.

Please pass the word along to anyone with children or anyone who might benefit from this knowledge: According to the United States Department of Justice's guidelines for forensic interviewing children with cognitive or behavioral disabilities, these children are allowed to have the proper interviewer in the room. The interviewers should possess the proper behavioral degree, usually a masters degree in behavioral psychology. Also the children are allowed to have a Behavorial Pyschologist or Pyshcrist in the room to assist in the interviewing process. This is to eliminate cognitive/behavorial mis-understanding between interviewer and child. There is to be audio and visual taping of the interviews, due to complexity of the cases and delay in the court system. This information is agreed upon with the Child Advocate Center's guidelines. However, each Child Advocate Center individual policy on who is allowed in the interview process and how it is recorded in regard to these children are left to the discretion of the Assistant District Attorney assigned to the Sex Crimes Division within your individual counties. Just because the interviewer is in the room with your child, the police are on the other side of the glass leading the interviewer and the questions asked. DO NOT LET ANYONE QUESTION YOUR CHILD WITHOUT YOU BEING PRESENT OR HAVING YOUR CHILD'S MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDER PRESENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is an organization called KidsVoice, their mission states,"KidsVoice: Protecting Children's Rights Founded in 1908 as the Legal Aid Society of Pittsburgh, KidsVoice provides the full-service advocacy that every abused, abandoned, voiceless and vulnerable child deserves. Many of the children KidsVoice represents, in addition to being neglected or abused, must overcome significant physical and mental disabilities. Their conditions range from developmental delays, neonatal drug addiction and AIDS to severe brain damage, suicidal depression and critical organ failure."

Within the first sentence it says "every child" however when I called them to seek help in bringing my son's attacker to justice they turned him away. Their reason was because he was not "court-active." When asked what this meant, they stated he has not been removed from the home from CYF and therefore they were unable to assist my mentally disabled son.

Even after contacting the ACLU's local chapter my son's legal rights were over looked. The ACLU didnt feel as though a mentally disabled sexually abused child was worth representing since it did not represent a majority to benefit from. I think the ACLU needs to re-examine the statistics of the sexually abused mentally disabled.

I know my son's biological father will never be brought to justice due to the lapse in time and the neglect of the legal system and those who swore to uphold it; I am trying to stop this from happening to someone else before it is too late. Another child or another family should NEVER have to go through this.

Please spread the word about this cause and help make a difference.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/changing-the-forensic-interviewing-process