Don't Be Afraid...

...to report abuse when you see it. It's easy to think "It won't do any good." "Someone else will report it." "I don't have time." etc. I know many institutions in our system are backwards, powerless, and inefficient, but they are there for a reason, and they have to work *some* of the time.

Today I called Child Protective Services. I wanted to scream out my window at these people when I saw it happening, but I knew that would really do no good.

There was a car next to us and I looked over and noticed the baby car seat in the middle of the back seat, facing forward. Immediately I was thinking "Those people shouldn't be able to have children." Next I was thinking "I bet that seat isn't even belted to the car." I noticed the semi truck leading the car through a stoplight. Then I was thinking "What happens when the driver doesn't see if that light turns red." It did. Then I saw it. He slammed on the breaks and the baby seat flew into the front of the car. It's mother (presumed role of the female in the passenger seat) then grabbed the baby, faster than she could have unstrapped any buckles in the car seat itself. She tossed the seat into the back seat again. They proceeded down the road, the baby in her arms, and I turned down the next road as planned. This baby was probably about 1-2months old. Definitely not 6 months yet. I don't know if it'll make it that far, honestly, with parenting like that.

The point is, I'm very sad for that baby today, and I'm praying for the best for it. I called our local children's services hotline and reported the neglect, because I thought to get their license plate number. If nothing else, there is a record of what I saw. Other than that, a step above that I can hope for is that an officer/social worker is dispatched to teach them about the importance of car seats. Otherwise, I can just hope that baby is kept safe. What it's life must be like, I don't know, and I'm sure I don't want to see. If there is something worse going on, I can only hope my call triggered a deeper investigation, but as I said, if nothing else there is documentation of my report.

Don't be afraid to take the 5 minutes to call for these children/women/coworkers/friends/permissive men who need your advocacy.

For those of you in the central Ohio area, the number for Children's Services is 614-229-7000. Their website on abuse and neglect is located here.

There might not be much that happens in the end after you report something, but it's better than doing nothing.

By the way, in case you didn't know: babies need car seats. Children need car seats. Early school age children need boosters. Not to mention, children, teenagers, and adults need seat belts and those car seats and boosters won't do any good without that seat belt. Don't let YOUR lack of strength in the fight with natural selection take out your kids. You can be responsible for being stupid enough to not use your seat belt, but don't take your kids with you.