Brewer Should Release Money for Child Investigations

SNAP
November 26, 2013

http://www.snapnetwork.org/az_brewer_should_release_money_for_child_investigations

[The Bugle]

David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

We are horrified that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is stalling on more funds to investigate some 6,000 suspected cases of child abuse and neglect.

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It’s hard to imagine a more compelling reason to spend extra funds than to help some of the 6,000 kids who may be have been hurt recently or who may be hurting right now.

The cause of this dreadful oversight and the fate of the CPS director can be determined later. Investigating these 6,000 troubling cases – some of which almost certainly involve continuing abuse and neglect – must come first.

Brewer should not be penny-wise and pound-foolish here. Research shows that many abused and neglected kids grow up to be less productive and more reliant on government services. So there are both moral and economic reasons Arizona officials should move mountains now to get this inexcusable backlog investigated promptly.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 15,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)