Contact: Janet Magee,
956-299-0564 PORT ISABEL, Texas, April 1, 2015 /
Christian Newswire/
-- In 1994 founder Janet Magee searched for a faith-based child abuse
prevention organization to learn how she could help. She found relief
efforts such as orphanages and shelters, but no actual prevention
organizations at that time.
She believed the faith community
was the sleeping giant in the battle against child abuse. She felt the
call to help churches recognize the mission of abused children living
in their own cities.
With that goal in mind, Blue Sunday Day of
Prayer for Abused Children was launched. On the last Sunday in April
(which is Child Abuse Prevention Month), churches are asked to pray for
the victims of child abuse and for those who rescue them. It is free to
participate and they offer videos, prevention materials and even
church bulletins at no cost.
Having the faith community become
involved in prevention efforts is our goal and we are seeing positive
results from their participation. We are witnessing a rise in awareness
and community involvement that is nothing short of a miracle. For the
first time, we have more people praying than new victims. In 2014, Blue
Sunday had 7.3 million people registered to pray and there were
686,000 children reported as abused in the United States.
Child
abuse related deaths are down in Texas. In Texas, child abuse related
deaths fell from 239 to 156 in 2013, and in 2014, they fell again to 151
according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The same source reports no child abuse related deaths in Cameron,
Hidalgo, Willacy, and Starr counties in 2014. For Cameron County, home
of Blue Sunday, it was the second year in a row to claim that victory.
We
attribute this miracle to community involvement being at an all-time
high with law enforcement, medical personnel, educators, the judicial
system, child protection agencies, local media, and the faith community
all working towards a common goal to keep children safe and to help
broken families heal.
The giant is awake but there is still much
more to do. Please ask your church to join us for National Blue Sunday
Day of Prayer for Abused Children on April 26th. Register your church
and access free resources at
www.bluesunday.org.
