Hello Supporters, Readers and Passers-by,

My apologies for being absent for so long. Classes are rather strenuous and right now, I have a full plate! So I'm working on something to keep everyone up to date that I can work on when I get extra time between classes, family life, kids, and everything else that tends to creep into my schedule... I need to add J-O-B in there somewhere because this economy is getting crazy!

So, on to the good stuff! Be The Voice has an official newsletter and it was just published today!
It will occur on the 13 of every month, but for all intents and purposes, Septembers is out today!

You can view it until October 7 at https://sendnow.acrobat.com/?i=YxmMER46kMPLipEZTW2Mcg.
If you would rather not deal with PDF files or if you would like to receive your edition through email, please send a request entitled "Subscription" to bethevoicenow@gmail.com  You can cancel your subscription the same way and as our guidelines state, we will not sell, trade or make available, your email to any third party. Your privacy is of utmost importance. I cherish my privacy and I would expect the same!

So, now on for some sad news. You may be aware of several of the kids I've shown on the blog so far. Would you believe that in the 30 days, 144 children were abused... In the one month that I've not been here, 144 children did not have anyone to speak up for them. How sad is that. But with your help, we can continue to Shout It Forward!

visit http://www.facebook.com/groups/bethevoicenow  and check out the events scheduled... Take 5 minutes before you call it a night and tell one person about child abuse! You can make a difference!

Warmest,
LaVonda

The Courts Role

With respect to the Family and Juvenile courts, often there is a dilemma on what they can and cannot do in preventing further abuse from occurring. According to text books, juvenile courts are limited in their capacity by statutes. That is they have specific, but limited powers.

Family courts have a broader jurisdiction with respect to law. In addition to child abuse, family courts also handles divorce, child custody, intra-family assaults, and juvenile traffic offenses. While they have more jurisdiction, they still operate under statutes which they are authorized.

Why use the courts for Child Abuse prevention and deterrence?
There are several ways the courts can assist in preventing and deterring child abuse. First and foremost is the way in which the courts prioritize their duties.

1. protect the child from further injury.
2. provide fair and impartial hearing on the allegations in the petition.
3. consider recommendations from CPS.
4. Implement a treatment/reunification plan for the child and/or parents when appropriate.
5. Protect the constitutional rights of both the child and the parents.

***The objective of the court is not to punish but, rather, to work with CPS to effect a treatment plan designed to protect the child.***

***Courts attempt to improve the family situation so that the family UNIT is preserved, unless the child has suffered serious harm and would continue to be endangered if remaining with family.***

The court has two ways to be involved.

Carly Elizabeth Sawyer

Carly Elizabeth Sawyer
http://www.carlyelizabethsawyer.com/
The following information is taken from www.facebook.com/heartheircries originally used The Virginian-Pilot

6/14/09
Girl had been subject of custody fight, relative says
By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 14, 2009
CHESAPEAKE
The grandfather of the 5-year-old girl killed in a case in which her father and stepmother were charged remembered her Saturday as a happy child with long, curly hair.
"She was just a beautiful little loving, fun child," said Robert Kimery of Zachary, La., the grandfather of Carly Sawyer. "Loved to laugh. Loved to play."
Revolving around Carly, however, was a custody battle between two families, said Kimery, whose daughter Jennifer is Carly's mother.
Carly died Thursday at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk. A medical examiner determined that the cause was blunt-force trauma. Contributing factors included starvation, ligature restraint and medical neglect, police said.
Paramedics were called to her family's house in the 1400 block of Oliver Ave. in Chesapeake about 5 p.m. Wednesday for a report of an unresponsive child. On Friday evening, detectives arrested Carly's father, Joshua Sawyer, 24, and his wife, Brandy Sawyer, 21.
Joshua Sawyer was charged with second-degree murder and felony child neglect. Brandy Sawyer was charged with first-degree murder and felony child neglect.

Kimery said he and his daughter had little contact with Carly in the past 2-1/2 years after a court in Jacksonville, N.C., granted Joshua Sawyer custody of her.
Jennifer and Joshua Sawyer met and married in California when she was in the Air Force and he was in the Marines. They separated about three years ago and divorced after she was stationed in South Carolina and he was stationed in Jacksonville, with Carly, Kimery said.
Jennifer Kimery and a friend, on a visit to see Carly, took her back to Georgia where Jennifer was living. That upset Sawyer, Robert Kimery said.
She also filed a complaint of abuse against her ex-husband with Child Protective Services in North Carolina, he said.

Kimery said he and his wife were raising Carly in Louisiana to keep her away from Joshua Sawyer, until Sawyer got an order granting him temporary custody. "They had a court order for me to return her," Kimery said. "We took her back and he stated that we would never see her again." Kimery said he did not know Joshua and Brandy Sawyer had moved from North Carolina to Hampton Roads until his family learned Carly was in the hospital. Three neighbors of the Sawyers on Saturday said they rarely saw them. In addition to Carly, the couple has a younger daughter and also lived with a young daughter of Brandy Sawyer's.
The Sawyers are being held without bond at the Chesapeake jail, a jail spokeswoman said.

On her Facebook page, Brandy Sawyer complained recently of being depressed and stressed. In April, she wrote that she was 10 weeks pregnant and in another post said she "just wants to run away from life."
In May, she wrote that she was feeling "really down and depressed." She also wrote on Facebook and in a comment on the Web site of the Jacksonville Daily News about a criminal case involving her sister, Dana Leigh Browning. Browning, 19, was arrested in November in Onslow County, N.C., on charges of concealing the birth of a child, failure to report a death and obstruction of justice. She is accused of putting her dead newborn girl in a plastic bag, then putting the body in the garbage and not notifying anyone, the Jacksonville Daily News reported. A court hearing is scheduled for June 30. Sawyer also joined a Facebook cause called Stop Child Abuse. In her most recent post, at 12:10 a.m. Friday, she wrote: "Carly passed away. We need prayers, holding onto nothing I feel like." A man who answered the phone at her mother's house in North Carolina on Saturday said her mother was not home and asked that a reporter not call back.
Joshua Sawyer's father, David K. Sawyer of New York, declined to comment when reached Saturday.

Camden Pierce Hughes

UPDATE: You can read the updated information here.

                                                                                           Hello readers,

     This angel comes to us from Crystal Vetter, a new member of Be The Voice. She asked that I add little Camden to the page and I thought what better way would there be for me to get his story out there, to show the angels in heaven that we do care about them and that we are fighting for their rights. Though we cannot bring them back to us, we know they will be there waiting on us, guiding us while we are still here.

     Here is Camden's story as reported from ABC News.

By MICHELLE MCPHEE and JESSICA HOPPER (@jesshop23) May 18, 2011
"A Texas woman has confessed to killing and dumping her son's body along a rural road in Maine, sources told ABC News.

The 6-year-old boy, Camden Pierce Hughes, was dumped by Julianne McCrery. McCrery told police that she accidentally gave her son too much cough syrup, the sources said.

McCrery once wrote a book about how to fall asleep called "Goodnight, Sleep Tight." In her author's bio, she described herself as a former school bus driver and cement mixer.

The woman who is being questioned in connection with the case has been taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation and has not been charged with a crime, said David Procopio, director of communications for Massachusetts State Police.

"She remains in the care and custody of Massachusetts State Police. ... I'm not confirming any ages and names," Procopio said at a press conference this afternoon. Procopio declined to identify the woman or the boy and referred reporters to the New Hampshire State Attorney's office. He also declined to say why New Hampshire authorities were in charge of the investigation.

A Massachusetts state trooper spotted McCrery this morning at a rest area near Chelmsford, Mass., police said. "At 10:20 this morning, we received a call from a citizen who had seen prior coverage of this investigation. ... We responded with several troopers there and engaged ... the lone occupant of the vehicle, and that's why we're here now," Procopio said. We can pray for all the children both here and away, that justice will be served. Until then, we continue to Speak Up For The Silent!

Warmest,
LaVonda

The "lone occupant," McCrery, was in a blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, the same type of truck that authorities have been frantically searching for since Camden's body was found Saturday. She told a Massachusetts state trooper that she killed her son and was contemplating killing herself, sources told ABC News.

When the female trooper asked McCrery if she needed assistance, she responded: "I killed my son. I want to kill myself."

McCrery was taken into custody at the Concord State Police barracks.

State Police officials confirmed that they are questioning the woman in connection with the discovery of the boy's body, which was found fully clothed under a green fleece blanket on Dennett Road in South Berwick, Maine, on Saturday.

McCrery's ex-boyfriend told ABC affiliate WCVB that he never thought McCrery would hurt their son.

"She loved him dearly," Miller said. "He was a very nice little boy. He was real smart."

The mystery of who dumped the boy has puzzled investigators. Nobody filed a missing persons report for the boy. A scan of missing persons databases turned up no leads.

"He was clean. His fingernails seemed clean and appropriate. He was a small kid, but I don't think he was undernourished. He's a very cute boy, and again, he was clothed well. The sneakers are virtually brand-new on him," Maine State Police Lt. Brian McDonough said Tuesday.

An eyewitness spotted a woman driving a truck with a Navy insignia embossed in or around the truck's license plate.

Police began alerting Navy Reserve centers and brought in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to help in the search because of a hunch that someone with a military connection may have dumped the boy's body.

Indeed, one of McCrery's sons serves in the Navy. His Face book page shows that he works as a chef in the Navy.

Other facts that hinted at a military connection included the boy's clothing. Found fully clothed, the boy had on a gray-colored camouflage hooded sweatshirt and a navy blue T-shirt with "Aviator Series" displayed on the front, police said.

The State Police Computer Crimes Unit produced a computer-generated photo of the unidentified boy. The boy was 3 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 45 pounds. He had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. His baby teeth had yet to fall out.

The death has been deemed suspicious, and investigators have not ruled out homicide.

ABC News' Marisa Bramwell contributed to this report."

Show Your Support

I want to take a moment to invite everyone who wants to Be The Voice to shout it from the rooftops... and display it on your social networking page or blogpage of your own.

Simply right click on either of the two images below and save it to your photos. Then upload them to your site. All I ask is that you comment on this post letting me know where you posted them. Let's paint the country BLUE in support of ending Child Abuse and showing the Country how to be Aware!

Thank you all in advance and remember -- Together, we can make a difference!
Warmest,
LaVonda

Baby Brianna Lopez

***WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT***

Hello Readers,

     A word of caution: The information in this post is graphic, heartbreaking and not for the faint at heart, or those with weak stomachs. The story of Baby Briana is full of horrorific, grotesque and brutal abuse.  The information is taken from several sources.

Meet Baby Briana. Her life was new and she was beautiful. However, she was born into the hands of cold blooded killers who had the simple job of loving her and turned it into five solid months of physical and sexual abuse. At five months old, baby Briana died.

The abuse was so bad, police officers cried. They had never seen anything like this before and it would remain with them for the rest of their lives.

She was raped. Beaten. Severely bruised. Her fingers were lacerated. She had bite marks all over her body. She was literally bruised from the top of her head all the way to her toes. She died on July 19, 2002.

Briana's mother, father and uncle were responsible for her death. The father and uncle threw her to the ceiling then let her slam to the ground. And they had raped her time and time again. The mother had bitten her time and time again. She had skull fractures that were old and new. Bleeding on the brain that was old and new. Another uncle and a grandmother new of the abuse but NEVER reported it. She had been abused her entire life.

You can view a News Report here. 

You can visit the supporters of Baby Brianna on their facebook page.

You can sign the petition to have the cage around her gravesite removed here.

See Brianna's Story


There is a possibility Stephanie Lopez, Brianna's mother, will be eligible for parole in 2016. It is our duty as human beings to let it be known that the life of this child, or any child, is worth much more than a punishment of jail with the privilege of parole being granted in a few short years. Please sign this petition in an effort to keep Stephanie Lopez from being granted parole in 2016.

"Quietly endure, silently suffer and patiently wait." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Baby Brianna, we love you and we know that you are in heaven with the Angels right now.

Warmest,

LaVonda

You can click READ MORE to see photos of her killers.

Emma Leigh Barker



Emma Leigh Barker

 Hello readers,
I want to introduce you to a sweet little angel named Emma. She was born September 2, 2007 and would be turning 4 years old in less than a month. Sadly, she was taken from this world at the hands of her mother on 3/18/09. The following is an exerpt from an online media site.

LANCASTER, Calif. -- A woman convicted of murdering her 18-month-old daughter and dumping her body near a freeway has been sentenced to 25-years to life in prison.

Stacey Barker, 26, was convicted May 25 of one count of first degree murder, assault on a child and child abuse.

Barker initially told deputies her daughter Emma was abducted from her car in the parking lot of Lancaster City Park on March 18, 2009

She claimed she was knocked out by the kidnapper and woke up several miles away at the Palmdale Park-n-Ride.

The incident triggered a 12-hour manhunt for the missing child.

Barker later admitted making up the abduction story.

She said the little girl died accidentally, causing her to panic and leave the girl's body near the freeway.

The child's body was found 12 hours later, dumped in a grassy lot near the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar.

Coroner's officials say Emma died of suffocation.

According to prosecutors the girl's death was consistent with suffocation caused by a hand being placed over her month and nose.

Prosecutors say Emma had been dead for several hours before being dumped.

Barker's father told KTLA back in March that Barker lived at home with her parents and younger brother who all took turns taking care of the family's first and only grandchild.

Gary Barker said his wife worked at night so they wouldn't have to send Emma to day care, while his son watched Emma during the morning so other family members could rest.

Barker would not comment on what led to his granddaughter's death.

He said there were no words to express how the family is dealing with the news as they prepare for the toddler's funeral.

He described Emma as a "beautiful, happy girl'' who smiled from the time she got up to when she went to bed.

"You lose it, you get it together, you lose it, you get it together,'' he told reporters.

"She was so young and it's such an unnatural tragedy.''

Barker said there are constant reminders of Emma around the house that surface at the most unexpected moments.

The TV menu cataloged the last movies they watched together. Emma especially loved "Bee Movie'' and "Alvin and the Chipmunks,'' he said.

He said he last saw Emma the night before the alleged abduction when he got home from work just before his granddaughter's bedtime.

His voice choked with emotion as he recalled the memory.

"I was holding her in the family room and I was dancing with her and slowly dipping her,'' he said.

"She was laughing and smiling and we were looking at each other eye to eye. After that it was bedtime and Stacey gave her a bottle and put her to bed.''

Emma's funeral drew hundreds of family and friends to Palmdale's Desert Lawn Memorial Park, where the toddler was eulogized as "a princess and a little girl who always had a smile on her face.

Source:

 (Story from http://www.ktla.com/news/l​anding/ktla-lancaster-todd​ler-mom-convicted,0,176769​0.story)
(Photo from http://www.facebook.com/pa​ges/Rip-sweet-little-Emma-​Leigh-barker/2206541413188​49)

As you read Emma's story, remember that sometimes things happen that we don't fully understand and we aren't meant to. Emma is with God now and she is no longer hurting for love and affection because Jesus is showering her with all his love.

Warmest,
LaVonda

You can click "READ MORE" to learn about the outcome of the trial and to see a photo of Stacey Barker.