Last Sunday, I accompanied a group of children from my church on a Mission Trip to the Humane Society of Missouri.  I was most impressed by the volunteers there, and grateful for their thoughtful approach to informing and educating our children.  What I didn’t expect was the impact that a chance remark would have.

In conversation, one of our docents mentioned that humane societies used to focus not only on animal rights, but on the rights of children as well.  This caught my attention and got my mind spinning.  A quick Google search was all it took to confirm the basic premise of her comment.  One researcher notes, “Surprisingly, many animal cruelty organizations also included child cruelty issues in their missions, as there were few child welfare organizations in existence during the late nineteenth century.”

Anyone who has read Charles Dickens knows the truth of that statement (think of Scrooge’s famous “Are there no prisons?” retort when asked to give to charity).  The movie Slumdog Millionaire shows the same kind of dynamic at work in an even more brutal form–children living on the streets, exploited and then discarded by predatory adults.  But cruelty to children is not confined to another time or place.  One has only to open up a newspaper–any newspaper in any town on any given day–to see that contemporary American society is not exempt from these horrors.  Children from all walks of life are preyed upon, sometimes by strangers but more often by adults who know them and should be caring for them.

Friday, November 20, was the day that the United Nations marked the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  According to a BBC report, the UN claims that the Convention “has transformed the way children are treated,” while also warning that “a billion children in the world still go without food, shelter or healthcare and millions are facing lives of poverty and abuse.”  Millions suffering from poverty and abuse. A billion without adequate food, shelter, or healthcare.  How can this be progress?  For that matter, how can this be, period?

It is easy to shake our fists in outrage but is more difficult, perhaps, to figure out how to do something about such an enormous problem.  Raising awareness is always a good first step.  I believe that churches can do much in this area, through fund raising and educational opportunities and even from the pulpit.  This is not about politicizing the church, but about speaking up unapolagetically for those who have no voice.  If Jesus was clear on one thing, it was that the inherent worth of children was of the utmost importance to him; caring for them and doing our very best to ensure their safety and well-being is not optional or negotiable for those who wish to follow him.  As individuals or groups, we can give and raise money and we can advocate, advocate, advocate.

UNICEF is the place to go for more information about the Convention, and about the status of children around the world, and about what you can do to get involved.  One section was a little disheartening.  Under Frequently Asked Questions I read that only Somalia and the United States have not ratified the Convention.  We have signed it, but not ratified it.  Digging further, I found that there is a Campaign for the U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).  This is another great place to turn for information on what you can do to make a difference.  They outline steps you can take like writing to your senators and starting a local campaign.

I know there are lots of ways to help children, and maybe you don’t think that the UN Convention is that important.  Fine.  Then pick another way to help.  Let’s just please not shut our eyes to the fact that cruelty to children is, sadly, almost as prevalent as cruelty to animals.  And if we work on it, a century from now this situation can seem as remote as a Victorian poor house or the slums of Mumbai.