Friday, November 16, 2007

In Australia, one child is abused every 11 minutes. Woman's Day is now calling on the people in power to wake up and help stop the abuse threatening the future of our kids.

Help Woman's Day save a child's life by joining our fight against abuse.

In July 2007, our sister magazine Take 5 launched a Save Our Kids campaign, calling for the government to appoint a Federal Minister for Children — a person devoted to children's issues in our country, who will co-ordinate child services departments from all states and territories. As it stands, if an abused child's family moves, there is no way to trace them, so thousands of children slip through the cracks.

During their five-week campaign, Take 5 received 7500 petitions from readers around Australia. Now Woman's Day is joining the fight to help our kids.

By signing the Woman's Day petition to appoint a Federal Minister for Children, you can help prevent abuse cases like those we've seen in the news recently: the brutal deaths of Dean Shillingsworth, whose tiny body was stuffed in a suitcase and thrown into a lake; or seven-year-old Shellay Ward, who was found dead in her bed, weighing just 9kg; two-year-old Josh from Queensland, who was allegedly bashed by his father and died; six-month-old Crystal, whose mother was found guilty of manslaughter last week after she told courts how she beat her daughter; a three-year-old girl from NSW who was hospitalised last week after being beaten so badly her injuries were compared to those suffered when hit by a truck.

You can make a difference to every child in Australia who has no hope, no voice, no love.

Act today!

Sign the petition below and help save our kids:
Simply scroll down this page to where it says "Write a comment" and fill out your name and state. If you like, you can also leave a comment. Thank you.