On Tuesday, April 21st U.S. Attorney Jay Town recognized April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Town and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Alabama, James G. Hernandez, gave a statement reminding parents to be attentive to their children’s safety, particularly online safety. Town said that law enforcement’s commitment to protecting victims of abuse must be stronger than ever now, and are especially committed to the protection of children. Town said that parents are the first line of defense against online predators and encourages them to remain vigilant.
Hernandez warns that there are many dangerous predators online, so during this time when children are spending their time at home and online, parents need to monitor who their children are interacting with online. He says that catching these predators is one of their top priorities, but they need the help and support of parents in this.
Town and Hernandez give some advice to parents on how to help protect their children: check games and apps before they are downloaded; set privacy settings to the strictest level possible for online gaming and electronic devices; monitor your children’s use of the internet and check profiles and what they post; keep electronic devices in a common area in the house; explain that images posted online will be on the internet permanently; make sure that children understand online risks, only chat with people they know; block people they don’t know or trust; and trust their instincts if something makes them feel uncomfortable, tell a parent, guardian or other trusted adult about it.
Though there are many benefits to the internet, there are also many dangerous people lurking on the internet. Parents need to be aware of the dangers, and help to protect their children from them, especially during these hard times. Read more about this story here.
About the Author, Samuel J. McLure, Esq.
Sam graduated from Huntington College in 2006 with a degree in Business Administration. Before transferring to Huntington College, he attended Bethune-Cookman University as the first minority-white running back in the historically black conference.
He went on to Jones School of Law and graduated with honors, cum laude. During law school, Sam had the distinguished honor of serving with the Faulkner Law Review, clerking with Alabama Supreme Court Justice Patricia Smith, clerking with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, and studying International Law with Cornell University in Paris, France.
However, Sam’s most memorable law school achievement was adopting his first child from the Hungarian foster-care system. It was through that process that he and his wife saw the great need to protect children in the foster care system and to encourage adoption.
Sam’s law practice has maintained an orbit around protecting vulnerable and at-risk children. He and his wife have four children and have been actively engaged in the foster care system. Sam is the author of The End of Orphan Care, and book devoted to unpacking the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of orphan care; and has founded or served with ministries and community outreach initiatives such as Kiwanis, Personhood Alabama, Proposal 16, and Sav-a-Life.
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