Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2148

Tonight's special guest is Pennie Saum from Puyallup, Washington, a survivor of sexual and emotional abuse from infancy to 18 years old. Her perpetrator was her biological father. Sneaking into her room at night when everyone else in the house was asleep, threatening and violent, he had total control over Pennie’s life. She says, "There were many days I would contemplate, 'Why me?' Well it wasn't just me. He was abusing others as well, my brother, my mother and a couple of my cousins. He played games." She goes on, "Now my life is no longer controlled by him. I just want to share that you can have a life too. There are days when it is still so fresh and painful and overwhelming. Times when I wish I could go back and get some of my childhood back. Then there are many other days that are just normal everyday days. My life has involved a lot of hard work. So many things are learned when you are being abused and they aren't as easy to work through or change. I want you to know you are valuable, you are worthy of a good life and you aren't to blame!” Pennie was pivotal in the federal bill, Child Abuse Accountability Enhancement Act, being passed into federal law. She has also been an advocate and player in changing the statute of limitations laws in Washington State regarding sexual assault. She states, “I am advocate and change maker, but most of all a voice seeker. I want voices of the abused to continue to get louder and more and I want to change the way the world looks at child sexual abuse and abusers – time for eyes to be wide open.”