Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2683

Tonight's special guest is Stacey Blanchet from San Diego, California, sexually abused by her uncle who's now an activist and an author. In her mid 20s she became a CASA  (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for Foster youth, working in the court system with at-risk kids. She later put together a documentary, 'The Journey to Myself', all about her life. Stacey has shared her written story as well. Her teaches us how important it is to believe in ourselves, no matter what, and as Stacey puts it in the documentary "to be a work in progress" until the day she dies. "I was 11 years old and it was my uncle on my dad's side," she says. "I was staying the summer in Montana with my aunt and uncle. It was a very confusing and frightening time as I did not understand what my uncle was doing and I was scared of him coming into my room. It lasted almost nightly for two months. He would come into my room and wake me up and have me watch him while he was touching me." That was a while ago. "I am almost 40 years removed from that time period in my life. It has been therapy and love of friends and family and actually dealing with my uncle in the court process as I fought back when I was 19 years old and saw my justice." Stacey explains, "I believe it is very important to fight for the victim. If nobody will fight for you, you will need to and as hard as it would be, you need to cut yourself lose from the family or situation that this person who has hurt you (in some cases they killed the person you could have been) and build a new life. Learn to love change."