Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 3070

Tonight's special guest is Kermit McCown from Butte, Montana, a returning NAASCA family member, who has not been with us in years. Kermit notes that  it takes enormous courage on the part of a victim to just comes through one door and ask for help let alone navigate myriad of services scattered through the community, services such as police trained to deal with family violence, counselling for adults and children. Kermit says that counties need to develop "safety plans, shelters, crisis / medical support for sexual assault, financial counselling, children's services, support groups, outreach services to the community, legal services and sibling abuse specialized programs." He explains "I was around at the age of seven, and I've had to live with this whole event. My entire life was changed when I was drowned. by my mother. She lined all my brothers and sisters up along the bank of the creek and swing me upside down, drowning me with my hands tied, legs tied and screaming for somebody to help nobody would help. All I could do was just live within the moment." He says, "It took a lot of courage to face all the things that came out in the next 16 years of torture. I'm a survivor of child abuse and I believe nobody should have to live with this type of injury." In the end his mom drove him 1000 miles and dropped him off in the desert. "Ever since then I've been fighting over the feelings inside." Kevin says, "I have a counselor that I've been seeing for 20 years and I've had a lot of healing with him." He concludes, "It's so hard to understand everything that we've been through and then to live your life and try to be productive while dealing with quantum PTSD."