The Screening of documentaries about some of the terrible fates that falls upon
millions of children,
is a very important element of this Film Festival.
We wanted to do more last festival, but this is the
launch of an
annual subject area of the Festival, at least until no children have to run to the
streets,
live homeless, come near the dark
specter of suicide, wander and
wonder in their states of autism,
suffer the direct abuse of the abusers,
murders, pedophiles, or mad heartless persons that would
cause them harm...we
will have this a part of the festival until the millions that are in the foster
homes, jails, detention centers, state
hospitals, and locked in backwards are being cared for...the
Paso Digital Festival
will be dedicated to helping the film makers that venture into the
dark stories
showing The State and
Fate of Children and Youth in the USA and the World.
We also pay tribute to the film
makers that dare to bleed their heart's out in the process of making
a film about something that is
so sad and heartbreaking, and conditions so dark, that as a film maker,
one must have a calling
or passion to cover subjects so dark. However, so important,
because it is
these filmmakers that
will help educate the culture, the government, or anyone that can
help, if
only they knew.
THE PASO DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL
We' re deeply dedicated to shedding light in
the darkness of the
millions
of homeless,
runaway & missing children,
the abused,
the
autistic, and those falling between the
cracks in our society, in
historic numbers,
here in these
United States of America...
WE WERE THE CHILDREN,
Benford Standley, Festival Producer
meanwhile back at the ranch
ALL THE MISSING CHILDREN
Some years back, after reading the PDFF
producer
Benford Standley's book on the state and
fate of children
Some Ran East and Some Ran West,
Native American
performer Robby Romero wrote the song "All
the Missing
Children"...later Benford and Robby,
working with other
Hollywood entities,
produced the video that you will see to
the right. The
kids that you see in the video, were found
living in the streets of
Hollywood by Robby & Benford
and brought to the set
for the making of this video. This
festival is
dedicated to this type of energy and creation to
Children of the Night is a private, non-profit, tax-exempt
organization founded in 1979. We're dedicated to assisting
children between the ages of 11 and 17 who are forced to prostitute on the streets for
food to eat
and
a place to sleep. Since 1979 we have rescued girls and boys from prostitution and the domination of vicious pimps. And we provide
all programs with the support of private donations.
We
are making a difference in the lives of hundreds of children
each
year. Our commitment to rescuing these children from the ravages
of prostitution is shared with a small but committed group of
detectives,
FBI
agents, and prosecutors in Los Angeles, Hollywood, Santa Ana,
Anaheim, San Diego, other areas of California, Las Vegas,
Portland, Billings, Montana; Seattle, Washington; Miami, New
York, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Phoenix, Hawaii and Washington D.C.
— all stops on the child prostitution circuit. And our numbers
keep growing as more and more dedicated individuals become
concerned about the welfare of these desperate children.
1. Number one killer of
children in America is Child Abuse...Parents and people that "care" for
them
2. Number one killer of
adolescents is auto accidents, two and three have changed back and forth for
years,
and they are suicide and homicide...
3.
One of every 50 American children experiences homelessness...
4. In 1980 Autism struck
ever one in 10,000 children, today is it 1 in 94. omg
5. There are millions of
homeless, runaway and missing children in the streets.
6. Pedophiles, Predators,
Sex Offenders, Perverts, Rapist...you see the news!
7. Millions of children and
youth are in detention centers, juvenile halls, foster homes and adult jails tonight...
8. Millions and millions of
children live with a single parent...
9. Approximatelyone
in seven youthonline
(10 to 17-years-old) received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet
10. 2.9 million children live with their grandparents
11. 24 million kids grow up without a dad
12.
AND READ BELOW FOR MORE OF THE STATE AND FATE OF CHILDREN...
New Findings Reinforce the Urgency of Autism as a Major Public Health
Crisis, Requiring Intensified Action from the Public and Private Sectors
NEW YORK, NY ... Autism Speaks, the nation's largest
autism science and advocacy organization, today responded to a new study
published in the American Academy of Pediatrics' journal Pediatrics that
found a parent-reported autism prevalence rate of one in every 91
American children, including one in 58 boys. The most recent ASD
prevalence estimate reported by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in
2007 was approximately one in 150 (including one in 94 boys), making
autism the most prevalent childhood developmental disorder. Autism
Speaks said the new findings reinforced the fact that autism is an
urgent and growing public health crisis that affects most individuals
across their lifespan and demands a commensurate level of action from
both the public and private sectors.
1.1 million
incarcerated persons are parents to an estimated 2.3 million children.
(U.S. Bureau of Justice stats)
160,000 kids and teens a day stay home from school because of
bullying.
Demi Lovato PSA - National Bullying Prevention Week and
TeensAgainstBullying.org
According to the AFCARS Report (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting ystem Report),
there were 513,000 in the foster care system on September 30, 2005 in the United
States. The could possibly be one million now..
Between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away in a year, and the County
of Los Angeles is now the homeless capital of the United States.
Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)
reported some disturbing statistics about the number of youth that
run away from their foster homes. The worst part is they admit they
have permanently lost track of the majority of teen runaways.
One of every 50 American children experiences homelessness, according to
a new report that says
most states have inadequate plans to address the
worsening and often-overlooked problem.
the best ranking. Texas is at the bottom.
"These kids are the innocent victims, yet it seems somehow
or other they
get left out," said the center's president, Dr. Ellen Bassuk. "Why are
they America's outcasts?"
The report analyzes data from 2005-2006. It estimates that 1.5 million
children experienced home-
lessness at least once that year, and says the
problem is surely worse now because of the foreclosures
and job losses
of the deepening recession.
"If we could freeze-frame it now, it would be bad enough," said
Democratic Sen. Robert Casey of
Pennsylvania, who wrote a
foreword to
the report. "By end of this year, it will be that much worse."
Among the over 141,000 children served by Children’s
Advocacy Centers around the country from January through June 2011,
some startling statistics include:
•53,932 children were ages 0 to 6 years •51,196 children were ages 7 to 12 years •36,131 children were ages 13 to 18 years •95,120 children reported sexual abuse •25,414 children reported physical abuse •88,312 children participated in forensic
interviewing at a Children’s Advocacy Center
Among the over 116,000 alleged offenders investigated
for instances of child abuse from January through June 2011, some
startling statistics include:
•75,829 were 18+ years old •11,973 were ages 13 to 17 years •7,911 were under age 13 years •45,496 were a parent or step-parent of the victim •23,763 were related to the child victim in another
way •36,628 were an unrelated person the victim knew
Children are our greatest gifts. We must protect them at all
costs. Since 9-Eleven, 4,500 American soldiers have been
killed in the Iraq & Afghanistan war. During that same
period, over 17,700 American children have been killed by
their caregivers - all documented. We are not even talking
about the ones left blinded, paralyzed or brain damaged,
etc. There are over 5 million children abused in the U.S.
each year. We had the bird flu, mad cow disease, tainted
spinach - national news...words of epidemic blasted on front
page newspapers....where is the outrage for the children
here? I it is not an epidemic, I don't know what is.
http://thechildrenswalloftears.org
In another recent survey in Massachusetts, almost 1 in 5 female
high-school students said they had experienced physical and/or sexual
violence in a dating relationship
It is a Chicago public school full of energy and spirit. It has about
800 girls, and 115 of them have something in common – something you
might find disturbing.
THEY ARE PREGNANT.
BELOW IS ONLY ONE OF THOUSANDS OF STORIES IN THE NEWS...ONE AT
A TIME...
(CBS/AP) A day after laying Shaniya
Davis to rest, the 5-year-old girl's aunt blasted the justice system for
providing her alleged rapist and murderer with a better quality of life
than many Americans have. "We have a lot of people … [who
have] lost their jobs, who don't have health care, even children that
are in homes don't get three square meals a day. But this man sits with
guards protecting him, he's receiving free medical, free meals," Carey
Lockhart-Davis said on CBS' "The Early Show" Monday.
Mario McNeill has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree
rape of a child. Authorities say Davis was strangled to death.
The 29-year-old McNeill was charged previously with kidnapping, with
authorities saying he took Davis from her Fayetteville home. Her body
was found Monday in thick underbrush off a rural North Carolina road
after searchers spent nearly a week looking for her. The girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with trafficking her
daughter and child abuse involving prostitution.
The figures are devastating. At any one time on the Internet it is
estimated there are around three quarters of a million predators
searching for sites featuring child pornography. The UN Special
Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography, Najat Maalla M’jid in a report to the latest session of the
Human Rights Council says, “there is more and more child pornography on
the Internet, becoming what is today a very profitable business, with a
worldwide market value estimated at billions of dollars.”
According To Coalition For The Homeless,
More Than 16,000 Children Were In Shelters By End Of September
Mary Brosnahan, longtime executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless
used the city's own data, and says homelessness has been
increasing each of the
last five years, and currently is at an all-time high. At the end of September,
10,494 homeless families lived in shelters,
including 16,615 homeless children.
"What does that mean for those children, and their future? That they will spend
a substantial amount of their childhood …
in a homeless shelter?" asked Bill de Blasio, the chairman of the City Council General Welfare Committee.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is widespread in U.S. cities
and constitutes "America's dirty little secret,"
said survivor Theresa Flores during NBC's The Today Show this morning. She will
be featured on the MSNBC special,
"Sex Slaves: The Teen Trade,"
One in every 6 boys will
be sexually molested by 16 years of age, and 93% know their attackers.
Reporting from
Washington - More than a month after the FBI announced it had rescued 52
children from "sexual slavery"
in a nationwide
crackdown on child prostitution, none of the victims is receiving the help
experts say is necessary to overcome
such trauma and rejoin
society. Experts underscore that sex-trafficking victims struggle to find
the care they need once they
escape from an industry
that may involve at least 100,000 children in the U.S.
Lois Lee, founder
of a 24-bed Los Angeles shelter called Children of the Night, sees the problems
firsthand." When America's
child prostitutes are
identified by the FBI or police, they are incarcerated for whatever reason
possible, whether it be an unrelated
crime or 'material
witness hold,' " she said. "Then they are dumped back in the dysfunctional
home, ill-equipped group home or
foster care, and [often]
disappear back into the underground of prostitution with no voice."
