Elizabeth Smart Foundation News

DALLAS -- Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped in 2002 and missing for
nine months, was in Dallas on Monday to tell law enforcement workers
about her "sojourn into hell" and urge investigators to never give up on
finding a missing child.

"We can never do enough when it comes to bringing a child home," said
Smart, now 23. "Never doubt your efforts or give up on that child
because that one child you save could have been me."

She was the keynote speaker at the Crimes Against Children
Conference. About 3,000 police officers, physicians, attorneys and
social workers from all 50 states and many other countries are attending
the four-day event, which is not open to the public.

The conference, in its 23rd year, is the largest of its kind that
trains officials to recognize and investigate child abuse. The Dallas
Children's Advocacy Center and the Dallas Police Department are hosting
the event.

Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City home -- with a knife held
to her neck -- in June 2002 when she was 14. She was rescued after
someone spotted her with abductors Brian David Mitchell and his wife,
Wanda Eileen Barzee, in Sandy, Utah, in March 2003.

Smart testified against the abductors last fall. Mitchell, a street
preacher who Smart's family had hired to fix their leaky roof, was
sentenced to life in prison in May. Barzee received a 15-year sentence.

In July, the Brigham Young University student became an ABC News
contributor to comment on missing child cases. Smart also recently
created the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to help protect children.

Smart's father, Ed Smart, also will speak at a workshop titled
"Working with Crime Victims and their Families." Joining him will be
Patty Wetterling, whose son, Jacob, was abducted by a masked gunman in
Minnesota in 1989 when the boy was 11. He is still missing.

The conference also features the prosecutor in the Jaycee Lee Dugard
case, Vern Pierson. He will be a presenter at a case study on Phillip
Garrido, the man who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and imprisoned
11-year-old Jaycee for 18 years.

Cases like Smart's lift the morale of law enforcement workers who
often do not get to see such positive outcomes, said Lynn Davis,
president and chief executive of the Dallas advocacy center.

The center's staff conducts and records interviews with victims of
the most severe cases of child abuse so that they do not have to suffer
the trauma of being interviewed repeatedly during an investigation.
Davis said Smart's appearance will help attendees see how much their
work matters.

"With somebody who was abducted and severely abused for nine months,
there's a lot of hope in that the man and his wife were just sentenced
to very long terms," he said. "So many times, kids are abused and the
bad guys never go to jail."

Lt. Sally Lannom with the Dallas Police Department's child abuse unit
said that Smart has shown a lot of courage in telling her story.

"The fact that this is someone who lived to tell about it helps so we can see there is hope," she said.

Smart's appearance also helps other victims see that they can move forward with their lives, Davis said.

"So many people ask us once a child is abused, aren't they a victim
for the rest of their lives? We say no," he said. "For someone like
Elizabeth Smart to come and talk about the hope and the healing is a
wonderful thing for the conference and the whole field."
http://www.standard.net/stories/2011/08/08/elizabeth-smart-addresses-child-crimes-conference

Moderator's Note: As Ms Smart has since begun working and advocating full-time
to the cause of missing children. I have changed the topic title so that we may
continue to follow and hopefully support her endeavors.

SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Smart is using her story to help raise
money for child abuse prevention and treatment services. Smart spoke
Wednesday at the Family Support Center's Blue Ribbon Breakfast.
The morning of June 5, 2002, changed her life in a
way she never could have prepared for. “Having a stranger break into my
home and kidnap me at knifepoint and on the threat of death, I thought I
was having a nightmare,” she said.


Elizabeth Smart talks with attendees after speaking during The
Family Support Center Blue Ribbon Breakfast in Salt Lake City
Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011. The center assists child abuse prevention and
treatment programs and homeless assistance.

“If that was not enough, in and of itself, I was
forced to run up into the mountains to a place that was impossible to
find, and there I was raped.”
She talked about some of the things that happened
during her nine months in captivity and how it made her feel. “I felt a
notch below society, degraded and worthless.” She said she wondered if
people, her family, would see her as someone worth loving. As time
passed, she realized that no matter what happened to her, she was still
be worth loving.
She said she made a choice to survive. “I decided I
would live to see another day, and miraculously I was rescued, and I was
reunited with my family.”
But Smart also pointed out that she is far from the
only child to be abused. She admitted stopping all crimes against
children is impossible and urged donations from the community to help
the Family Support Center help those children who suffer today.
Smart praised the Family Support Center, which is
devoted to protecting children, strengthening families and preventing
child abuse. It offers counseling services, group therapy and parenting classes.
“There’s everything in this world working against the
family unit, and it doesn’t get any easier when a child is hurt or
abused, or a parent develops an unhealthy addiction, possibly leading to
neglect and pain,” she explained.
She said the center is there to help and become an
advocate for the family, and really, “what else is more important than family?”
Smart also wants to empower children so that when they are faced with
unthinkable situations they will know what to do.
The Elizabeth Smart Foundation is working on implementing the radKIDS program
at schools across the country. The program teaches children
to recognize, avoid and escape dangerous situations.
http://deseretnews.com/article/705390896/Elizabeth-Smart-shares-her-story-to-help-raise-money-to-help-victims-of-abuse.html