NEW YORK News

Rochester NY ---- More than 300 riders gathered at Total Sports Experience this morning
for the 10th anniversary of the 100-mile bike ride benefiting the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This year's riders were joined by special guest Ed Smart -- the
father of Elizabeth Smart who was kidnapped in 2002 and then discovered
alive nine months later. Smart will join the riders as they go through
the streets of Monroe County, stopping at area schools to bring the
message of safety.
Ed Suk of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
said, “It's a goose bump feeling you know? It's really incredible when
you see so many people from the greater Rochester area and beyond. We
have riders from Utica and Syracuse that come into this ride. Taking
time out of their lives to train for this to raise money for this, to be
here for this is very heart warming.”
Organizers are hoping to raise about $110,000 this year that will go
toward child safety programs that address real world and internet
safety.

UTICA —


14: This year marks the 14th Ride for Missing Children
The 14th Ride for Missing Children Central New York will take place
Friday. There are five Rides for Missing Children in New York state. The
CNY Ride was joined by a Rochester event in 2000, a Fingerlakes Ride in
2002, The Ride for Missing Children – New York Metro in 2006, a Buffalo
event, in 2007, and The Ride for Missing Children, Capital District in
2008. The goal of every event is the same as it was when 43 riders biked
from the State Capital to Utica in 1997: “Make our children safer … One
child at a time.”
17: The number of schools involved with the ride this year
Five stops are scheduled at schools along the route. At stops, riders
give educational program about personal safety, which includes
discussion of the buddy system and saying “no,” and about telling
someone when a child is in an uncomfortable situation. Riders will also
“ride by” 11 schools to raise awareness about child safety. (Students at
one additional school will be brought to the ride route to wave and
cheer the riders on).
90: Approximately the number of miles each rider will pedal on
Friday
Each year, the ride route is approximately 100 miles. This year, the
route is a slightly shorter 90 miles. It begins at the State Police
Troop D headquarters in Oneida with an opening ceremony. The ride, which
begins at 7:45 a.m., heads east to Westmoreland and Clinton, south to
Ilion and Herkimer, then north to the Mid-State Correctional Facility
and, finally, travels down Genesee Street to the New Hartford Recreation
Center. There, riders meet friends, family and the community for Safety
Fest. The ride will take approximately 11 hours; riders are expected to
arrive in New Hartford around 6:30 p.m.
450: The approximate number of riders who will participate this year
The event draws volunteers and participants from all over the Mohawk
Valley. The number of riders increased steadily each year; approximately
400 riders took part last year.
2,000: The minimum number of fliers funded by each rider
Each rider pledges to raise enough money for 2,000 fliers ($500) to
support the poster distribution efforts by the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children-Mohawk Valley branch (NCMEC-MV). The ride
is the organization’s largest fundraiser.
6,663,786: The number of posters distributed
From its inception in September 1995 until April 2010, the NCMEC-MV has
distributed more than 6.6 million posters of 5,958 missing children. Of
those nearly 6,000 children, 4,266 are currently listed as
“successfully recovered.”
To make a donation:
To donate, send checks written to “NCMEC-NY/Mohawk Valley” to
NCMEC-NY/Mohawk Valley, 934 York St., Utica, NY 13502. To donate in
support of a specific rider, put their name in the memo section.
Donations are tax-deductable. If your full name and address are not
already printed on your check, include so you can receive a thank you
letter and IRS acknowledgement letter from the center.
For more information, visit www.therideformissingchildren.com

New York state will likely soon enact groundbreaking legislation to
restore parental rights in limited cases to neglectful parents who have
been rehabilitated. Only a few other states, including California and
Washington, have enacted similar laws to help restore families. Although
New York Bill A8524/S03868 is necessary to help some of the many
children waiting in foster care "limbo" with no prospects of adoption to
return to safe and loving families, it wouldn't need to exist in a
world that cared more about keeping families safe and together.
More than 8,000 children in New York were in foster care waiting to
be adopted in 2006, the most recent year for which numbers are
available. (New York state has the third highest number of children
waiting nationwide.) As is true with children in foster care nationwide,
they are disproportionately from low-income or minority households.
Adoptive families are scarce for many of these children. Many,
especially older children or those with special needs, live for years in
foster care as legal orphans after their parents' rights have been
terminated. The sad statistics reveal that children in the United States
remain in foster care an average of 38 months after a termination. Many
will remain in foster care throughout adolescence without being
adopted.
Often, these children maintain a relationship with the person who is
the only parent they have ever known — regardless of whether that person
remains the legal parent. And youth frequently return to their birth
parents after they "age out" of foster care at 18. As one teenage client
once told me, "I don't care what they say. She'll always be my mom. A
piece of paper doesn't change that."
Children whose parents' rights have been terminated need a permanent
legal connection to an adult — something that the foster care system is
not designed to provide. The pending legislation would allow parents who
are rehabilitated to have their rights restored if a court rules that
restoration is in the child's best interests. There are numerous
safeguards in the legislation so that restoration occurs only when the
parent is capable of caring for the child in a loving and safe home. The
parents' rights must have been terminated more than two years before,
termination cannot have been on the basis of serious abuse and both the
child protection agency and the child must consent.
Although efforts to reform current policy are admirable, they do not
get to the root of the problem. The tragic thing is that, in many cases,
the parents' rights shouldn't have to be terminated in the first place.
Certainly, some parents abuse their children or cannot care for them
safely. Yet most parents lose their rights because of "permanent
neglect," a nebulous designation often masking the real problem plaguing
these families — poverty. Many children end up in foster care because
their families do not have adequate housing, appropriate child care or
access to services such as drug and alcohol rehabilitation, parenting
support, domestic violence shelters or respite care.
Recognizing this socioeconomic disparity, 85% of states have
identified poverty as one of the top two challenges facing families
reported to child protective services. But services supporting families
are in short supply, and preventive services to help families at risk of
involvement in the child welfare system are now being drastically cut.
It is both morally wrong and economically foolish to focus our resources
on paying for the administrative costs of terminating parental rights
and then reversing them. Instead, we should spend resources to help
families grow strong and healthy, so that they are not torn apart in the
first place.
New York is a leader on many issues important to children and
families — for instance, offering state child and earned-income tax
credits to help working families, mandating some paid family leave and
expanding coverage of public health insurance for children beyond the
national minimum. The New York state Legislature should follow the
example of other family-­friendly states and enact legislation restoring
families. But why not set a better example still, by helping to keep
them together in the first place?

Cynthia Godsoe is an instructor of law at Brooklyn Law School.
Previously, she represented children and youth in delinquency, education
and child-protective matters.

For the fifth year in a row, the New York State Legislature will fail
to pass a child sex
abuse law that would have given victims more time to file suit
against their abuser, as well as the institutions that may have enabled
their abuse. According to The New York Times, the Child Victims Act was
defeated in a Senate committee on Wednesday, a development which likely
means the bill is dead for the remainder of this legislative session.
The measure was defeated by a 9-6 vote of the Senate Codes Committee.
According to the Times, all of the committee’s Republican members,
along with two Democrats, opposed the bill.


Those voting no included:
John J. Bonacic, Republican, 42nd District
Neil D. Breslin, Democrat, 48th District
John A. DeFrancisco, Republican, 50th District
John J. Flanagan, Republican, 2nd District
Martin J. Golden, Republican, 22nd District
Jeffrey D. Klein, Democrat, 34th District
Andrew J Lanza, Republican, 24th District
Stephen M. Saland, Republican, 41st District
Dale M. Volker, Republican, 59th District

Those voting yes included:
Thomas K. Duane, Democrat, 29th District
Kevin S. Parker, Democrat, 21st District
Bill Perkins, Democrat, 30th District
John L. Sampson, Democrat, 19th District
Eric T. Schneiderman, Democrat, 31st District
Daniel L. Squadron, Democrat, 25th District
Shirley L. Huntley, Democrat,10th District

As we’ve reported previously, the Child Victims Act would have
enacted a one-time, one-year suspension of the statute of limitations
for sex abuse lawsuits. It has long been opposed by the Catholic Church
and several Orthodox Jewish groups, who could have faced substantial
liabilities had it been enacted. But it was hoped that new revelations
about the Catholic Church hierarchy’s mishandling of abuse claims would
spark more support for the bill.
Despite the defeat, the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey,
a Queens Democrat, said even this setback represented progress.
“Our bill has never even come to a vote before in the Senate,” she
said. “So we feel this was an important step.”

Tonight, Canon U.S.A., Inc., The National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children(R) (NCMEC) and the New York Yankees once
again take the field to help raise greater awareness of issues related
to locating missing children at Canon's seventh annual promotional night
at Yankee Stadium, when the Yankees take on the Kansas City Royals.
During a pre-game ceremony, Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president
and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A., will present
John Walsh, co-founder of NCMEC and host of the television series
"America's Most Wanted," with a $442,300 check, representing the
cumulative value of donations by Canon USA in 2010.
"Canon's long-standing commitment to protecting children and building a
better world is reflected in our corporate philosophy, kyosei --
all people, regardless of race, religion, or culture, harmoniously
living and working together into the future," said Joe Adachi, president
and chief executive officer, Canon U.S.A. "We are extremely proud that
Canon has worked with NCMEC and the New York Yankees to bring into focus
the many ways digital cameras, printers and photos can play a
significant role in helping to locate missing children. To date, 545
missing children featured in Canon4Kids PSAs have been recovered."
For more than a decade, Canon U.S.A. and NCMEC have partnered to educate
the public about the growing issue of missing and exploited children.
The Canon4Kids program, sponsored by Canon U.S.A. and NCMEC,
raises public awareness about child abduction, exploitation and the
power of photos to keep children safer. The program's website (www.usa.canon.com/Canon4Kids)
educates parents and guardians on how to take and maintain updated
photos of their children and offers an Emergency Action Plan for parents
who believe their child may be missing. In addition, the Canon4Kids
program promotes child safety and awareness through various public
service announcements and public events which feature photos of missing
children, parental safety tips, as well as the NCMEC hotline (1.800.THE.LOST).
"When searching for a missing child a good, current photograph can be
the single most important tool," said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of
NCMEC. "We are extremely grateful that Canon is working so closely with
us and supporting our efforts anyway they can by providing vital
technology to many police departments across America. Together, we are
saving lives, keeping children safer and reuniting families."
As part of the Canon4Kids program, more than 1,925 pieces of
donated Canon equipment (digital cameras, fax-phones, printers and
scanners) have been distributed to law enforcement agencies in all 50
states and Puerto Rico. The program also includes the placement of
public service announcements with photographs of missing children in
newspapers and magazines across the country to help in the recovery process.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children(R)
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984,
the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing
children's hotline which has handled more than 2,475,300 calls. It has
assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 151,300 children.
The organization's CyberTipline has handled more than 918,230 reports of
child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program
has reviewed and analyzed more than 35,420,600 pornography images and
videos. The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department
of Justice's office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To
learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at
1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com.