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| Shawn Hornbeck "helping to prevent abductions" - |
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padpradasha
 Posted:
Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:34 pm |
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Shawn Hornbeck "helping to prevent abductions"
Kidnapping victim Shawn Hornbeck is helping to prevent abductions
By KEVIN MURPHY
The Kansas City Star
11/11/2007
With Michael Devlin’s recent guilty plea, kidnapping victim Shawn Hornbeck is turning more attention to preventing other abductions and may begin speaking about that publicly, his stepfather said.
Shawn, 16, is active in the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation, formed after he disappeared in late 2002. Shawn was recovered in January with another kidnapping victim, Ben Ownby, at Devlin’s St. Louis area apartment.
Shawn’s foundation has been busy distributing child ID kits to help police more quickly release photos and information if a child goes missing. The foundation also conducts classes and forums on how to guard against abductions.
“We’ve been talking to Shawn about him perhaps talking to groups of children,” stepfather Craig Akers said. “We think this will happen. He has a strong desire to keep children safe.”
Devlin pleaded guilty last month to abducting and sexually abusing Shawn and Ben, now 14. Devlin kidnapped Shawn while he rode his bike in Richwoods, Mo., and Ben after he got off a school bus in January in rural Beaufort, Mo. Devlin is imprisoned in St. Joseph for evaluation and is serving life sentences.
The boys’ kidnappings and recovery drew national notoriety and alarm. The crimes motivated many parents to be more cautious with their children, for which Akers is thankful. But they also were a sad reminder of how times have changed, he said.
“It is difficult to let kids be kids — to let them go for a bicycle ride on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and trust that everything will be all right,” Akers said. “The sad fact is we can’t treat our kids the way we were treated. It’s not the same world we grew up in.”
When Shawn returned home after four years with Devlin, he wanted the foundation in his name to continue.
“He could have backed out, but it was his decision as well as his parents’ to move forward,” said Sherri Martin, foundation administrator. “He emphatically wanted no child to go through what he went through.”
The foundation has issued the free IDs for several years, but the number jumped by 150 percent after Shawn’s rescue, Martin said. Parents get plastic cards containing digital photos of their children along with identifying information.
Shawn sometimes helps other foundation volunteers make IDs at school and community events, Martin said. The foundation has five to seven events monthly, Martin said.
Another Missouri group that distributes child IDs also has seen heightened interest since the kidnapping of Shawn and Ben.
The Missouri Child Identification Program, called MoCHIP, issued about 25,000 ID kits this year — twice as many as in the previous year, said Nick Cichielo, state coordinator.
“It went through the roof,” Cichielo said. “There was definitely an increase in awareness and participation.” The free kits are assembled and distributed at various community events and fairs, he said.
Volunteers for MoCHIP, which is sponsored by Masonic groups in Missouri, issue kits that not only have a child’s picture and identifying information on a card but also dental impressions, digital fingerprints and photos that are put on a small computer disc.
While the interest in IDs has grown, most parents don’t take the time to get one, Cichielo said.
“What we struggle with and keep plugging away on is that many parents don’t think this is important and it will never happen to them,” Cichielo said.
Akers acknowledged that is a problem. He recently noticed a child standing alone at the end of a long gravel driveway in the country, waiting for a school bus.
“It irritated me in one sense, but then on the other hand, it makes you realize how important the message we put out there is,” Akers said.
Akers said that children should not be left alone and that being with another child is much better protection than being alone.
Although he helps the foundation educate kids and parents, Shawn is mainly busy catching up on his education at a private school in St. Louis, Akers said. He also is getting counseling, Akers said.
Shawn is getting all A’s in school and is up to nearly an eighth-grade level, Akers said. “We are confident by the end of the school year, he will be up to his grade level,” Akers said. Someone Shawn’s age would normally be in the 10th grade.
Ben’s parents did not return a reporter’s call. Ben attends middle school in Union, Mo., and seems to be doing well, school superintendent Ve Ann Tilson said.
“Really, everyone is trying to get back to life as normal,” Tilson said.
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| wvgirl
Posted:
Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:05 pm |
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Thanks, pad. What an impressive young man Shaun is.
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| Isanah
Posted:
Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:08 am |
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Yes, TY Pad! This story is dear to my heart. It was one of the most happiest days I have ever had by simply hearing the good news that they not only found Ben, but also found Shaun! It was such a joyous feelings, and I didn't even know them. I can not imagine how wonderful it must have felt for those parents to get the news that their boys were found and were ALIVE! There isn't enough miracle moments in life like this when crimes are committed against children and there is a positive outcome amidst the tragedy! 
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| pausebreak
Posted:
Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:44 am |
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I am overjoyed that Shawn and Ben were found. I just hope both families get some serious psychological counseling. I am always drawn back to Steven Stainer's story with Shawn and can't help to wonder if the Stainer family's lives might have turned out differently if more time had been spent counseling the entire family. I wish nothing but the best for Shawn and Ben's families. They have all been to hell and back.
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Soopa Soopa Bitch !!
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| smartlap
Posted:
Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:26 pm |
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He didn't even help prevent Little Ben's abduction....how the hell is he going to help prevent others....
we'll be reading about him in 10 years...just like daddy devlin
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| Seraph
Posted:
Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:03 am |
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| smartlap wrote: | He didn't even help prevent Little Ben's abduction....how the hell is he going to help prevent others....
we'll be reading about him in 10 years...just like daddy devlin |
Do you base your opinion on BhamMom's theory? The abused have a 'tendency' to abuse. My, how sweet, she will be so proud, validation at last!
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| BhamMom
Posted:
Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:00 am |
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| Seraph wrote: |
Do you base your opinion on BhamMom's theory? The abused have a 'tendency' to abuse. My, how sweet, she will be so proud, validation at last! |
I'm not asking for validation at all. That is one of the reasons why abused people are encouraged to seek help. Then again Seraph, lets apply this to animal abuse. Maybe you need to read what you post. I commented on Vick possibly not subjecting his children to the animal abuse and believe he could be rehabilitated and his kids needed him. Of course that abuse was to animals and you think the worse. Then again, you posted some articles about abuse then and I will repeat something that you posted. The following is something you posted on the Animal Forum and psychologists will generally tell you this applies to any adult abuse, not just animal cruelty.
Why?
Children who come from violent backgrounds are more likely to display such behaviour, but it isn't always that simple. Case studies have brought to light a multitude of issues that may have led a child towards cruelty to animals, but some issues recur in many case studies: parental alcoholism, feelings of neglect and being unloved, domestic violence, overly domineering parent(s), sexual and/or physical abuse within the home, lack of attention and/or affection and rejection. However, according to Fernando Tapia, professor of psychiatry at the University of Missouri, "The etiological background of gross parental neglect, brutality, rejection and hostility seems very common, although not essential." Certainly, some violent children come from loving homes where other siblings are perfectly well adjusted. In Tapia's research, a number of these cases were explained away by physical illnesses which had caused mild brain damage.
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| Seraph
Posted:
Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:24 am |
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| BhamMom wrote: |
I'm not asking for validation at all. That is one of the reasons why abused people are encouraged to seek help. Then again Seraph, lets apply this to animal abuse. Maybe you need to read what you post. I commented on Vick possibly not subjecting his children to the animal abuse and believe he could be rehabilitated and his kids needed him. Of course that abuse was to animals and you think the worse. Then again, you posted some articles about abuse then and I will repeat something that you posted. The following is something you posted on the Animal Forum and psychologists will generally tell you this applies to any adult abuse, not just animal cruelty.
Why?
Children who come from violent backgrounds are more likely to display such behaviour, but it isn't always that simple. Case studies have brought to light a multitude of issues that may have led a child towards cruelty to animals, but some issues recur in many case studies: parental alcoholism, feelings of neglect and being unloved, domestic violence, overly domineering parent(s), sexual and/or physical abuse within the home, lack of attention and/or affection and rejection. However, according to Fernando Tapia, professor of psychiatry at the University of Missouri, "The etiological background of gross parental neglect, brutality, rejection and hostility seems very common, although not essential." Certainly, some violent children come from loving homes where other siblings are perfectly well adjusted. In Tapia's research, a number of these cases were explained away by physical illnesses which had caused mild brain damage. |
BhamMom, Actually I'm sorry that I appear to be constantly having a go at you. Abuse of any kind is such a serious issue that I see red when I think that it is mentioned in a cavalier and casual manner on many threads. It is extremely difficult to get a child abuse case to court and even harder for the child to get any kind of justice. The usual defence is to claim to be a 'victim' of abuse. True or false it can never be an excuse, anyone of us is capable of abuse. When someone abuses animals, to me it is an indicator that there is no regard for anything that is vulnerable or weaker than themselves, children in particular. The gratification and feeling of superiority and power is short lived. Despite court directed intervention, I have never in all my years of social work ever known a perpetrator to be 'rehabilitated'. As I said, this particular issue infuriates me, end of rant.
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| BhamMom
Posted:
Mon Dec 31, 2007 5:17 am |
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[quote="Seraph"]
Last edited by BhamMom on Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:49 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Seraph
Posted:
Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:33 am |
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BhamMom, Please don't assume that 'as a Social Worker I am not trained to listen'. I do not feel the need to discuss my Curriculum Vitae, Qualifications, work related or personal experience on this board., other than in general terms. I was acknowledging that I respond to your posts and why. Your response did not relate to my post and I have no intention of challenging your many misleading concepts on the subject. I do not wish to know any of your personal life history. You appear to be trapped in Maslow's pyramid, I hope you reach the top.
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| BhamMom
Posted:
Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:59 am |
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| Seraph wrote: | | BhamMom, Please don't assume that 'as a Social Worker I am not trained to listen'. I do not feel the need to discuss my Curriculum Vitae, Qualifications, work related or personal experience on this board., other than in general terms. I was acknowledging that I respond to your posts and why. Your response did not relate to my post and I have no intention of challenging your many misleading concepts on the subject. I do not wish to know any of your personal life history. You appear to be trapped in Maslow's pyramid, I hope you reach the top. |
That's the whole point, Seraph. How did your initial post above relate to what I said to you? You wanted to go after me in a response to Walter. You assume things that are not true. I made a comment in a post about something and stated "has a tendency" and you twisted that into something it wasn't. When I found a post that you had made that pretty much stated the same thing that my post including the "having a tendency."
I have different ideas from you but that doesn't make me wrong, you right or vice versa. The human element can be good sometimes, especially when people are so nasty. If you know things about people and they are nasty to you, you can understand it and overlook it at times.
All I'm saying it pays to be objective instead of judgemental.
This is what you said:
BhamMom, Please don't assume that 'as a Social Worker I am not trained to listen'
My response to you was a question in my previous post. I asked you the question that as a social worker were you not trained to listen? Again, those are typed words and you took them to mean something they were not. Another way to ask this question would be, as a social worker are you trained to listen? The same meaning as you stated in my above bolded. The reason I phrased it the way I did was because I know that social workers are trained to listen and I was simply stating it in that manner because I knew the answer.
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