This is about the abuse of children by those who should be trusted figures. Listen with care.
Episode 78, part two of my conversation with Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, host of Open Investigation, the 9-part investigative podcast, and documentary filmmaker of "Have You Seen Andy?", we explore classism, child exploitation, and the vital role of advocacy in creating safer communities for all children and adult survivors of CSA, revealing dark realities and how society was largely silent or ignorant to such horrors. Horrors like the institutional failures that allowed predators to thrive, from widespread clergy abuse, to sex abuse rings and their use of CB radios in targeting children. We see the role of advocacy with the creation of the sex offender registry and A.M.B.E.R. Alert System, established because of children like Jacob Wetterling, Johnny Gosch, Etan Patz, Adam Walsh, and Amber Hagerman, emphasizing the need for legislative reforms to protect our most vulnerable.
Kristen Lombardi, reported on clergy sex abuse for the Boston Phoenix before the Spotlight team broke the story on a larger scale
Gisèle Pelicot, SA survivor who refuses to stay anonymous
Ann Burgess, Boston nurse and author how studies America’s Most Notorious in order to stop them
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score
Judy Herman, Truth and Repair
Sister Cathy Cesnik, her murder is at the center of The Keepers doc
SNAP Network, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Other missing and murdered child cases we mention:
Jacob Wetterling - Passed House amended (09/23/1997)
Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offenders Registration Improvements Act of 1997 - Amends the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act (the Act) (title XVII, subtitle A, of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (VCCLEA)) regarding sex offender registration programs to repeal a requirement that a person required to register do so with a designated State law enforcement agency.
Photos from episode 78: Andy's school photo, little Melanie with the spirit of '76, Higgins Pools 1973 - opened a few years before Andy disappeared, Faith Puglisi during the search for Andy, The AMBER Alert, Lawrence during the years of booming textile production, Bread and Roses Strike of 1912, Bread and Roses Heritage Festival's 2024 banner
Sources