Will Robert Have a Happy New Year?

Happy New Year! The words roll so easily off our tongues, but even as I say the words, I wonder if little Robert’s New Year will be happy.

Standing here in my second floor office at the Mission, I see the filthy, dangerous streets of the inner city, and I wonder what kind of New Year it will be for thousands of lost, lonely, homeless people – especially children like little Robert.

Robert came to Fred Jordan Mission’s children’s programs, and one afternoon he let out a painful cry as one of our children's staff hugged him.

"What's wrong, Robert," she asked. "Oh, nothing, nothing."

But the electrical cord from his father’s beatings had left welts on his skinny little arms and back, and blood was seeping through the long-sleeved shirt he wore, in an effort to try to cover up his father’s cruelty.

Our staff tried to talk with Robert’s father when they took the terrified child home, but the father screamed, “Don’t ever come back, or you’re dead!”

We reported the horrible abuse to Children’s Services, but when the caseworker went to the flophouse where the family lived, Robert’s father threatened him with a gun, and the caseworker never went back.

When we tried to visit Robert again, we found that this cruel father had moved his family away, and this frightened little child was separated from the only loving adults he had ever known.

Robert’s story is still very painful for me. But even more appalling is the fact that every 10 seconds there is a report of child abuse in this nation! And experts believe that at least double that number are never reported.

Blessings,

Willie L. Jordan