Andrew Vachss: Champion of Children
A Lawyer Who's Seen It All Reveals the Worst Form of Abuse
By Cat Saunders
Author's Note from 11/28/04: This is an "outlawed"
article that refuses to be silenced. On November 5th, 2004, it was submitted
to one of my longtime publishers for use as my regular column in the December
2004 issue of their magazine.
A week later, the editor (a relative newcomer to the magazine) contacted
me to say he would not publish the piece, because he was concerned about
being sued by the man who is mentioned in a personal story included in
the article.
The editor persisted in his refusal to publish the column, even though
I did not use the man's name and only shared basic information that is
already public record in regard to court cases involving the man's harassment
of his daughter (a minor), his ex-wife, and me.
I know from getting my own legal advice that this article does not
overstep any bounds legally or professionally. Therefore, I've decided
to publish the piece online in hopes that this information can help prevent
abuse and save other children from harm.
Andrew Vachss (pronounced "Vax") is one of my most beloved heroes.
It's not because I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about him. Vachss
is my hero because he goes after child predators like a wolf after prey,
and he always wins. This guy is a warrior cum laude.
Before I made direct contact with Vachss in July 2000, I watched him from
afar for about ten years. I followed his work to see if my initial respect
for him would hold up under the test of time. Actually, my respect for
him has grown.
Some people refer to Vachss as "that lawyer with the eye patch."
He is a lawyer with an eye patch, but that description doesn't say much.
Vachss is famous for his series of crime novels featuring a character
named Burke, but it's his other writing–as an advocate for children–that
gets my blood pumping. His relentless pursuit of child predators inspires
me and gives me more courage to stand up to abusive people in my own life.
In August of 2003, my partner, John Giovine, and I were granted a ten-year
Protection Order against the father of a 15-year-old girl whom I counsel.
Instead of taking any responsibility for his actions, this man denies
he's ever hurt anyone. He blames me and his ex-wife for the fact that
his daughter wants no contact with him, even though she stopped seeing
him before I started counseling her.
The man's ex-wife of twelve years has a Protection Order, and his daughter
was recently granted a Restraining Order against him. Their cases as well
as mine are matters of public record, and my client and her mother gave
me permission to write about this.
December 2004 (when this column was first published) marked 20 months
of dealing with this man's repeated attacks on my personal and professional
integrity. Those months have included countless hours of pro bono advocacy
work both behind the scenes and directly, writing testimony to support
my client's case in King County Superior Court as well as in Family Court.
The situation has also involved several interactions with the Seattle
Police Department (whose officers have been respectful and supportive
without exception). The SPD arrested and temporarily jailed the man because
of his threats toward me in August 2003, and they've taken additional
action since then in regard to other incidents of harassment involving
me as well as his ex-wife.
Throughout this intense and exhausting saga, what keeps me going is my
absolute conviction that children deserve protection. Since this young
woman doesn't feel safe with her father, it's my job–as her advocate–to
help her get whatever she needs to feel safe. Although the father of my
client has not caused direct physical harm to his ex-wife, his daughter,
or myself, his threats of physical violence, his lewd sexual language
and profane name-calling, and his other forms of psychological abuse have
wreaked havoc in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
My hero, Andrew Vachss, has numerous enemies (I'm sure he's on every pedophile's
hit list) who attack his work publicly and would like to see him dead.
Yet he keeps going in the face of all odds, because the children he protects
are more important than his own comfort. If Vachss can put up with all
that hate to advocate for countless children worldwide, I figure I can
put up with one man's hate to defend the welfare of one child.
Vachss understands the soul-murdering destructiveness of psychological
abuse. Like Alice Miller, a renowned child advocate and another one of
my heroes, Vachss really gets it about the seriousness of emotional abuse.
In the article "You Carry the Cure in Your Own Heart" (Parade
Magazine 8/28/94), Vachss writes:
People who know what I do always ask: "What is the worst case
you ever handled?" When you're in a business where a baby who dies
early may be the luckiest child in the family, there's no easy answer.
But I have thought about it–I think about it every day. My answer
is that, of all the many forms of child abuse, emotional abuse may be
the cruelest and longest-lasting of all.
I'm a helping professional who thinks responsibility is the number one
issue in life. That's why I love Andrew Vachss: because he takes responsibility,
he inspires others to take responsibility, and he goes after the most
irresponsible people of all–those who abuse children.
To learn more about Andrew Vachss and his work, please visit www.vachss.com.
To learn more about how you can help to protect children, please visit:
National
Organization to PROTECT Children (a
national, nonpartisan, pro-child, anti-crime membership organization dedicated
to the protection of children).
To read Cat's personal tribute to Vachss on this Web site, please
click here.
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