Giving Voice to the Needs of Children

ORANGE —  The 6-year-old boy’s parents kept telling him he was trash. So finally, he climbed in the family’s trash can and waited to be taken out with the garbage.

Few acknowledge that such sad stories unfold in Orange County--but they do, along with horrific tales of physical abuse, said child advocate Faith Manners, who will join hundreds of thousands of people today at a national march for children’s rights.

“Unfortunately, I think sometimes in the inner city in Los Angeles, there’s more of a perception to reach out to children,” said Manners, 31, of Orange. “[There’s] the idea that things like that don’t happen in the best neighborhoods of Irvine or Newport [Beach], but they do.”

Manners and two others from the nonprofit Casita de San Jose in Orange will march in the “Stand for Children” demonstration in Washington, sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund. Organizers hope the march to the Lincoln Memorial will raise the nation’s consciousness about children the way the Million Man March spotlighted African Americans last October.

Meanwhile, two Orange County rallies for children are scheduled today to coincide with the national event.

Dozens of local rallies are scheduled nationwide, said Carla Bailey, a Children’s Defense Fund spokeswoman. And more than 400 national, state and local groups have endorsed the march.

“Everyone is just overwhelmed,” Bailey said. “[People are saying], ‘It’s going to be a turning point for our children.’ ”

Local participants include Janet Reynolds, a 42-year-old coordinator at Casita de San Jose, which provides shelter and finds foster homes for abused children.

Her husband, James Reynolds, heard about the march and offered to pay the plane fare for three Casita de San Jose participants, including volunteer Jeanne Parsons, 31.

The march is a dramatic way to turn the public’s attention to children who need help, said Parsons, a criminalist for the Long Beach Police Department. Again and again, she hears the puzzled remarks of visitors to Casita de San Jose’s group homes.

“A lot of times, groups come and don’t know quite what to expect,” said Parsons, a Seal Beach resident. “I hear comments like, ‘She’s so cute. How could anyone want to hurt her?’ It brings them into the reality that it could happen anywhere.”

The national event comes at a critical time for Orange County child care advocates, Manners said. The 1994 county bankruptcy forced funding cuts that more than doubled the caseloads of social workers who track abused children.

Other Orange County marchers will include 63-year-old Martha Killefer of Newport Beach, a longtime advocate for children.

Today, her church, St. John the Divine Episcopal in Costa Mesa, will sponsor a family picnic in honor of the march from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Killefer is scheduled to call in from the Lincoln Memorial via cellular phone.

Also, in Santa Ana, Orange County Head Start will sponsor a rally for residents who can’t make it to the march. Head Start distributed more than 1,000 fliers at day care centers and schools, inviting people to the Santa Ana Bowl, also known as Eddie West Field, for speeches by child advocates and for entertainment.

“It’s just a statement of all the people in Orange County who have a definite commitment to children and care what happens [to them] on a day-to-day basis,” said Elaine Coggins, a Head Start manager.