help to fight neglect and abuse.

And its campaign received the backing of America's powerful Child Welfare League at a meeting this week.

Southern Regional Welfare Co-ordinator for the US organisation, Mr. Mark Riley spoke to Bermudians at the Hamilton Princess.

The Child Welfare League, based in Washington DC, has been established for 72 years, and includes 700 public and private agencies, with 175,000 staff dealing with two million children annually throughout North America.

Mr. Riley is director of the Children's Campaign, a national network of advocates for children, which devoted itself to making the health, education and safety of children a priority during the US political campaign.

He called on Bermudians to become advocates to watch over the welfare of children on the Island.

Mr. Riley said: "Regarding children, I believe Bermudians and Americans have a lot in common. The problems you have here are similar to our problems although in the US they are infinitely greater because of the size of the population of the States.

"I congratulate the Coalition for coming into existence. It is needed. Child advocacy is critically needed.'' Mr. Riley expressed amazement at the fact that little change had been made to Bermuda's Child Protection Act of 1943.

He said: "That is a long time and there had to be a lot of changes here over 50 years. Children cannot wait 50 years. They cannot wait five minutes for good work to be done.'' Already the Bermuda Coalition for the Protection of Children has spoken to ministers about ending corporal punishment in schools and treatment of sex offenders. They have also established a task force to look at the 1943 Act and a self help group for survivors of sexual abuse.

Child advocates have been described as people acting on behalf of children whose roles include protector, mediator, supporter and negotiator.

But Mr. Riley had another description. He said: "It's a person who speaks up, steps out, rabble rouses, organises, rocks the boat, detests the status quo and speaks the truth with passion in order to improve the lives of children.

"We are all advocates for our own children and we should do the same for other kids. Do not stop until the job is done, until every child has a decent life.'' Mr. Riley said that the status quo in the US is not a pretty picture, with more than two and a half million reported cases of neglect in 1991 alone.

He said: "It is rampant. There are a lot of reasons why it continues to exist, like greed, denial, power, violence and apathy. Attitudes like `it's not my concern' allow this stuff to fester.'' In politics the Child Welfare League is faced with politicians who do not see children as advantageous as they try to win votes, he said. The League has changed that view and will continue to do so.

Mr. Riley stressed that people who cared about children should only vote for politicians who put children on their agenda for change. He stressed that some politicians are not to blame but said that there were some self-serving people in Congress. Members of the audience said they believed Bermuda also has some people like that.

Mr. Riley added: "My message is Hallelujah that you are doing this. You must be prepared to make sacrifices because our kids are counting on us and our future depends on them.'' The Bermuda Coalition will hold a symposium in February and begin working on skill development among its 60 members.