Your Child's Safety, Your Piece of Mind ~ Priceless: SafeKidZone.com

My life has been very enriched, quite rewarding, even blessed.

With a wonderful, very involved husband, 

a brilliant, beautiful daughter, 

a creative and caring son 

and even  a furry, four-legged son who still likes to snuggle with Mom, unlike his two-legged siblings, 

I've been quite content.

We bought our "diamond in the rough" dream house a couple of years ago,

we adore our neighbors and graceful neighborhood,

our school district is the epicenter of our community, 

full of friends we've met as our children have progressed from grade to grade.

My husband and I both enjoy job security.

We are grateful to be able to offer children a variety of opportunities,

to expand their minds and horizons.

Pretty idyllic, right?

That was until almost a year ago,

when our lives crumbled,

our hearts shattered.

Ten months ago, almost to the day,

When our brilliant, beautiful girl

was raped.

There was no advance warning.

She has never been one to cause or get into trouble.

She didn't hang out with the "wrong" kids.

She is an honor students and has lettered in three sports.

We live in Middle Class Suburbia, USA.

We are YOU.

It is difficult to say if we will ever truly heal from the horrific experience.

Just when we get a respite from it,

a moment to breath, to concentrate on something else,

we are pulled right back in.

The case against defendant two (of four) begins a week from tomorrow.

Prior to now, I have maintained this blog as my "happy place",

my escape,

my normality.

However, as some degree of healing occurs, I am overwhelm with a need to protect more.

More communities, 

more families,

more women,

more brilliant, beautiful girls.

The statistics are simply repugnant.

From RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network):

 On a similar, just as unsettling topic, from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,

The U.S. Department of Justice reports

• 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day.
• 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.
• 58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions.
• 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. (These crimes involve someone the child does not know or someone of slight acquaintance, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.)

[Andrea J. Sedlak, David Finkelhor, Heather Hammer, and Dana J. Schultz. U.S. Department of Justice. "National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview" in National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, October 2002, page 5.]

Out of my desire to be more vocal on this topic,
more of an advocate for safety than a victim,
That's What She Said is partnering with SafeKidZone.com
to spread awareness,
                       to protect,
                                   to prevent.

                                    

Since our tragedy occurred,
despite being professionally advised to not restrict my daughter's activities,
I am simply terrified when she is out of my sight, my protective reach.

SafeKidZone offers a downloadable cell phone app that will provide me with a greater sense of security, more peace of mind when I'm not with my children.

Protect Your Family Anywhere, Anytime

• Your child can summon immediate help with the push of a Panic Button
• You are instantly alerted when and where your child is in danger
• Direct call routing to nearest 911 responder

The SafeKidZone app goes beyond the pre-programmed, standard emergency button currently on your child's phone.  

When pressed, the SafeKidZone Panic Button is routed to the SafeKidZone 24/7 Call Center, as well as sending alerts everyone in your personal security circle via email and text, starting a live conference call between all parties, while locating your child via GPS.  If the issue is not immediately resolvable, the Call Center immediately connects to the nearest 911 center, providing them with your child's Emergency Safety Profile, including vital statistics, medical information, photograph and special circumstances, without the need or delay of working through a series of questions with an emergency operator.  

All of this secured personal information, as input by you, is accessible and easily edited by logging into your SafeKidZone account, giving you the ability to keep your child's Emergency Safety Profile up to date as they grow or their personal information changes.

SafeKidZone offers even more helpful features to assist you in keeping your child safe, from Threat Level Alerts that help your child steer clear of dangerous areas, to detailed Crime Data/Sex Offender Map, and even an automatic Audio Recording  when the Panic Button is depressed.

The SafeKidZone App is worth its weight in gold, but is surprisingly affordable, with Mobile Trec offering a FREE limited services program to keep your children safe and the full services program for only $9.95 a month!  You can get a 15 day free trial simply by liking SafeKidZone on Facebook.  

While we test the SafeKidZone App at That's What She Said, we will provide a series of features, outlining our experiences, applications and advantages of the program.  Watch for more reports from "the field".

Its nearly back to school time.

You've likely had all the important safety discussions with your children.

They've probably had special programs on safety at school.

In all likelihood, you've carefully discussed events that you've learned of in the news, the tragedies of others motivating yet another conversation about staying safe.

We did all those things.

We had even broader conversations with our brilliant, beautiful daughter.

And yet, we are another count in the statistics.

You can NEVER do enough.

Safe Kid Resources

Thank you to Mobile Trec for sponsoring the introduction to SafeKidZone.  Images and information sourced from Mobile Trec and various SafeKidZone sites.  The opinions above are both honest and my own.  Statistics sources cited within body of feature.