My best friend sent me a text on Friday, "26-year-old Boise Mom killer her son, no one's talking about it, something to keep an eye on." Tragic.

It couldn't have been ten minutes later my phone rang with alerts regarding this story. April was Child Abuse Prevention and this COVID-19 shut down our efforts to spread that message, "It Shouldn't Hurt to be a Child."  I can't help but feel like our message could have made a difference...or, maybe not. We'll never know.

Danielle Radue's son had been in the hospital all week but couldn't survive. He died on Friday night and Danielle has been charged with murder on a $1 million dollar bond. This little angel was two months old.

I'm writing this article to get your attention that we still have so much work today in the fight against abuse. We don't have all the information except this baby was found unresponsive, later died and his mother is charged with injury to a child.

It's unreal how being a new parent gives you a different perspective on life. I just try to think about my son and daughter at that age. I begin to walk my self through ways to handle my five years old's little attitude that he's beginning to get. My daughter is just months over two years old and she is feisty. We have two separate kinds of children that rely on our parenting to help guide them and take care of them. I don't care who you are or how you were raised, we could all use help.

We currently have close to 40 million people across the country now filing for unemployment. Life is changing in front of us and with that comes mental stress. I know we all handle stress in different ways and that's why it's even more important that we help each other.

The number one most scary statistic is the number of unknowns. People go through child abuse, domestic violence, and mental health keeping their nightmares inside. It's easy for us to say, "why didn't you tell someone?" or "you should have asked for help!"

Shame on us. We don't understand.

More information will come out about this Meridian woman and most likely it won't be good. Here's what we can do right now to make sure this doesn't happen again. We need to ask someone if they're okay. It's time to push our way into a neighbors personal life if you think something is going on. We do this annual child abuse (Live for 175) every April and the power of that week is Idaho. There is no other powerful moment than listening to another person share a painful story. That biography has a way of making you feel not so alone I guess. We tend to think we're the only ones going through bad things until we find out someone else feels your pain.

There was a place in Spokane, Washington called the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery. This is where my fight against child abuse began. This nursery was a safe place for kids when mom or dad needed a break. It was meant to give parents a time-out when they felt their parenting could go over the edge. I loved this nursery. It wasn't a daycare, but a breather for parents.

We don't have that in the Treasure Valley but we have each other and great resources. The first thing you could do it call your friend or neighbor to see if they need help. It's just a simple gesture. If you feel like someone is beyond that it's important to know you can call authorities to check on the situation. You might not think it's our responsibility but it is.

Here's a few resources below and I hope it helps.

 

READ MORE: 50 resources to help you educate your kids at home

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