Dear Representative,

From June 24-26, human rights activists will gather together for "Operation Stop and Replace!" in Washington D.C. to ask for better laws protecting children from the dangers and effects of legalized assault, otherwise known as corporal punishment. 

This is in part because:

- 5.8 million kids each year are called in to U.S. states' child services agencies as abused, per Child Maltreatment, the U.S. Dept. of Health summary report of national child abuse data. 

- 3 kids still die from abuse every day in the United States, most of them babies and toddlers. 

- Over 200,000 kids are abused at school in the 21 states that allow severe beatings of children with boards on school grounds. 

These crimes against kids have to stop.   Children are no less deserving of the Constitutional citizenship birthrights to "equal protection" and personal safety than adults are.

The effects of intentional maltreatment of children extend far beyond the physical injuries children suffer.  The body heals with time, but sometimes the mind doesn't.

Please rewrite the laws so that they do not allow assault upon children.

- Instate laws that end the outdated, barbaric practice of assaulting school children with boards.  21 states still allow violations of a child's right to a safe education.   There is no need to injure to teach.

- Fix the definitions of child abuse in The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA, 42 U.S.C.A. §5106g) and in state child protection laws that hardly touch upon corporal punishment except to say that it is legal, with far too little language regulating its use.   Child services agencies have difficulty establishing abuse sometimes under these vague regulations, even when abuse is known and present in a child's home.

Write revisions that give all of our children the right to a safe education, the right to live in safe homes, and the right to be raised by people who will not hurt them on purpose. 

Thank you in advance for your support and your help.

[Your name here]