Janice Shaw Crouse
| Children at Risk | Biography | Articles | Honors |
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The desire for our children to be free from want and danger and to be able to enjoy their youth in innocence would seem to be universal. Conventional wisdom says that parents in every socio-economic level of society share the dream of preserving their children's innocence. All want to provide a childhood and adolescence that shelters and protects children from the harshness of life and nurtures them until they are able to withstand the onslaught of reality. One need only look at troubled areas of the world, such as Northern Ireland, parts of the Middle East, or any number of other points on the globe, to see how weak is any communion forged out of these universal desires for the welfare of children. Even in the United States, the competition of ideas and values about what represents the 'good' society in which to raise our children is fierce - as are differing views about the value of innocence and even life itself. These differing ideas and values affect people's actions even when they have never reflected on them, or have never cared enough to formulate those values into a coherent worldview. Crouse contends that without morals, children are at risk. Moral boundaries, not moral relativism, provide a safe haven for children by preserving their innocence and protecting them from predators and pedophiles. When authentic religious faith has been quashed, children are no longer safe. When the underlying values are wrong, when there are no common values unifying a people, even the best programs and most honorable of intentions are doomed to failure. Well-intentioned programs and policies inevitably fail miserably without an undergirding moral foundation, as is documented by an abundance of data and the social trends in America today.
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What people are saying ... “Janice Shaw Crouse’s Children at Risk, mobilizes a mass of research to show that public policy efforts to sustain families without fatherhood and marriage have failed, with children left as the victims. Highly readable and compelling, this book pays particular attention to children’s need for a moral dimension to their lives. Children at Risk should be required reading for child development specialists, children’s advocates, and policymakers at the state and federal levels.” “Everyone claims to care deeply about the well-being of children. But what would we, as a nation and as a society, do if we really cared? In Children at Risk, her passionate and scholarly new book, Janice Shaw Crouse does our nation’s children a great service by grabbing the rest of us by the lapels and forcing us to confront those questions.” “’Children are the future.’ I can’t tell you have many times I’ve heard that statement. Yes, it is true, but very few of us believe it enough to really get serious and be proactive with our time and money to make a real difference. Children at Risk accurately makes the case for getting involved. This book will cause you to see children in a different light . . . a great opportunity to act and save a kid; or if we do not act, we all will suffer, especially a very precious child. . .” “Janice Crouse has captured in a compelling way the urgent need in our culture to more effectively protect and nurture our children. Having spent the past twenty-five years counseling pregnant women who bear the wounds of society often deaf to the dignity of a human life, Ms. Crouse offers hope for parents seeking a safe haven for their children. Having ‘broken through the glass ceiling’ in the eighties and left Wall Street behind to raise a family and home school two children, I am reminded from a personal perspective that the message of Children at Risk could not be more timely or important.” “In Washington, D.C., Dr. Janice Crouse has long been considered an expert on family preservation. She knows the fierce challenges facing our children today –– and what must be done to protect not only their present but to guide their future. From the need to defend and promote marriage to the mandate for a solid and well-grounded education, Dr. Crouse truly does know what is in the ‘best interest of the child.’ Moving children from a place where they are at risk to a place where they can thrive is not just a good idea –– it is THE mandate for the twenty-first century!” “Dr. Crouse reveals numerous risks that children face, but unlike most researchers, believes that the solution comes from informed moms and dads –– not the government.” |
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© 2009 Janice Shaw Crouse