“I will never stop my efforts to stop the degradation of children – I will never stop, but I sure will put a dent in it.” Ty Ritter, Project Child Save’s president and founder made this vow to an audience of Kiwanis members who hung on every one of his frightening words at a regular meeting of the Kiwanis Club of La Cañada held at Descanso Gardens.

Ritter noted that child pornography is big business, second in revenue only to drug trafficking with major operations located in Central and South America where children snatched in the United States are taken and turned into sex slaves. Ritter said that once the children are brought to these locations they are constantly drugged, mostly with morphine, and tortured until they are no longer desirable to the pedophiles who use them to satisfy their sexual desires. “A blond, blue eyed child sold on today’s market has, in some cases, reached over $100,000,” said Ritter. The U.S. Justice Department recently reported that over 2,000 children go missing every day in the U.S. “Today, every child is worth a lot of money to these depraved child abductors,” he added.

Ritter told about the many families who have had children snatched even in public places like supermarkets and department stores. “When a child is taken, the family is desperate and will spend huge sums of money to get the child back, he said. They turn to people who will promise them they can locate and return the child, but are often broke before they turn in disappointment and disillusionment to Ritter and his group to locate the child. Often they will spend as much or more than $250,000 to predators who prey on families of missing children.”

Ritter, who works tirelessly on trying to recover abducted children, said that there are many people in the local area who help out after a child is recovered, often psychologically and physically damaged. Locally, Dr. Alan Perry and other local physicians have given their time to help. Unfortunately, some of the governments of countries where children are taken do not cooperate and are corrupt and this leaves the majority of the children lost and homeless after they have been used. “Many of these kids return to prostitution,” he noted.

It is easy for the child snatchers to get the kids out of the U.S. after they are grabbed off the streets or from their homes or other places, according to Ritter.

“It is tougher to get into this country than it is to get someone out,” he said.

Ritter has been involved in this work since 1973 when he began his crusade to save children. He has written a book that helps parents understand the problem and offers helpful tips on how to avoid having a child taken. Child Save has a website where more information can be gained www.projectchildsave.org.

In closing, Ritter renewed a promise he has made to hundreds of groups who have heard his story: “If necessary I will give all my tomorrows for one child’s safety.”

Submitted by Al RESTIVO

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