Teri Broadstreet: Listening When Children Cry

by Cyrus Webb


When we are faced with difficulties in life we have the choice of either letting it define us or learning how to use the experience in making the future better. Teri Broadstreet has chosen to do the latter, and it is paying off in a major way.


I had the opportunity to speak with Teri recently on Conversations LIVE, and I knew after the discussion that she was someone who had to be featured in this issue. 


The founder of the organization When Children Cry, she has taken her experiences as a survivor of abuse and neglect and used it to create a network that provides advocacy, education and support to others. "My Quest is to give each disturbed and wounded child the chance to become the best they can be," she says. And that is exactly what When Children Cry is doing.


So many of us know what needs to be done, but either feel it is not within our power to do it or have become apathetic to the issue, believing that it doesn't affect us. Teri knows differently. She recognizes that any child that is being abuse or neglected will have an affect on the rest of society and the world. Because of this, she is using online resources like Facebook and Twitter among other avenues to bring people together and mobilize them to make a difference wherever they might be.


On her Facebook page she writes this: "Our mission is to help advance unlimited educational resources by Advocating Abuse/Neglect Protection & Prevention of our most vulnerable, helping the Exploited and Missing by providing resources - bring the missing home, helping to eradicate Human Trafficking, helping the damaged & broken children/people living with disabilities, developmental, and mental health anomalies, and the challenges of their families. We are rallying everyone across the globe: our communities, government, labor forces, businesses, faith groups, non-profits, entertainers, musicians, and just ordinary citizens. They cannot do this for themselves. We must help our children!"

Teri Broadstreet is showing all of us what is possible in our lives. We can overcome the adversity of our past and move forward, making sure that what we experienced doesn't happen to others. No matter what has plagued us we can all move from being victim to survivors together, and make a difference no matter where we are.

For more information about the work that Teri is doing visit www.whenchildrencry.com. You can also find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/whenchildrencry.