Commentary by Toby Stark, Executive Director of Chaucie’s Place

As we watched the “Josh Duggar Scandal” unfold over the weekend, there were many emotions surfacing: Anger at Josh Duggar, his family, their church, their community’s law enforcement agencies; disgust; judgement; sadness; misunderstanding; just to name a few.  The fact is:  This situation was atrociously mishandled at every turn. As the media frenzy settles down, I challenge you to move forward and make the intentional decision that you will do things differently if you are ever faced with a suspicion or disclosure of abuse.  You will believe and support the victim. You will report to the authorities…immediately.  You will get proper mental health treatment for all those involved.  You will not look the other way or remain silent. As we see in the Duggar case, there are many junctures where one person could have made a difference. We can only best protect our children with an active intention to do so, otherwise the best of intentions can get lost in a maze of fear, embarrassment and shame. Let’s do better by our children.

Please…let us all make the intentional decision to be Stewards of our Children.