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Skriven 2007-05-25 23:31:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070525e) for Fri, 2007 May 25
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Mrs. Bush's Statement to the Media During a Visit to the Childhelp
Children's Advocacy Center
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For Immediate Release Office of the First Lady May 25, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Statement to the Media During a Visit to the Childhelp
Children's Advocacy Center Childhelp Children's Advocacy Center Phoenix,
Arizona



1:16 P.M. MST

MRS. BUSH: All right, let me just say something to all of you here. Thank
you for coming out to cover my visit here. One of the things that I've been
working on since the President's 2005 State of the Union address is the
Helping America's Youth Initiative. And it's been such a privilege for me
to have the opportunity to visit places like this and meet people like
these women who have dedicated their life to helping abused and neglected
children.

I visit the programs around the United States that are really examples for
the rest of the country, and this is certainly one of them -- both because
of the one-stop shopping, where you have both medical professionals, law
enforcement, county attorney people here, therapists -- everyone here,
because the trauma of child abuse and neglect is so unbelievable on
children. Then to be able to come to one place and be welcomed and see what
this is and forget for a minute your sadness, because you can see the train
going around here, or the great rooms, the great things that are here, and
then for their parents also to have this opportunity to come here and do
everything, have all of your -- medical exam, talk to the detectives -- all
of the things that you would need to do, to be able to do it in one place,
at one time. It's just so much easier on these families who have children
who are having either some kind of problem. Obviously we're talking about
the family where the parents are not the abusers, but there are also
children that come here whose parents are their abusers.

One of the other really good benefits of everyone being here together is
that everyone learns from each other. The medical people learn from the
police, for instance. The synergy of having every group here, working to
help children, really is a benefit for all the children here in Phoenix.

So I want to congratulate both of you for your unbelievable work that
you've done all these years. And, as you can tell, my mother-in-law,
Barbara Bush, is very, very interested in Childhelp.

MS. FEDDERSON: She's on our advisory board.

MRS. BUSH: She's on their advisory board, and she was one of the ones that
really hoped I would have a chance to visit a Childhelp center. They're all
over the United States, but they're not everywhere that we would want them
to be. And it's a great idea that I know they'd be thrilled if other
communities wanted to just copy them and do the same sort of thing.

MS. O'MEARA: We would help them, gladly.

MRS. BUSH: So I think that's really terrific. Thank you all for coming out.

MS. O'MEARA: Barbara's picture is up at the library here. When she came in
to dedicate this library, she helped us raise the money for it. And we're
going to have Mrs. Laura's picture, too, right, side by side, so that it
will make it even more important.

MRS. BUSH: That's perfect. All right, thanks, everybody. Thank you all for
coming out.

END 1:19 P.M. MST

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