The introduction of Child Advocacy Laws - The Mary Ellen Wilson Story

My father and mother are both dead. I don’t know how old I am. I have no recollection of a time when I did not live with the Connollys. Mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every day. She used to whip me with a twisted whip—a raw hide. The whip always left a black and blue mark on my body. I have now the black and blue marks on my head which were made by mamma, and also a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors. She struck me with the scissors and cut me; I have no recollection of ever having been kissed by any one—have never been kissed by mamma. I have never been taken on my mamma's lap and caressed or petted. I never dared to speak to anybody, because if I did I would get whipped. I do not know for what I was whipped—mamma never said anything to me when she whipped me. I do not want to go back to live with mamma, because she beats me so.

This was the testimony of Mary Ellen Wilson who in the 1800s was living with her foster parents who continually abused her. As a result of the neighbour’s interest, a methodist missionary worker, Ms Wheeler, began investigating the issue and the ways for it to be handled legally so that little Mary would be protected. Ms Wheeler began researching legal options to redress and protect the young girl. After finding that there was no particular law that the local authorities were willing to act upon, Wheeler turned to a local advocate for the animal humane movement and the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Henry Bergh. With the help of neighbour's testimony and the laws against animal cruelty, Wheeler and Bergh successfully removed Mary Ellen from her foster home and took the foster mom to trial. 

This case prompted the beginning of what we have come to call the Child Advocacy laws. These laws now serve to protect children like Mary Wilson whose lives sometimes depend on them.