Eileen King has spent more than a decade advocating for abused children who slip through the cracks of the legal system. She is the regional director for Houston-based Justice for Children, a wide-reaching role that has her organizing volunteers, watching local court cases, speaking at conferences and recruiting pro bono attorneys to work on the behalf of children.
How did you get involved with child advocacy?
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was living in Germany and working with children and adults with severe disabilities. While there I became very aware of the Holocaust, and I said if I ever in my life find something like that I wouldn’t turn away. When I came back to the United States in 1994, I saw what was going on with abused children in the court system and I went to work for my sister at the American Coalition for Abuse Awareness, which later joined One Voice, and that in turn merged with Justice For Children.
What brought you to the D.C. area?
American Coalition was based in D.C., and I started working on the public policy side with them. I had lived here before, between 1985 and ’87, being trained in massage therapy.
Justice for Children is based in Houston and has another branch in Michigan. Beyond the policy implications of D.C., are there other reasons for having a chapter here?
There’s the confluence of local and national policies, but also there’s the three-state area, making it a more complex region than other areas. I’m the person who has the national outlook and connects our organization with others around the country.
What is one of the biggest issues facing abused children today?
The policy and practice of putting abused children back with their abusive parents. … Parents, often mothers, stand a high chance of losing children to alleged abusers, and that chills the reporting of child abuse.
