A day-by-day endeavor to help exploited children

During his long career, Pedro Scarano has been an advocate for children, families, and the disabled. He is presently an advisor for the President's National Council for Minors and Families in Argentina. Before he accepted this post, he was an investigative journalist for 18 years. One of his major contributions was uncovering the exploitation of street children by "mafias"—groups that kept them as virtual slaves. He says that as a result of these investigations, he has received death threats.

Mr. Scarano has been involved in broadcast and print media and has launched several Web sites—www.civila.com and www.IdentitadVirtual.com amony them. He publishes Autism in Society and Time for Integration, a periodical about disabilities in general.

Enrique Smeke, managing editor of The Herald of Christian Science (Spanish Edition), interviewed Scarano.

Some time ago, you undertook an investigation of street children. What did you find?

We discovered that a child has a daily market value, which is the value of the money he or she can obtain through begging. Different mafias offer protection to a child who works and begs on the street. They rent the child from his or her family. We're talking about families with very little resources, who live on the outskirts of the city in shantytowns.

The children are rented from their parents and collect an average of $130 to $140 daily. The families receive $15 daily as rent for their children. And the children eat what they can find, or what's given to them. They're practically enslaved.

How old are they?

In cases of begging, they're 4 to 12years old. Other children are forced to prostitute themselves for a few coins. If the boy or the girl seems to be successful at this, the amount of money they bring in daily is much greater.

In Buenos Aires you can safely walk through the downtown area at 1:00 a.m. But you'll find that these same children who were begging during the day are outside McDonald's at midnight, going through the garbage. This is how they feed themselves.

And what about the sale of children?

A foundation that works with the question of missing children discovered that, on average, 1.5 children disappear every day in Argentina.

And they're never heard from again?

No. And the law is completely impotent in this matter. There's no support for anyone who says, "Let's try to find so-and-so." No, much to the contrary.

I understand that you participated in the Pan-American Congress on Children, formed by the Organization of American States (OAS). What did you do there?

We discussed children who are being sent to war, in countries like Colombia, for example. We spoke on the subject of abandoned children, street children, children without families. We emphasized that countries need to work together and deepen their efforts in programs that deal with the prevention of abuse and/or support of these indigent children and families. Basically, we wanted to create an awareness that we are all responsible for the future, because children are the future, and families are the present.

How has God helped you in all this? For example, at the time of your investigations?

A lot. I had many doubts, but I always felt a strong inner peace. I knew I was on the right path. I prayed a lot and read Science and Health. The good part of this investigation, of which I'm very proud, is that we always worked with official numbers. It was through prayer that I was able to obtain the papers that enabled me to prove that a crime was being committed in government institutions that were supposed to be helping children.

You needed to have proof that something wrong was going on, something illicit?

Of course. For example, I knew that children were being abused in an institution that belonged to the Council for Minors and Families. They were children who'd been pulled off the streets and placed in an institution that, far from protecting them, was abusing them terribly. Exploiting them for labor, and for sex.

And you were able to publish this?

We were able to punlish reports on what was happening. But each step was harder than the one before. And I kept asking myself, "Why me? Why do I have to be working with this?" But I decided that if God had placed me there, it was for some reason, and that He would also give me all that I needed to continue working on this.

As a member of the National Council for Minors and Families, what can you do now to help in this matter?

A little of what we can do is create an awareness of what is going on. The council is also charged with protecting minors and families legally, by making lawyers available to them. And it provides financial assistance to children and families through subsidies; it finds shelter for young women who are at risk, or who are pregnant, and aids in the defense of minors who have been charged with crimes—who are being detained in different institutions.

So these minors have legal aid when they go to court?

Yes, but all this does not guarantee that they'll be defended. These defense departments for minors do not work the same as in the United States. In Argentina, a public defender of a minor, or even of someone who's of age, can have more than 3,500 cases—that's one lawyer defending more than 3,500 people in court. The defense, as you can imagine, is a symbolic one.

You've had to deal with so many people and institutions involved in the abuse of children. How have you been able to forgive them in your heart, even a little? Have you been able to leave behind feelings of rage or impotence?

Yes. That's why praying was essential. Because the feeling of rage, as you call it, is enormous. Just from looking into the face of any of these children, or reading reports where they tell what happened to them—well, many times it was difficult for me to finish reading what was being said. Prayer is what helped me to forgive.

It also helps me when I have to talk to these children and tell them that they, too, have to forgive. And that they have already been forgiven for everything that has happened to them. I've had to speak to children who have been imprisoned for serious crimes, who have murdered, for example. These kids have a lot of rage, too.

I encouraged them and asked them what they wanted to do with their lives. One of them dreamed of working with computers. I got him a scholarship and a computer that I took to the detention center. Now he's working as an intern in a company. He's no longer a street kid.

So you really feel you've done some good for society?

At first, when you start an investigation, it's very difficult to know what the results will be. And that's when I was most helped by Mary Baker Eddy's book Unity of Good. Ever since I specialized in helping minors and the disabled, I've been asked to give many talks. And because people have seen me on television, or have read one of my articles, they'll ask, "Why did you do this, and what did you hope to accomplish?" I find myself quoting this: "When the heart speaks, however simple the words, its language is always acceptable to those who have hearts" (Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 262 ).

In part, my investigations involving children are calling attention to the awakening of this "heart." People believe that this heart is absent in politicians—that they don't spend much time on the theme of childhood, because it's not going to bring them many votes.

But curiously, when the new government took over, they asked me to stay. So it's a little bit like someone realized that what I'd said, and what I'd worked for, was worth something. I think we're on a good path. I hope we're allowed to walk it.

It's a day-by-day, article-by-article endeavor.