It was the maggot-infested baby that sealed it for Victor Vieth, the man who has a plan to end child abuse in America within 120 years.
Come again? I'll get back to that, as well as what hybrid corn and the "perfect" chicken have to do with eliminating child abuse.
But back to the maggots tale.
Vieth, who grew up in Winona, was then a rookie prosecutor in Watonwan County in southwestern Minnesota, fresh out of Hamline University Law School. He inherited a "routine" termination of parental rights civil case, which is never routine. They might as well have handed him, on the spot, a tech tutorial on uranium waste disposal. He had never been taught or prepped for something like this.
One of his witnesses, a young male social worker, was struggling to defend himself under a blistering cross-examination as to why he violated state law and took it upon himself to remove the maggot-covered child from the abusive home. Only law enforcement was allowed to do that. You broke state law, the man was told.
"I saw this man break down and cry and say that the baby was covered with maggots, and what was he supposed to do?" recalled Vieth, the founder and executive director of the National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University.
"We won the case, but it was life-changing for me," Vieth said. "I went home that night and told my wife what I wanted to do with my life."
Of course, given the subject matter, there would be more lump-in-the-throat tales that would affirm Vieth's decision to make the plight of abused and neglected children his life's work.
There was the 7-year-old girl at his teacher wife's private school in Virginia. At the time, Vieth headed the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse in Washington, D.C.

Saving a fellow survivor

Minn. woman to donate kidney after Roslindale man sought help from other victims of clergy abuse

Doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will transplant a kidney from Susan Pavlak (left) to Phil Saviano. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) By Michael Paulson Globe Staff August 26, 2009

First, he asked his brothers.

Then he turned to extended family.

It was only after it became clear that no one in his family qualified to donate a kidney that Phil Saviano realized he might die.

And then he turned to the one larger community that he has embraced for nearly two decades: survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

Across the country, thousands of men and women who years ago were molested by priests opened their inboxes to find an e-mailed plea to help a fellow survivor.

Seven of them offered up a kidney to keep Saviano alive.

And today, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, physicians will transplant a kidney from Susan Pavlak, a 55-year-old Minnesota woman who says that years ago she was molested by a former nun at a Catholic high school, to Saviano, a 57-year-old Roslindale man who says that as a boy in Central Massachusetts he was repeatedly abused by a priest who turned out to be a serial pedophile.

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Survivors reach out to others who have been abused

During a public forum in Little Falls May 2, four men shared their stories. Stories of trust betrayed and pain and shame endured in silence.

Three of the men experienced their betrayal at the hands of their parish priest. The fourth, at the hands of a foster parent.

"For 35 years I wondered why God had forsaken me," said Bob Schwiderski of Wayzata. "It took a group of Christian men to convince me he hadn't."

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Backgrounds of all active, retired, former or deceased clergy being checked for sex abuse.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup is checking into the backgrounds of some 400 active, retired, former or deceased priests in the diocese to see whether there is any history of sexual abuse, KOAT-TV reported.

The diocese's newly installed Bishop James Wall called for the probe, saying all priests who are serving or who have served will undergo a thorough background check and if any wrongdoing is exposed, the priest will be removed and the public given a full explanation why, Action 7 News said.

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WHAT
At a free public forum, survivors of clergy sex abuse and male victims of incest will discuss

-- the decades long history and understandings of the Catholic Crosier Religious Order sexual abuse of area boys and the negative impact of the abuse on area families.

-- the battles of stepping out of the shadows of silence of childhood rape and victimization, and

-- the long-term ramifications of the abuse on the men, their families and loved ones.

The forum includes
-- a written questions and answer session (written questions are to insure anonymity)
-- sharing of survivor stories
-- resources from area child advocacy centers and agencies
-- established area support groups

UNITED STATES
The White House

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
A PROCLAMATION

Sexual assault scars the lives of millions in the United States. To increase awareness about this issue, prevent future crimes, and aid victims, this month we mark National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit