Bikers Against Child Abuse impassioned to empower children

Editor's NOTE B.A.C.A members go by their road names to protect themselves from possible repercussions by perpetrators and the Northern Wyoming Daily News is respecting their wishes in the following story.

By Tracie Mitchell

Staff Writer

WORLAND – "You hear a rumble in the distance. You feel the ground trembling beneath your feet, and then you see them: B.A.C.A. (Bikers Against Child Abuse) They park their motorcycles and introduce themselves. With a short ceremony a child is welcomed into the B.A.C.A. family. Within a few minutes bonds are formed between a child in need and their new family. Another child will now be empowered by the support B.A.C.A. brings into his/her life," according to the B.A.C.A. pamphlet.

"Anything we can do to help kids out when they're in those traumatic situations, and that's what these folks (B.A.C.A.) do, is a good thing; a positive thing for the kids," Wyoming Department of Family Services Field Operations Manager out of Cody, Ed Heimer stated.

B.A.C.A. works in conjunction with the Department of Family Services (D.F.S.) and law enforcement and only handles cases that have been documented. "B.A.C.A. can't get involved unless the case has been documented, which means that the case has been filed with D.F.S. or with the police department," B.A.C.A. Devil's Canyon Lovell chapter member Vito stated.

Members, upon receiving a valid call from DFS or a legal guardian, will get together and go to the child's home or what they call a level one. "We go to the child's home and more or less adopt the child into the B.A.C.A. family. What that means is that the child or children become part of us and we become a part of their lives until they are 18 years old," Vito said. If there is more than one child in the home, all the children will become part of the B.A.C.A. family. The child also receives a road name at that time.

"We all have road names to more or less conceal our identity because of the perpetrators and the children also end up with a road name, we never know their true identity," he said.

During the ceremony the child is assigned two primaries, which the child can call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anytime the child feels scared. "Say it's two in the morning and a B.A.C.A. child hears someone outside their window and he/she is scared and thinks it might be the perpetrator, he/she will place a call, with parental consent, to the primary and say, I'm scared. The primary will get a hold of people in the local chapter and we will go to that child's house to relieve them of that fear," Vito said.

The bikers are there to empower the children and relieve their fear. "It's about the children, it's not about mom or dad or anyone else. We empower the children, letting them know that someone is there for them. We help remove the fear and we do that with our physical presence. Having 20 – 30 bikers show up is quite empowering to them," Vito stated.

According to the B.A.C.A. pamphlet, "Even with court involvement to protect children from further abuse by the issuance of protective orders and the removal of perpetrators from neighborhoods, it is physically impossible for law enforcement officials to provide protection for these children 24 hours a day indefinitely. Child perpetrators are fully aware of this and continue to find ways to access and further harm their victims." The B.A.C.A. members are prepared to spend 24 hours a day outside a child's home to make the child feel safe if need be. "If the child feels that he/she is in imminent danger and is terrified we will stay at that house 24 hours a day, in shifts, outside of course, guarding the perimeter for however long it takes to remove that fear," Vito stated.

According to the B.A.C.A. pamphlet, "We make a difference. We have documented the following behaviors in the children we support: Improved confidence, diminished regressive behavior, increased feeling of safety, empowerment to testify, better communication, reduced feeling of guilt, decreased negative behaviors, a sense of belonging, acceptance, independence and much more."

"This child lived a block away from the vice president of a chapter. The vice president had lived in this area for three years and never knew that a child lived in that house. There was never any evidence of a child living there. No toys in the yard, to bicycle, no kids running around. Come to find out that child was victimized from child abuse. The local B.A.C.A. chapter did the level 1, 30 bikers showed up. We found out that after we did the level 1, that for two years that boy never slept in his own bed, he always slept with his mother, because he was too scared to sleep alone, after that visit that boy started sleeping in his own bed, and even started spending the night at friends' houses, which he had never been able to do because he was scared," Vito said.

B.A.C.A. is a not a motorcycle group, club or gang, they are a 501 C3 nonprofit organization that was created to empower children who have been victims of child abuse, with six chapters in the state of Wyoming and will have a chapter in every state by the end of the year.

According to the B.A.C.A. pamphlet, "B.A.C.A. exists with the intent to create a safer environment for abused children. We exist as a body of bikers to empower children to not feel afraid of the world in which they live. We stand ready to lend support to our wounded friends by involving them with an established, united organization. We work in conjunction with local and state officials who are already in place to protect children. We desire to send a clear message to all involved with the abused child that this child is part of our organization, and that we are prepared to lend our physical and emotional support to them by affiliation, and our physical presence. We stand at the ready to shield these children from further abuse. We do not condone the use of violence or physical force in any manner, however, if circumstances arise such that we are the only obstacle preventing a child from further abuse, we stand ready to be that obstacle."

The Devil's Canyon chapter serves the Big Horn, Park, Washakie and Hot Springs counties. Their help line is 1-307-254-9652.