To all children, or “kiddos,” in Utah:
We are writing to you today because we have some hard things that we need to talk about. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. This month is about you, your safety and your protection. When we think about you, we think of our own children, Sol, Cielo, and baby Charlotte. We have had the honor of meeting many of you at your schools, community events and here at the Capitol.
Meeting you and hearing about your families, your interests and your dreams is the highlight of our careers. Our entire work is about making sure that you are safe, happy and loved. We would give anything to make sure that all the kiddos in Utah felt that.
We want to share with you Gavin Peterson’s story. His story is very sad, but very important. Gavin was a 12-year-old boy from West Haven, Utah. Some of you reading this may be 12 too. For a long time, Gavin needed help. The people who were supposed to protect him and the system that was supposed to ensure his safety both failed him. He passed away in July of 2024.
His death has changed the way Sen. Escamilla thinks about her job and her responsibility to you as your senator. Gavin should still be here with us today, playing with friends or going to school. He should still have a future.
When the adults in your life fail to protect you, we have a responsibility to be better.
We are sharing Gavin’s story with you because we need you to understand something in both your mind and heart. We need you to know that you matter. You deserve to feel safe and loved. Every child matters and has infinite worth. There is nothing you can do or say that makes you less deserving of safety, care and protection. Your right to be safe is unconditional.
When the adults in your life fail to protect you, we have a responsibility to be better. The people chosen to represent you, your representatives and elected officials, have a duty to fix the systemic failures that allowed Gavin to disappear. As stewards of this state and the people who live in it, we have the responsibility to make sure that what happened to Gavin can’t happen to other children.
As we reflected on Gavin’s life and also thought about all of the other children who are in similar situations, we proposed a law which we nicknamed the “Gavin Peterson Bill.” For the past year, we fought with all of our strength to pass this law, which would fix the gap in our system that allowed for Gavin to go unseen for a year, resulting in his ultimate passing. Through this legislation, when there were serious verifiable concerns about a child’s safety, our child protective agency, DCFS, would have been able to check on them, to see them. It was very carefully and thoughtfully drafted to respect parental rights while recognizing that a child’s safety must always come first. We are deeply disappointed that this proposal did not pass, but we are committed to working on this until it does.
Laws alone are not enough. We need every adult in Utah to care about the well-being and safety of children. Child abuse thrives in silence, isolation and in communities that look away when something doesn’t feel right. It persists when we convince ourselves that what happens behind closed doors is none of our business. But when it relates to the safety of children, it is our business.
We think about all of the Gavins that we don’t know about, all the children who are suffering in silence right now or who are crying behind closed doors. We all need to collectively act with the urgency that these children’s lives deserve. Every one of us has a role to play in protecting children. Every neighbor who notices a child has suddenly disappeared, every teacher who sees the signs but hesitates to report, every family member who knows something is wrong but chooses silence over difficult conversations. It’s OK to be inconvenient when it means saving a life. Protecting children is not just the responsibility of the state, Child Protective Services or the courts — it’s the responsibility of every adult in every community across the state.
When we think about all of the children in Utah who need help and care, we think about our own children. We think about how we would want someone to fight for them when we couldn’t be there. All Utah children deserve to have someone who fights for them. We all have a shared responsibility to do that.
As this month comes to an end, we hope we can carry this purpose and fight onward. To all Utah’s children, trust your own feelings. Trust the feelings you have when something feels wrong or unsafe. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are imagining things or that you somehow deserve to be treated badly.
No child should ever be hurt or neglected. Every child in Utah should be able to go to bed at night feeling safe, have enough to eat and have clean clothes to wear. Every child in Utah should know that there are adults who love and will protect them.
We hope that this April, this year, and for the rest of our lives, we can all recommit ourselves to protecting children and fighting against child abuse in Utah.