Courage, Compassion, Brilliance
Andrew Vachss is not especially well known, in the celebrity sense. Yet he is an important, influential and even heroic man in the best sense of the word. Some know him as a top-notch crime writer, others as a lawyer, others as someone who works with rescued dogs. I hope to give a little fuller story of the magnitude of this man's heroic life. Please leave your feedback and comments at the bottom!
Sheba
Strength in Terrifying Situations
Andrew Vachss says about Sheba: "Wolf/German Shepherd cross. A seeing-eye dog who we adopted after her "retirement," who went on to accompany children to court, and was the greatest undercover partner a man could ever have."Consider how terrifying it must be for a small child to be forced to appear in court to face their batterer/molester, as it is the constitutional right of the criminal to face their accusers.
Mr. Andrew Vachss, in his commitment to children in such nightmarish situations, has created a network where dogs are trained to accompany children into court. The dogs comfort and strengthen the children, so they may face their batterers, and have the courage to testify.
Until such time as Mr. Vachss created this program, there was simply nothing that could be done to strengthen and comfort those children. They would be re-traumatized by the court experience, terrorized by facing the criminal again, and would receive little or no comfort that wouldn't appear 'prejudicial' in proceedings.
The genius of Mr. Vachss is to understand how strengthening a dog can be for a heart and soul, how the mere presence of a dog can give a child the feeling of being protected, strong and safe, even in the worst of situations.
God Bless Andrew Vachss.
Vachss: The Heroic Dog of the Year 1994
Paraphrased & Quoted from an article by Karyn Smith
"Vachss can't talk, so he can't tell their secrets. Because of Vachss' size, children feel protected," the dog helps lessen children's feelings of intimidation in the courtroom, where they often must look into the eyes of their alleged perpetrators."Anytime a child is in the courtroom, they're facing the person they're accusing. There's intimidation there, even for us as adults," Leigh Johnson said.
"This is an even more vulnerable situation for the children. Vachss gives them the comfort of a friend." Johnson turned down requests to interview children, saying she didn't want to compromise their pending court cases.
"If I asked them to talk to you anonymously, they probably would agree. Most of them are natural-bom pleasers," Johnson said. "But most children who have been abused expect to be re-abused, so we go overboard to protect them with confidentiality for protective and legal reasons."
Please visit his website to gain a fuller understanding and a great deal more information:
The Zero
Radio Interview with Andrew Vachss
Three Decades of Genius
- WPSU TV/FM - Penn State Public Broadcasting
- For more than three decades, Andrew Vachss has sought to protect children from the devastating effects of child abuse both as a lawyer who represents children exclusively and as a writer whose dark fiction brings his battle before a wider audience. Most fans know him for his gritty mystery series featuring the enigmatic avenger Burke. He hopes his newest, and very different, novel will get us to take a hard look at what we accept as truth. We talked with Vachss about his life's work and about his newest novel, Two Trains Running.
Andrew Vachss on Wikipedia
Andrew Henry Vachss (born 1942) is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youth...
PROTECT
Founded by Andrew Vachss
- PROTECT :: National Association to PROTECT Children :: Pro-Child :: Anti-Crime
- PROTECT is a national pro-children, anti-crime membership association dedicated to providing political strength and leadership for the protection of abused, exploited, and neglected children.
Books by Andrew Vachss
Incredible Writer
Andrew Vachss has brought the issue of child abuse into novel form, confronts the depth of the criminal mind and the innocent heart; has written two of the darkest of the dark Batman novels, and has used the proceeds to protect and defend battered and molested children in court.
Support Mr. Vachss' work by reading his great books. It will be fascinating for you, helpful to him, and will do extraordinary things for children and rescue dogs.
Batman: The Ultimate Evil (Batman) by Andrew H. Vachss
Probably the darkest and most rigorous of ALL the more...1 point
Great Links about Andrew Vachss
Frank Caruso
Cartoons with Andrew's Words2 points
Dogs of The Zero - Sheba
Meet Sheba, featured in Andrew Vachss' Burke novel more...2 points
Dogs of The Zero - Vachss
Vachss; the German Shepherd Dog Club of America's more...2 points
Pretrial Hearings: State of Mississippi vs. Jimmy Tatum
Vachss in action, a transcript of the court procee more...2 points
Novelist Vachss Uses Fiction to Fight Child Abuse (Reuters)
Novelist Vachss Uses Fiction to Fight Child Abuse2 points
You Carry the Cure In Your Own Heart by Andrew Vachss (Parade Magazine): The Zero 5.0laf - The Official Website of Andrew Vachss
Emotional abuse of children can lead, in adulthood more...1 point
YouTube - Interview with child advocate Andrew Vachss (part 1 of 4 )
Andrew Vachss is an attorney who represents childr more...1 point
Sav-A-Dog Foundation Inc.
One of Mr. Vachss' favorite rescue operations.0 points
Joseph Steinfeld's Neo Pack: Zero Pack
Joseph Steinfeld's Neo Pack, Zero Pack Dogs.0 points
One Sole Practitioner's Crusade (Lawyers Weekly USA)
One Sole Practitioner's Crusade, by Sean Corcoran. more...0 points
Comments and Opinions
Andrew Vachss and his children/dog rescue work
What impact does this man's lifetime vocation leave on you? Which books have you read, and what can you tell us about them? Thanks for your comments!
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Stephene
Hi, thanks for useful information. A 5-star! Posted July 18, 2008 |
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JJNW
Very interesting! Thank you for the unique information! Posted July 04, 2008 |
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Hhank
It's nice to see people like Andrew working to make life better for people. Posted June 30, 2008 |
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Nice lens, I will be bookmarking this page! Posted June 24, 2008 |
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