Elizabeth Smart-Gilmour

Elizabeth Smart talks about coping with trauma

Elizabeth Ann Smart-Gilmour (born Elizabeth Smart on November 3, 1987 in Salt Lake City ) is an anti-child abuse and kidnapping activist, president of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, and a correspondent for ABC News . She gained great national fame through her abduction in 2002 at the age of 14.

kidnapping

→ Main article : Elizabeth Smart kidnapping

Smart was kidnapped from her parents' home in Salt Lake City, Utah , in 2002 and discovered in Sandy, Salt Lake County in 2003 after nine months . The police arrested the two kidnappers and rescued the girl.

activism

Elizabeth Smart with her mother and George W. Bush signing the PROTECT Act of 2003

Elizabeth Smart-Gilmour supported the extension of the PROTECT Act by giving presentations to the United States Congress. This included the establishment of the AMBER Alert System and the signing of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act 2006. She also wrote a contribution to the book You're Not Alone - The Journey from Abduction to Empowerment , which in addition to her contributions from four other victims of child abduction. This book is intended to support other victims in coping with their trauma and to help them on their way back to a fulfilled life. She presented the book in Washington DC in 2008. She spoke at the 2009 Women's Conference in California, organized by Maria Shriver , about overcoming obstacles in life.

Elizabeth Smart Gilmour founded in 2011 "to bring hope and the Elizabeth Smart Foundation under the slogan victimization stop" (Bringing Hope & Stopping Victimization). The foundation works with Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), among others, to save children from trafficking around the world. Furthermore, she has set herself the goal of supporting the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and teaching children about violent and sexual crimes. The foundation also works with radKIDS, which is a national program in the United States that aims to teach children how to defend themselves against kidnapping and sex crimes through safety advice, self-confidence building and self-defense.

On May 1, 2013, Smart spoke at a conference at Johns Hopkins University on human trafficking and the importance of teaching children how to defend themselves and how self-esteem is to prevent crime. In this context, she criticized the focus of some states on pure abstinence in sex education. As a result, victims are confused about the deeds and do not defend themselves because they think that they are worthless "like chewed gum" because of the act.

In February 2014, Smart advocated Bill HB 286 by speaking to the Utah House of Representatives, which proposed the introduction of a non-compulsory curriculum for child abuse prevention training. After her speech, the bill was passed unanimously. In this context, Elizabeth cited a statistic according to which 80% of children who resist an attack escape the perpetrator to demonstrate the importance of teaching self-defense. Doing this in school is important as parents often don't know how to talk to their children about these issues.

journalism

Elizabeth Smart has been a missing person commentator for ABC News since 2011. She contributes to the programs Good Morning America and Nightline .

In the media

In 2003, Elizabeth's father Ed Smart published a book about her abduction called Bringing Elizabeth Home . After this book, CBS made a television movie about the kidnapping. In 2005, her uncle Tom Smart and author Lee Banson published In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation, about the grueling search for Elizabeth.

For the book The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable (2020), Katherine Schwarzenegger interviewed Pratt Smart-Gilmour and other people who had to overcome severe strokes of fate.

Publications

In October 2013, Elizabeth Smart published her 308-page memoir My Story with author Chris Stewart ( ISBN 9781250055453 ). The book describes the kidnapping and the establishment of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and attempts to raise general awareness of kidnapping.

Awards

Elizabeth Smart received the Diane von Furstenberg Courage Award in 2011 for her work against child abduction.

Web links

Commons : Elizabeth Smart  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elizabeth Smart marries in Hawaiian Mormon temple , Deseret News. February 18, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2015. 
2. ^ Elizabeth Smart hopes to aid victims , CNN. Retrieved May 20, 2008. 
3. ↑ You're Not Alone: ​​The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment , Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Retrieved on March 14, 2015 (PDF, 75 pages, 8 MB, archive) . 
4. ^ The Women's Conference hosted by California's First Lady . Retrieved March 14, 2010.
5. ^ Foundation Story . Retrieved March 14, 2015.
6. ↑ radKIDS . Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
7. ↑ Elizabeth Smart speaks at human trafficking forum, emphasizing teaching children that they matter , Deseret News. Retrieved March 15, 2015. 
8. ↑ Elizabeth Smart backs bill on child sexual abuse prevention training in schools , Deseret News. Retrieved March 15, 2015. 
9. ^ Elizabeth Smart to join ABC for missing-persons insight , Deseret News. Retrieved March 15, 2015. 
10. ↑ Ed Smart Lois Smart, Laura Morton: Bringing Elizabeth Home. A Journey of Faith and Hope. 1st edition, reprinted. Doubleday Books, New York NY et al. 2003, ISBN 0-385-51214-7 , p. 215.
11. ↑ Elizabeth Smart Fast Facts . Retrieved March 14, 2015.
12. ↑ In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation . Retrieved March 14, 2015.
13. ↑ Melody Chiu: Katherine Schwarzenegger to Release Book About Forgiveness: 'It's Really a Gift You Give Yourself'. In: People. November 19, 2019, accessed March 25, 2020.
14. ^ The Five Influential Women Honored at the DVF Awards , TIME. Retrieved March 15, 2015.