How the Mothers Against Predators Initiative Began

The Good Knight Network (GKN) is a proactive organization whose primary goal is to raise awareness in children and families as to the deceptions that criminals use to harm children. It also has on occasion had to send emergency response teams to grief stricken communities status post an abduction or murder of a child at the hands of a predator in order to quell the rampant fear by replacing that fear with knowledge and empowerment. Such was the case in 2004 when Sophia West, Chief of Staff of the Good Knight Network, and four emergency response team members traveled to Sarasota, Florida following the abduction of 13 year old Carlie Brucia. The predator was still on the loose and the community was gripped in fear. The day the team arrived, Carlie’s body was found. It was a grim situation and a terrible cloud of grief seemed to cover the entire mid section of Florida. That same day Sophia was asked to give an interview for CNN. The reporter stood her on the very spot where Carlie was abducted as depicted on the car wash’s surveillance tape. After the interview Sophia spoke about the horrific feeling she had standing there and the impact that moment made on her psyche. She vowed then that “this must stop.”

Back at the charity's headquarters in Beltsville, Maryland, Mary Cascio, Chairwoman, was fielding calls from concerned parents from around the globe wanting to implement the Good Knight Program in their neighborhoods so this tragedy would not be repeated elsewhere.

When Sophia returned to the Network's headquarters she spoke to Mary about founding a division of the charity which would develop an initiative to activate mothers, fathers, educators and concerned citizens everywhere to end this plague on our children. Thus was the birth of the Mothers Against Predators Initiative, (M.A.P.--it can really be described as Mankind Against Predators) where Sophia, Mary and all the Good Knights have mothers everywhere banning together in a grassroots awareness campaign to educate entire communities on the ten deceptions criminal predators use. Citizens realized that the only way to stop this plague on our nation is to take a stand. “We’ve had enough and we are not going to just sit by and take this anymore,” one Florida mother said. In recent months The Network has fielded many calls about the media’s exposure of predators in programs like the “To Catch a Predator” television series. Parents and educators alike who are using the Good Knight materials are calling saying, “I can’t fathom why these media programs won’t give the solution along with the presenting the problem” and “They are sensationalizing it and not doing anything about it. It would be so beneficial to bring both pieces of the puzzle together.” G.K.N. and M.A.P. agree!