ARLINGTON, Texas - April marks National Child Abuse Prevention Month, but that’s a daily mission for a group of bikers in Fort Worth and their club members around the world. 

What You Need To Know

  • April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

  • The group Bikers Against Child Abuse empower children who have gone through abuse to not feel afraid of the world 

  • Members of the Fort Worth chapter said their kid members know they can call on them for support, to talk or to help them find that strength they need to keep going

 

The Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) is an international organization with several individual clubs throughout Texas. According to the group’s website, their mission is to empower children who have gone through abuse to not feel afraid of the world in which they live.

That mission was very clear on a Sunday morning at the entrance to an Arlington park, where a biker who goes by the name Ox gathered with dozens of others to ride together inside. The group met with several of their child members at the park for an early Easter party. It was another chance for the kids to have some fun and let the cares of their world go away for a bit.

Ox said the estimated 30 kids in their chapter of BACA are just as much members of the club as adult bikers, and passing along that feeling of belonging is a very personal mission for him. 

“[It’s about] The child feeling protected. They’re being empowered to stand up to the evil in the world, and that’s what we do - that’s our only mission,” said Ox.

Ox, like everyone in BACA, only goes by his anonymous nickname, and joined the club as a biker after first encountering them as a dad. About five years ago, he said members of his own family were dealing with an abuse situation. He and his wife were trying to help them through it and get justice for them. The local district attorney referred the family to BACA.

“Ya know, [his family] had no doubt that I could protect them, but BACA did for my girls something I couldn’t do,” said Ox.

That something gave him a group of friends, tough friends who “had their backs” through their recovery from trauma.

Members of the Fort Worth chapter said their kid members know they can call on them for support, to talk or to help them find that strength they need to keep going.

“They know that once they get in with us that we’re there to protect them,” said another member of the group - a woman by the name of Tiggress, who recalled helping several children through her and her husband’s years involved in the group. “To empower kids to be able to go into the courtrooms and tell their story.”

There’s certainly no shortage of need as TexProtects, a statewide organization trying to promote safety from abuse for Texas children, reports that an average of more than four children a week die in the state from abuse or neglect. 

Ox, Tiggress and their fellow riders in Fort Worth said that they hope one day their organization won’t be needed and that child abuse will end, but until then, they plan to ride alongside those kids and stand up for them in any way they can.