Austin - Community Impact Newspaper

Rachel Parkhurst
14 | July 2009 Community Impact Newspaper • Northwest Austin Edition
Nonprofit Profile Bikers Against Child Abuse
BACA officers all go by nicknames to protect themselves and their families. The 2009 Sam Bass BACA officers are Postal, secretary;
Doc Irish, sergeant at arms; Number 1, treasurer; Cobra, vice president and child liaison; and Slice, president.
By Christi Covington
When one Round Rock father lost his
child for a few seconds at a San Antonio
biker rally, he had a moment of panic.
“Then I saw [my son] with some of the
meanest looking bikers I had ever seen,”
said the father, who goes by the biker
nickname Slice. “I thought, ‘What has he
gotten me into?’”
He soon learned that members of Bikers
Against Child Abuse had found his 6 year
old, called security and now planned to
guard the boy until his father came.
That was more than four years ago.
Slice was intrigued enough to join the
Austin chapter of BACA.
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Last year, Round Rock-area members
started the Sam Bass chapter, and
in March, Slice became the chapter’s
president.
An international organization, BACA
was founded in the 1990s by a Utah man,
known by his biker friends as Chief. As a
child therapist, Chief noticed that about 90
percent of perpetrators tried to intimidate
their victims from testifying against them
in court, so one day he asked some of his
friends to escort a child to a hearing.
The roaring-engine entourage was an
intimidating set of bodyguards dressed in
full leather, and BACA was born.
BACA members come from varied
backgrounds, such as engineers, paint
contractors, technology professionals and
social workers, but if a parent or guardian
asks for their involvement with an abused
child who has an open court case, their
professional affiliation can take a back
seat in a matter of minutes.
“When they rip off that tie, they have
got full leather,” Slice said.
Through what they call an adopting
process, Slice said abused children receive
visits from a hoard of BACA members to
empower them not to be afraid to testify in
court against the defendant.
“The kids get excited when we come,”
he said. “It’s fun, so people will come
from chapters all over the place. I have
been to an adoption where they have had
60 riders or so. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Then the child is given a teddy bear
everyone has squeezed to “fill it with hugs,”
and at any point, a child can ask for a refill.
He or she also receives a certificate welcoming
him or her into the BACA family.
“They are going to know they have
sisters and brothers that will be there for
them,” said Cobra, a member of the Sam
Bass chapter of BACA.
BACA members will escort a child wherever
necessary, such as to school or court.
Often they will even keep watch over a
child’s house. The group’s policy is never to
harass and only guard, but if a perpetrator
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Rachel Parkhurst
approaches a home where an adopted child
lives, BACA members block the way.
“We’ll stand at the door, and they will
have to get through us to get to them,”
Cobra said.
Become a BACA member
Those wanting to join BACA are invited to come to a
meeting where they can get more information and an
application. The membership process also includes a
thorough background check by the FBI. To become a
patch member, attendance at 80 percent of the chapter’s
official events is required during a year. Once that level is
reached, members can be a child’s primary contact. Other
membership opportunities are also available.
Bikers Against Child Abuse
www.bacausa.com
Sam Bass chapter
(877) 609-5798
Austin chapter
(includes Pflugerville)
(877) 719-2988