On September 26, 1989, twenty-nine-year-old Dereck OBrien was called to testify before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the response of the Newfoundland justice system of complaints of abuse. The horror of Derecks revelations of physical and emotional abuse was magnified exponentially by the knowledge that those authorities responsible for his welfare had twice been made aware of his plight, and had ignored his pleas for help. Determined to purge himself of his unhappy childhood memories and hoping to prevent similar abuse of todays children, OBrien began to write his story. Told in his own simple and compelling words, Suffer Little Children poses the haunting question, why?