Protecting Children in a Digital World - Business and Family Resources – with Claton Butcher – [Ep. 280]

Linda J. Hansen:  Thank you for tuning in today. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host of the Prosperity 101® Podcast, where we seek to unleash the power of employers to reclaim and preserve America by Connecting Boardroom to Breakroom® and policy to paycheck. Employers educating employees about public policy issues that affect their jobs can lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement, and retention, and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. 

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Thank you so much for joining with us today. It is always a pleasure to have you in the audience, and we're so grateful for you taking time. You have a lot of listening choices or viewing choices, and thank you for choosing to spend time viewing this today.

So today I have a wonderful guest, Claton Butcher. Claton is someone I got to know several years ago at a conference, and I'm always so excited about what he's doing. He's creative, he's innovative, but also he's very committed to really helping families, businesses, and truly helping our nation through many things that he does.

He's been on the podcast before, and if you remember him or remember that interview I introduced him as the president and founder of CrossCurrent Digital, which is basically a Christian alternative to Audible or Kindle, and it's been an exciting journey that he's had with CrossCurrent. But today I have Claton on to talk about some new things he's been doing and how they can help your family, your business, and really help our nation. 

So Claton, welcome back to the podcast. It's great to have you here and to hear about all the new things that you're doing and how we can help our audience through your new tools.

Claton Butcher: You bet. I appreciate you having me on. It's always good to reconnect, and the audience won't know this, but I think we probably spent like an hour just talking about different things before we hit the record button. So this is great.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, it has been really great, and I love it when I can do that and really dive into what my guests are up to. We really begin to find the synergies between our efforts. Claton is a dad, a businessman, and someone who has been really working hard to do things that are impactful, very impactful for our culture, and for family. Claton, for people who never heard the first interview I did with you a couple of years ago, could you explain a little bit more about just who you are, your background, and CrossCurrent Digital, but then how that has led to the additional things you're doing now?

Claton Butcher: Sure. So, I will try to give a very quick rundown of CrossCurrent. So if you have not heard this before, I don't know what episode it was…I think I actually may have been on twice before, but you can search for that and get the full background. 

But basically, I was an audiobook publisher, and five years ago… as we're recording this… it was just a couple weeks and five years ago… was when Amazon censored one of our audiobooks. The book was “When Harry Became Sally” by Ryan Anderson, the most comprehensive and compassionate critique of the deceptive trans agenda.

And long story short, basically our world basically fell apart within a week. We had the censorship, plus we were fully self-employed at that point, and it looked like all of the books could be shut down, the different publishing companies we had because of that, and heard about threats against us, and lost ministries that had changed their statement of faith over the same issue at the same time. So anyway, it was not the most fun time.

Shortly thereafter, God said, okay, now build this. And so we built CrossCurrent Digital, which is a Christian alternative to Audible and Kindle. So, audiobooks, ebooks, podcasts.

And the purpose for that was to make sure that when other censorship and deplatforming happened, that faithfully biblical content would still be available in the digital space. And so that's basically the rundown of CrossCurrent. So we're still doing CrossCurrent, and have over 17,000 books on the platform now.

There's opportunities for group subscriptions. We're going to be talking about some other stuff too, but CrossCurrent… we've got some of the same things going on as far as the group subscriptions and things that employers can provide that as a benefit for their employees. And we curate everything on the platform so that nothing goes against biblical values, which are traditional values.

And so it's something that you can provide as a business owner, as a thank you, as a thank you to your employees. So that is the background of CrossCurrent.

Linda J. Hansen: So many times I have guests on who were canceled in one way or another. And the stories of what grew out of the cancellations are always so amazing to me and inspirational because there's always a way to get things done when we're called and God opens up new opportunities. 

So CrossCurrent Digital really became a whole new opportunity. And just to make clear, it's not just for business owners, correct? I mean, like individuals can use it too, right?

Claton Butcher: Oh, yes, absolutely. Yep. Individuals too. That's the core of the business.

Linda J. Hansen: The core of the business.

Claton Butcher: Yeah. So $15 to $25 a month, you get basically four to eight books a month. And depending on the subscription level and some of that you keep, some of that you borrow, but yeah, so that's CrossCurrent.

Looking to expand that significantly in the coming months and expand the number of books that we have because of other things that I've been doing and actually I haven't even talked about with you in this last hour.

Linda J. Hansen: Right. Yeah. Well, so now we need to get onto the new things that you're doing too.

So CrossCurrent Digital, we'll be sure to give the listeners information about that because I like to listen to books and I read a lot of books and things. So it's great to know that there's a resource there. I think that there's people who are tired of having so much propaganda fed to them through so many different levels.

I think your alternative is a great idea. And thank you for being steadfast to that and not giving up. You could have just gone and just said, we're done with this and not fought back, not come back and created a different alternative.

And thank you. Thank you for that because it takes courage and skill, but also determination and a lot of faith in God to make something happen after you've been canceled. So that I think is really significant.

But how has that experience and what you've done with CrossCurrent Digital led to some other things that you're doing now that are exciting opportunities for the audience to enjoy?

Claton Butcher: Yeah. So we have big plans for CrossCurrent and that kind of started me thinking along the lines of what else can we do in the media space that is really saturated, but not a lot of things that really help protect parents and families. Well, help parents protect their kids, I should say.

So not too long ago, my wife was having a conversation with somebody on the phone and I overheard and she said, “you know, our daughter does a great job and we let her watch YouTube because she does a great job in making sure that she only watches what she's supposed to. And then if something else comes up, then she comes and tells us”. And I immediately thought every family should be able to have that confidence, that assurance that their kids are only watching what they should on YouTube.

But it is so algorithm driven and it is such a huge part of parents' lives and families' lives is their kids on YouTube. So I just started wondering, is there a way that we can help with that? 

And so that has led to WatchSafe. watchsafe.app, if you're online. And actually, just as we record this, last night, the iOS app hit. So the Apple app on the App Store and Android's been out for a few days. So we're excited about that. 

Basically, it is essentially full parental control over YouTube as a subscription service. But it is something that we think is going to be a huge help for families, especially those conservative Christian families or just any family that doesn't want a lot of the junk on YouTube or the time drain that their kids are doing on YouTube, the brain rot with the shorts, all of those different things.

Linda J. Hansen: That's really exciting. So you call it WatchSafe?

Claton Butcher: WatchSafe.

Linda J. Hansen: WatchSafe. And so let's just walk this through. A parent could get the app and then what?

Claton Butcher: So it's pretty simple to set up. It is a subscription. So you have either $4.99 or $6.99 a month. I would recommend the $6.99 because that's the most robust as far as the controls that you can have and ease of setup. But we try to make it easy for everybody. 

So you subscribe. You can do the monthly, or annual at $50 and $70 a year. But we've curated I think about 350 channels or something like that, that we have already gone through and said, OK, this is safe content that families can very quickly get started. If they don't know where to start, just choose.

OK, do you want things for engineering? Our daughter is huge into Mark Rober, which is not on YouTube Kids. Not that we trusted YouTube Kids in the first place, but one of the great things about WatchSafe is all of YouTube is available for you, aside from all the things that you don't want your kids watching, which we filter out from the first part.

But you can completely customize your kids watching. So you have to pre-approve every channel playlist video, which is not as hard as it might sound, which is one of those again, we created those curated lists so you can just say, yep, I want this, this, this, this and this for this child, for this. For a younger child, I want this and this.

Linda J. Hansen: So it's adjustable if there's many, many children in the home?

Claton Butcher: Yep, fully adjustable. There's over 100 different controls that you can have as a parent. And all of that is fully customizable per child. And so if you have five or more kids, you'll want the $6.99. And the other thing about that, the control and control plus. 

So the control plus is the $6.99. That one, you can import playlists that you've already created in your YouTube account, and you can actually connect multiple YouTube accounts in that way. So the mom and the dad can both do that.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, this is really great. You know, when I was growing up, my parents would just turn off the television. And when our kids were growing up, we would just turn off the television and say, go read a book and monitor the books that were there.

But I tell you, this, I think, could be such a great tool for so many families. And as you know, I really try to not only create content with the podcast and what I do that really helps everyone. But there's a focus on employers and how they can make sure these issues are really communicated to their employees.

So this might be something that employers could actually help sponsor for their families if they care about their families and things. So there's a lot of different ways that this can be used for families. And then as employers who care about making sure the families that are within their workplace really have healthy viewing.

And it could be a gift. I also, as you know, you are part of our Employers Unleashed™ Community in which each month we have a webinar where we talk about the different mountains of culture. The basic mountains of culture that, for those of you who have never heard me talk about that, it would be business, family, education, media, arts and entertainment, government and military, and religion. And, we have these mountains of culture that influence everything we do.

So often we have just let people we disagree with and values that we're not aligned with be leading in those areas of our culture. I think what you're doing is providing a way for us to help that mountain of family. But it also helps so much in the other mountains of culture, because when you have healthy families, you have healthy societies. When you have healthy children, you have healthy societies. This is really taking something from the ground up and making sure that we're doing what's most important. That's helping create strong families.

Claton Butcher: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And like you said, it does hit more than just the family culture because YouTube has everything, which is part of the problem, but it also has so many good things.

Linda J. Hansen: And the Internet.

Claton Butcher: Yeah. And so we wanted to be able to allow families to unleash the good parts of YouTube. So the arts you can curate. I think we have an art list already ready for you to go so that your kids can learn how to draw and paint and those types of things.

We have educational requirements, actually, so you can set that up. One of the things that I love is Liberty's Kids, if you are familiar with that. I don't know if you are, Linda. It's probably from the 90s, but I wasn't introduced to it until I was a dad.

But with the 250th anniversary coming this year, we're really hoping that families get into Liberty's Kids, which is a great series that walks through the Revolutionary War, pre-Revolutionary War and all the way through the Constitution. And so it's really, really great stuff. But you can require and put in educational tags so that you have to put on or they have to watch a certain number of videos or a certain number of minutes of educational stuff before it unlocks all the other content that you have for them.

So that's one thing. So there's lots in the educational and again, so much more easy controls for parents that you can help guide your kids, help educate your kids and help to fight the brain rot for one, that is happening so often, especially with the shorts, you can totally block the shorts.

And also, like you said, to help keep the family strong and raise your kids in the way that they should go.

Linda J. Hansen: Right. Well, and you have another app that I'd like you to share about as well, that is right in line with your care and concern for families and for our culture. So ChildThrive. 

Claton Butcher: Yes, ChildThrive. OK, because there's more that I haven't even mentioned yet, but we're really excited about ChildThrive as well. And so this is a totally different thing. It came out of… we're a foster family, too.

It came out of a meeting that a long term family said, “we ran into somebody that was a previous family for one of our kids. And they told us one thing that would have saved us hours a day of fights and heartache. There's got to be something there that exists that we can talk to each other. But there's not”. 

And so I had started building apps at that point. And I'm like, this is really important, I'm pretty sure I can do this. So I built ChildThrive.org, which is essentially a foster care information repository. So the child's story follows them instead of having every interaction, having to rewrite their story.

Now, with ChildThrive, every interaction is just another chapter of their story. So the triggers, all the things like calming routines, the things that help them, everything that makes that child, can be known in a HIPAA compliant way by all the people that interact with that child. 

So there's 16 different user types with ChildThrive that. So whether it's the birth parents that want to give information or the different foster parents along the way, the therapists, doctors, teachers, all of these things now have a home where all of them can put in information at prompts for the wins. What can you celebrate with this child that this child has overcome recently? And so many different things there.

But we think that is something that is going to be an indispensable tool for states. It's got to be state organizations, because technically the children in the foster care are wards of the state. Therefore, the state owns the data. And so it might be kind of difficult to get those contracts. But that's where we're what we're looking to do. 

And actually, with that we're looking for organizations that are well aligned, that we can really start a coalition with, so we've talked to a number of them that are in in 10 to 15, 16 states or so. They love it. They think it needs to be everywhere.

Every state needs to be using it because so many reasons, but obviously for the kids to be able to thrive. So if we can get a coalition together of organizations that are in that sphere and then all together, take it to states and say, look, this is something that we think needs to be trialed. And so that's ChildThrive in a nutshell.

Linda J. Hansen: That seems like we could do an entire episode on just that. And thank you for being a foster family. What a beautiful ministry. But also, again, you are seeing a problem and finding a solution. And so often that's what business leaders do.

We see problems and we look for the solution. And if it's not there, we create it as an innovative entrepreneurship. But I so appreciate that. And you mentioned that it's HIPAA compliant, which I think is extremely important.

And so as people are worried about the data of the child and all of that, you know, it's how that would be done. But I appreciate that it's HIPAA compliant. And so if you were looking for the perfect opportunity to help you get this ChildThrive app to more people, more foster care situations, what would be your perfect client or your perfect partner in helping you do that?

Claton Butcher: Sure. So I think a well-aligned nonprofit. I think it would just take one donor that sees the need for this, sees the opportunity and puts in four or five million dollars and that will fund.

It's something I built, but I can't run. And so I am looking to actually just practically give it away at like a ninety five percent discount to an organization that we can trust to run it. And as an entrepreneur, if I was looking for fundraising, I'd be looking to raise eight million dollars to do this, because at this point I would have to hire everyone.

But I'm looking really just for the right organization, the right donor that sees this and says, OK, here's four million, five million dollars that buys the IP. It buys the vast controlling interest in the company. And then also funds it for four or three years.

So that would be ideal. And again, a coalition. So whether it's one organization that does it or multiple organizations that come together and all have an ownership stake, because the revenue potential, it's not about the money, but the revenue potential is significant.

The only thing that is remotely close and it only does a fraction of what ChildThrive does, recently sold for like four hundred million valuation. And it's a 15 billion dollar annual market in the foster care space. So financially, it is a steal.

Linda J. Hansen: Yes.

Claton Butcher: If you will. But that's not what it's about. It's about helping the kids thrive.

Linda J. Hansen: Can this be used for adoption purposes?

Claton Butcher: Yes.

Linda J. Hansen: Yes.

Claton Butcher: So, again, depending on who owns the data would have to be the ones that have to have a contract with. But we absolutely see adoption as one of the ways that can help, because it tracks, adoption agencies are one of those users that can input the data.

So I think anyone with overseas connections at adoption agencies, those types of things would be great. A whole lot less red tape and we can make it overseas. We can make it compliant for whatever laws there are and also affordable because with the US, I mean, it's one percent of the annual spend for each child and just the cost that we think will save.

There's a massive, massive turnover rate in the child, the workers, caseworkers, that's the word I'm looking for, who have some of the hardest jobs in the world. And the support that gives and just helping to streamline so many different things and having everyone have the information that they need to be able to help the child, we think will greatly reduce the dropout or whatever, the attrition rate of both workers and also foster families.

There is a massive, massive challenge with foster families because 50 percent of first year foster families do not continue after that first year, so it is huge. Think about that for your employment rate and that is you have to always be recruiting. But it's on a much larger scale or challenge because you're not paying foster families. 

Linda J. Hansen: It's not an easy job, not an easy job. And just even going back to an employer, we talked before about how an employer or a business owner could help families within their communities or within their workplace through what you offer, whether it's through CrossCurrent Digital or whether it's through WatchSafe or now with this ChildThrive. So whoever's listening right now, if you're thinking like, boy, I grew up being a foster child or we fostered kids or I care about kids because I was adopted, whatever it is, whoever's in the audience right now, there's somebody who's listening to this, who is hearing the needs for this ChildThrive app and how it needs to get into the hands of more foster families, caseworkers, more of these organizations. This would be so helpful. 

And if we're really talking about helping to impact our culture, impact our culture individually, but also positively impact our culture through our business as we… especially those of us who are faith based employers, we're Christian employers who really want to honor God in our businesses.

And one of the ways we do that is by taking care of people, caring for these children. And we can see culture has not been good to families. Culture now has not been good to families. There's family breakups, there's so many things, and there's so many kids abused or lost in the system or whatever, this is one thing that can help. 

You know, we can't solve every problem in the world, but this is definitely one thing that can help. And you never know who you might be helping. You never know that they might be the next world leader to solve the problems of the next generation. So, if you're listening to this, and these are things that interest you, please make sure you reach out to Claton or reach out to me and I can connect you with him. But these are things that I think can be really impactful for our culture.

And as business leaders, as parents, as grandparents, family members, that's what we should be doing is looking for things that are going to have a positive impact on our communities, on our culture, we can reclaim and preserve America, we can take back those mountains of culture that I mentioned before. And we can do so through innovative, entrepreneurial, ministry minded things that help others. So Claton, do you have any closing comments before we give everybody information on how they can contact you and learn more about these resources you have?

Claton Butcher: Sure. So I think really just reiterating what you said about how, well, maybe maybe said off air… I'm trying to remember if you said it while we're recording or before the record button was hit.

But YouTube especially is a huge, what your kids are seeing and what they might see because you can't police it, is something that I think a lot of your employees, as business owners, a lot of your employees are concerned about, especially if your employees have their spouses work as well and having to have two working, two income homes.

Linda J. Hansen: Or single family homes.

Claton Butcher: Single family. Yes, absolutely. Definitely. It's impossible to police, to fully police what they are watching. And like you said, the culture is really indoctrinating our kids and educating our kids. And it is so hard to combat this.

And if your employees are thinking about that during work, that's going to reduce their productivity. And so we think this is something that as business owners will be really helpful to help strengthen your employees' families. And the stronger parents they are, the stronger families they are, the better workers they're going to be. And so there's group options. Yeah. Options for group subscriptions.

And actually, even if you're an employer, especially small business employer, and can't, don't feel like you can provide this for your employees, but want to be able to offer it to your employees. We also have affiliate options too. So it could even be a revenue driver for your business to sell affiliate to your employees and nonprofits.

This is a huge thing. We're actively looking for affiliate partnerships where I'm assuming, again, you have nonprofit leaders that tune in. We would love to be able to work with you and give you a revenue stream and help with donations and funding drives and those types of things by raffling off lifetime subscriptions to WatchSafe for donations of X amount during, whether it's a monthly or a single pledge drive type of thing.

So we want to be able to empower you as business leaders, as nonprofit leaders and the employees as well. There's so many different aspects that we think this can help with.

Linda J. Hansen: I think so very much. So, okay. And so give them one way to contact you for all of these.

Claton Butcher: So you can email me cbutcher@watchsafe.app, cbutcher@watchsafe.app. And then for ChildThrive, you can reach me through the watchsafe.app or childthrive.org. Anything at childthrive.org is going to get to me. Or cbutcher@CrossCurrentDigital.

My first name is hard to spell, so I don't do the first name.

Linda J. Hansen Yeah. His first name is Claton, but it doesn't have a Y, so it's always confusing.

Claton Butcher: It is.

Linda J. Hansen: Right. Well, thank you so much, Claton. It's just a pleasure.

And thank you for always using the gifts that God has given you to create innovative things to help others. It's very exciting when you see someone really trying to solve a problem that will impact generations. So I think what you're doing will impact generations.

And so thank you for doing that. And thank you for being on the broadcast again. I know you've got some other things in the works coming up soon. And so we look to have you back. Thank you.

Claton Butcher: Thanks, Linda. Godspeed.

Linda J. Hansen: Thank you again for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101 podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please, subscribe, share, and give us a great review. Don’t forget to visit Prosperity101.com to sign our Employers Unleashed™ pledge, to access our entire podcast library, or to discover resources for use in your workplace. Let us know how we can serve you. Contact us today at Prosperity101.com.