The Case for Teaching Kids 'Vagina,' 'Penis,' and 'Vulva'→

As part of the growing movement to implement abuse prevention in schools and other youth-serving organizations, Rohdenburg and other educators believe that teaching what linguists call "standard" dialect for body parts -- rather than euphemisms and colloquialisms -- is important. Teaching children anatomically correct terms, age-appropriately, says Laura Palumbo, a prevention specialist with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), promotes positive body image, self confidence, and parent-child communication; discourages perpetrators; and, in the event of abuse, helps children and adults navigate the disclosure and forensic interview process.

Evidence shows nothing but good can come of quality sex ed. Why some adults have to treat the subject as taboo is a mystery to me. Making the whole thing a deep dark secret only has negative consequences. 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys could tell you that!

Tell children early about recognizing sexual abuse→

Dr. Martin A. Finkel posts what I think is one of the most succinct and accurate summaries of the issues of child sexual abuse prevention. Definitely worth a couple of minutes of your time. Among the many great points he makes is this:

Admittedly, we don’t know for sure that talking to children about personal space and privacy will be the magic bullet of prevention. But we do know that children armed with information about personal space and privacy will be six to seven times more likely to develop protective behaviors and to feel empowered to disclose abuse.

The bottom line:

Child sexual abuse thrives in silence. Our discomfort can’t be reason enough to keep us from talking to children about it.

Amen!

Storytelling program 'combats child abuse'

I have no knowledge of this bar what is written here, but it certainly sounds promising.

A Federal Government department has found a pilot program based around storytelling has been remarkably effective at helping children to protect themselves from abuse.

"To actually be able to have kids [realise], when they get butterflies in their stomach, when their hands are trembling, when they feel all these emotions rushing through their body that they're actually feeling unsafe, and that when they're feeling unsafe they need to do something about that and need to talk to someone and they can get help," she said.

Associate Professor Jenny Hudson, from Macquarie University's Department of Psychology, says there was evidence that programs like the Tamworth program increased children's knowledge about risk and protective behaviours.

"This pilot program shows that children's knowledge did increase, which is a good thing," she said.

Damn good!

What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse→

Resources located at The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Caring for Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse

Caring for Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse is a consumer-focused resource kit that contains information and fact sheets for parents, caregivers, and adolescents.

The kit provides parents and caregivers with tools to help them support children who have been victims of sexual abuse, information on the importance of talking to children and youth about body safety, and guidance on how to respond when children disclose sexual abuse. Also included is advice on how to cope with the shock of intrafamilial abuse and with the emotional impact of legal involvement in sexual abuse cases.

Caring for Kids provides adolescents with information about the prevalence of acquaintance rape and tips to help reduce their risk for abuse. It also offers guidance on what to do if they are a victim of acquaintance rape including disclosure, medical attention, and professional counseling.

This series of guides is well produced, comprehensive and accessible. If you are a concerned parent looking for a free download that will get you up to speed on the issues fairly quickly, this is it.

Download the complete kit: Caring for Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse (PDF)

Boys abuse in home first: sex study→

Adrian Lowe at theage.com.au:

... the occurrence of sibling incest could most likely be linked to the availability of victims to the perpetrators, and for a child who had experienced many types of abuse, a response to that trauma may be overly sexualised behaviour.

'There were certainly cases where the child was jealous and angry towards their sibling but there seemed to be some very strong indications that those children were very, very angry with their parents, and the way to get at their parents was to abuse the other children.''

Of the jealous anger conclusions, Professor Quirk said: ''Within the limitations of this particular study, what [that] suggests is that the children … who had grown up in a difficult environment, one of the ways of managing difficult emotions for them are the behaviours that they have either been subjected to themselves, or they have witnessed, or that they have learnt to engage in.''

But boys who sexually abuse siblings because of a jealous anger were less likely to offend in the community.

Researchers also concluded that sibling incest was the most common form of family sexual abuse, at least five times more common than parent-child incest.

It is remarkable how much of a child's behaviour is modeled on even their parent's most negative and destructive behaviour. Then again it's probably the most natural thing in the world when you think about it. Children of smokers, smoke; drinkers drink; abusers abuse. If we could stop these behaviours for one generation they would hopefully disappear.  If.

Media coverage of child sexual abuse→

Ms. Foundation for Women, press release:

The report, “Breaking News on Child Sexual Abuse: Early Coverage of Penn State,” found that less than one-third of the general news coverage of the Jerry Sandusky case included a mention of a potential solution or policy measure to reduce or prevent future abuse.

 “Media coverage increases the visibility of societal problems and fuels our nation’s collective response. Coverage that is absent of solutions denies us an opportunity to prevent child sexual abuse for the one in four girls and one in six boys who are sexually abused each year,” said Rahman.

Among the articles mentioning solutions, the most frequently cited ones focused on actions after the abuse had been committed, such as reporting abuse, rather than measures intended to prevent abuse from occurring.

“The report highlights that prevention continues to get short shrift in news coverage of child sexual abuse,” BMSG Director Lori Dorfman said. “Journalists and advocates can work together on stories like this to help the public and policymakers understand the need for prevention policies.”

Not so surprising unfortunately. The media's goal is to secure readers and thus revenue, not work for the greater good. It has been frustrating to see the reaction to the Penn State scandal revolve around things such as universal mandatory reporting and removing the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases. While it is not bad to investigate such measures it does reek of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Where is the focus on prevention? How can we push this issue forward?

Child-on-child sex abuse 35%?→

The Associated Press at nydailynews.com:

35.6% of child sex abuse cases are committed by other minors

Conducted by three prominent researchers, the 2009 analysis found that juveniles accounted for 35.6 percent of the people identified by police as having committed sex offenses against minors.

Of these young offenders, 93 percent were male, and the peak ages for offending were 12 through 14, the researchers found. Of the victims, 59 percent were younger than 12 and 75 percent were female.

The report referred to a popular misconception that juvenile sex offenders are likely to reoffend, and said numerous studies over the years have shown the opposite — that 85 to 95 percent of offending youth are never again arrested for sex crimes.

There are a range of interesting issues raised in this 5 page article including counterproductive legal mandates driven by misguided public opinion. Putting juvenile sex offenders on registers with adults when most of them will never reoffend being the prime example.

The figure of 35% of child sexual abuse cases being committed by other minors is interesting. However, from the prevention perspective, this does not alter the protective behaviours message. Your body is your body and no one else should touch it, if some one does tell some one you trust immediately (no secrets). Having a trusting and open relationship where the child feels that they can tell the parent anything is essential for successful parenting and avoiding many of the pitfalls encountered while growing up including sexual abuse.

What Child Sexual Offenders Tell Us ...→

Garry Cooper, LCSW at jennifergildredarttherapy.com:

Child Sexual Abuse Prevention; What Child Sexual Offenders Tell Us
About How They Attract Child Victims

"Parents are so naive. They're worried about strangers when they should be worried about relatives. They don't realize how devious we can be. I used to abuse children in the same room with their parents."

"Know that we will use any way we can to get to children." One disabled person spent months grooming parents so they would tell their child to go with him and help him.

Tell children they never need to keep secrets or feel they're to blame if someone touches them or they touch someone else. "Secrecy and blame were my best [allies]," said one offender. Openness and a no-secrets attitude are the best antidotes to the shame that is an ideal breeding ground for continued abuse.

From the horses mouth...  The majority of sexual abuse currently being perpetrated could probably be prevented with the right kind of education and atmosphere at home. If a child feels loved and trusted and knows that no topic is taboo there will be less secrets. Baring violent, presumably one off sexual assault by strangers, perpetrators rely on secrecy. Given that over 90 percent of perpetrators are known to the child, the perpetrator's very lives can depend on that secrecy. The consequences of disclosure for perpetrators are usually catastrophic from their perspective. Removing secrecy and blame from the perpetrator's toolkit will go someway to neutering them and protecting our children. 

Protecting children from sexual abuse→

Dr. Jay Adlersberg, video report for  Eyewitness News:

Working in this field for decades, Dr. Mchugh is a firm believer in prevention.

"Once people realize that you have to talk about it, we're gonna prevent it," she said.

What parents need to know, says Dr. McHugh and the academy, is that most offenders are not strangers to the child or to the family. That is foremost to understand.

So by age 2 and half or 3, when parents begin to teach the child about safety, they must also teach protection.

"Teaching a child safety should be the same whether it's crossing the street or being safe. Your body is yours. People do not touch it and if they do, come tell me. If someone touches you, come tell me," McHugh explained.

Lots of other great insights here. Scroll down to see the tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Child sex-abuse epidemic?→

Tammy Lerner in The Morning Call:

US must deal with child sex-abuse epidemic

How severe do statistics have to become before people start talking and thinking about child sex abuse in real terms? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines tell us it is a public health epidemic, with one in four girls and one in six boys being victimized before age 18. Pennsylvania alone has more than 3.1 million victims. Nationally, it is more than 49 million. A child today has a greater chance of being sexually abused than of being in an automobile accident or breaking a bone.

Not just the US. Australian figures are appalingly comparible. Is there a larger public health issue?

It’s the devil you know→

Rebecca S. Green in the The Journal Gazette:

According to national studies, as many as 93 percent of victims of childhood sexual or physical abuse were harmed by someone they knew.

It’s not the mythological bogey man in the bushes by the elementary school who poses the greatest risk to our children. It is the coach, the parent, the grandparent, the baby sitter.

The high percentage of children who know their abusers is often an uncomfortable fact for people to accept, Periera said.

Too many, though, are in denial.

“People believe that their circle is different than the circle in which sexual abuse happens,” Richison said. “People don’t want to believe, when it comes to them personally, that the people they know and trust would hurt their children.”

This article makes many more good points. Too many to quote here. Certainly worth reading.

10 Reasons not to discuss child sexual abuse in 2012→

Jill Starishevsky at shewrites.com:

I have heard all the reasons why parents don’t discuss child sexual abuse prevention with their children.  I have heard them so often that I can recite them by heart.  As the new year approaches, I decided it would be a good idea to memorialize the top 10 reasons for not discussing the subject.

Jill writes with some authority:

Jill Starishevsky is an Assistant District Attorney in New York City, where she has prosecuted hundreds of sex offenders and dedicated her career to seeking justice for victims of child abuse and sex crimes.

You don't need to read this but you probably know people who are in denial and most definitely do. The percentage of the population that falls into this category is depressingly high in our experience. They are the perpetrators best friends (probably literally and figuratively). They just don't know it yet.

There goes the neighbourhood ...→

Megan's Law requires information about registered sex offenders in the United States to be made available to the public. This includes names, addresses, and photographs of the offenders.

This is California's implementation. Click the 'Continue' button at the bottom of the page, tick the term and conditions agreement and 'Continue' again. Now click on the 'Zip Code' button, enter '90016' into the 'Zip Code' box and click on the 'View Map' button. All the blue boxes are where registered sex offenders live! It makes one feel queezy in so many ways.  If you want to see what they look like click on the 'View Listing' button.

Can you imagine raising a family in that neighbourhood?

Empowering our children against sexual abuse→

This 60 minute online video clearly and comprehensively covers the issues involved in protecting children from sexual abuse. It discusses primary prevention (ie controlling their environment and contacts) as well as secondary prevention (educating your child in an age appropriate way as to inappropriate touch and it's reporting to a trusted adult).