Resources

Steps to Protecting Children

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1. Learn the facts, understand the risks. Realities, not trust, should influence your decisions regarding your child. The greatest risk to our children doesn’t come from strangers, but from our friends and family.
    

2. Minimize opportunity. If you eliminate or reduce the one adult/one child situations, you’ll dramatically lower the risk of sexual abuse.
    

3. Talk about it. Children often keep abuse a secret, but barriers can be broken down by talking openly about it. Understand why children won’t tell.
    

4. Stay alert: Learn the signs. Don’t expect obvious signs when a child is being abused. Not every child is going to show symptoms or may not show right away
    

5. Make a plan. Learn where to go, who to call and how to react. Also think about including other children in the plan. Safe people they can go to if they don’t feel they can go to caregivers.

6. Act on suspicion.  A child’s well-being is at stake.
    

7. Get involved. Volunteer and financially support organization that fight child sexual abuse.

Body Safety
 

• Talk about “safe” and “unsafe” touching, rather than “good” or “bad” touching. This removes guilt from the child, and keeps them from having to make a moral distinction about what is and is not appropriate.
   

• Teach the difference between healthy and unhealthy secrets. Healthy secrets are like presents for Grandma, unhealthy secrets are about private parts.
   

• Help your child identify 5 adults they could go to, if someone did something unsafe. Children are often afraid to tell parents, not because children don’t love their parents, but they fear upsetting or disappointing a parent. Or fear getting in trouble.
   

• Teach children proper names for body parts, so that if they disclose, it will be clear what they are talking about.
   

• Continue having natural, age-appropriate body safety conversations. Children learn through repetition and overtime children will know it is safe to talk about these subjects.
   

Technology Safety

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• Keep all devices in a common area

• Use technology together

• Set limits

• Balance green time and screen time

• Create a family media agreement, like tech free zones (cars, meals, rooms)

• Review your child’s searches and internet history

• Enable parental controls

• Take an interest in your child’s online world

• Help your child learn about privacy settings

• Encourage critical thinking when they’re online

• Navigate digital issues, avoid using devices as a reward or punishment

• Be aware of age restrictions

• Educate yourself​