Our evidence-informed training influences community behavior change. Once certified in Stewards of Children®, adults will take action to protect the children in their lives. Your financial gift is an investment in prevention.
The facts about child sexual abuse can be staggering, but learning them can help us better understand how to protect children.
For instance, we know that over 90% of sexually abused children are abused by someone known by the child or family. This means that “stranger danger” isn’t the biggest risk to children. People they know are.
One-one-one time with trusted adults is healthy and valuable for a child. Ensuring that those opportunities are safe is important as well.
If you eliminate or reduce opportunities for children to be in isolated, one-on-one situations with adults or other youth, you dramatically reduce the risk for abuse.
Children often keep abuse a secret, but barriers can be broken down by talking openly about topics like body safety, sex, and boundaries. One of the best defenses against child sexual abuse is our relationship with children and open, age-appropriate conversations.
Don’t expect obvious signs when a child is being sexually abused. Signs are often there, but you have to know what to look for. Emotional or behavioral signals are more common, and may range from “too perfect” behavior to anger and rebellion.
Disclosure, discovery, and suspicions of sexual abuse provide opportunities to intervene on behalf of a child. Be prepared to react responsibly.
We know that when adults are trained, they take the steps to protect children from sexual abuse.
During our award-winning Stewards of Children® prevention training, you’ll meet survivors who lived through child sexual abuse, experienced its immediate and long-term effects, and ultimately were able to find healing. You’ll meet experts who work with children and families and confront abuse on a daily basis. Lastly, you’ll find concrete steps that you can take to protect the children in your life.
As an educator or staff member, you know how vital school experiences are for kids and how it leads to many positive growth opportunities. The student’s safety is your number one priority – so how can you make sure they are safe within the school’s walls and also convey that message to the children in …
Darkness to Light announces more than 1.8 million adults trained to prevent child sexual abuse. In February of 2019 we reached an amazing milestone: we trained 1.7 million adults to prevent child sexual abuse! We were thrilled. However, this wasn’t enough for our Authorized Facilitators and Instructors. Through their dedication and partnership, 100,000 more adults …
As we approach the end of the year, our team has been reflecting on the amazing things we’ve achieved in collaboration with our partners – from surpassing 1.8 million adults trained to launching our new prevention paradigm. We continue to push forward to help better protect children and as we look forward to 2020, we …
