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.
In many places school is out and kids’ summer activities are getting started – riding bikes all day, pool parties, sleepovers, and summer camps. You make sure your kids are prepared with helmets and swim lessons, but have you thought about how to prepare them to be away safely overnight and have safer sleepovers? Sleepovers …
Featuring brave testimonials from athletes at the center of the story, At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal reveals a dangerous system that prioritized winning over everything else, including protecting young female athletes. At the Heart of Gold, a powerful documentary directed by Erin Lee Carr, documents the failings of the organizations …
As adults, there are small things we can do everyday to protect children. This starts with the courage to stand up for children if we see they are uncomfortable. Even if it’s something as small as someone else forcing your child to hug, it’s OK to empower children to say “no.” This simple act teaches …
