Awareness, Prevention, Plan of Action.

I have recently felt the responsibility of bringing awareness to youth serving organizations in my community, to the reality of child sexual abuse within youth organizations. Not only do I want to protect the adults who volunteer with their heart and soul, I want to protect their children that I love and serve.

I am not just an Investigator and Trauma Coach. I am also a mother of four, child volunteer, and competitive basketball coach. My children participate in our local sports programs, and I’ve been coaching for over 13 years and have the background of being a competitive athlete myself.

Believe me when I tell you, I have seen and heard it all.

I live my life educating myself daily on the realities of child sex crimes, child sexual abuse, and how to heal people with CSA trauma. CSA has been a part of my life since I was 5 years old. I’m dedicated to helping those who experience abuse at the hands of child predators.

I understand that an adult’s perception and life experiences are reflected in who they are, what they believe, and what they stand for. People make decisions based on their own thoughts and experiences. I also understand that it is difficult for many adults to have an educated discussion of the real threats of adult predators that target children within youth organizations.

There are many reasons why some adults are avoidant of this conversation and find it too difficult to discuss. With that said, I do not hold space for avoidance. While the conversations might be difficult, they are necessary. To not implement preventative policy and procedure into anything that serves our youth is gross negligence by adults. We live in a world with access to information at our fingertips. It is the responsibility of every adult that serves our youth to protect them from the very real danger of child predators.

If you are an adult who finds it difficult to hold a conversation of the implementation of policies that help prevent child sex crimes in your organization, then simply take a step back. Do not inhibit other adults from a plan of action because you are uncomfortable.

Cognitive Dissonance by adults is a real issue I have faced when bringing policy and procedure to the attention of those who run programs for children. If it is not Cognitive Dissonance that an adult is experiencing, then is it a red flag that they cannot reasonably discuss CSA prevention for the youth they are serving?

You decide…

It is the job of the adults who run child organizations to hold space for, discuss, maturely approach, and make a plan of action to prevent and appropriately respond to crimes against children.

Hebephilia and paedophilia are serious threats within child organizations.

Predators FLOCK to child organizations! It doesn’t matter what town you are in, or if you grew up with every adult serving and volunteering. Child predators are among us.

Child molesters gain access to their victims by:

·      Befriending parents, particularly single parents.

·      Offering babysitting services to busy parents.

·      Taking jobs and participating in community events that involve children.

·      Attending sporting events for children.

·      Offering to coach children’s sports.

·      Volunteering in youth organizations.

·      Offering to chaperone overnight trips.

·      Loitering in places children frequent.

·      Befriending youth on social media.

·      Becoming a guardian or foster parent.

I will continue to push for: AWARENESS. PREVENTION. PLAN OF ACTION.

If you volunteer for a youth program, it is essential that you can talk about and implement policies that protect the children you are serving. Most adults who volunteer have their hearts in the right place, and it is our job to understand a very real threat.

What I will leave you with is a message from all victims of CSA. If you as an adult think that child sexual abuse is too difficult to discuss, imagine being the victim. Because 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18. And, 93% of these victims are sexually abused by someone they know and trust.  

https://safe4athletes.org is a FREE program for youth sports to implement. It does all the work for you. Please consider visiting this site and adopting its program within your organization.

AA