• Safety Tips:
• School Safety: Walking and Talking to Strangers
• Personal Safety: Cyberangels to the Rescue
• Questions & Answers:
• Statistics: Sexual Abuse of Boys
• One Opinion: Open to Discussion

School Safety:

As your child begins to walk to school once again, it is important to review with them who is a stranger. While they may be aware that they are not supposed to talk to strangers, it is entirely possible for a young child not to recognize who is a stranger. If you look at some child safety worksheets, they use a cartoon format or even animals to convey safety messages. Too often children assume that if someone looks "normal" to them, or "like a regular person," that they cannot be a stranger.

Work with your child to be sure they know what to do if a grown-up approaches them for directions, or for help looking for a cat or dog, or with a message from you. A great resource for parents is Jan Wagner's "Raising Safe Kids in an Unsafe World.", available HERE through Fingerprint America, from the Yello Dyno Safety Line. A good video to look for is "Raising a Street Smart Child." Check out Fingerprint America's safety tips pages for children: http://www.fingerprintamerica.com/kids.html.

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Personal Safety:

As use of the Internet has expanded so has the need for an Internet policing unit. A dedicated team of volunteers has created the largest Internet safety organization named the Cyberangels. There are more than 3,000 volunteers worldwide who "patrol" the Internet looking for child molesters and child pornography, and work with law enforcement to shut down child pornography sites. It won the 1998 President's Service Award.

Through their Cyberangels Net Patrol, this organization assists people being victimized by cyberstalkers, as well as helping law enforcement officials throughout the world track down cyberstalkers. They do not believe in censorship, but work very hard to keep children safe from the dangers that can be found online.

For details on Cyberangels, and to learn how you can volunteer, visit their site at http://www.cyberangels.org/.

Another volunteer organization committed to helping law enforcement worldwide to eradicate child pornography sites is the Condemned Network. Visit their site at http://www.condemned.org.

Questions From Readers and Our Answers:

Q:My nine-year-old child has asked me to permit him to ride around the neighborhood on his bike. I am nervous about letting him go beyond the end of the block where I can keep an eye out for him. I know I can't keep him so close forever, but can you suggest ways I can keep him safer?

A: Yes, and we agree that you must begin to let him go out into the world. However, there are a few steps which may make you feel better, and keep him safer. First, review all the personal safety information you have been teaching him up until now. This includes reminding him that there is safety in numbers, and it's a good idea to travel around with a buddy.

Second, give him trial periods to show you that he can handle the responsibility of checking in with you at the set time intervals you establish. We suggest that you try a walkie-talkie, or even a beeper. It isn't even unusual for a child to carry a cell phone these days. This keeps you in contact when necessary, and permits him to make that inevitable stretch of his boundaries.

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Statistics:

"Approximately 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before the age of 16."

(Source: http://www.jimhopper.com/abstats/).

Open to Discussion – One Opinion:

In researching for accurate statistics of the incidents of child sexual abuse, it becomes obvious that there is great difficulty in determining the current rate of child sexual abuse. Most statistics are based upon reports by adults recalling childhood trauma, since there is a lack of information from children who are currently experiencing abuse. Most children do not report sexual abuse.

There have been attempts to create an anonymous survey to determine the level of sexual abuse in a particular school, and this work needs to be continued if we are to successfully prevent child abuse from continuing. It is generally accepted that at least one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused by the time they are sixteen, so is not unlikely that behavior problems may be manifested because of this trauma.

Unfortunately, too many times if they are "acting out" via drug abuse, violence, or depression, and intervention is sought for them, no one thinks to ask them if they have been sexually abused. All people working with children need to keep in mind that children often have no language for describing what is happening to them, nor may they be able to verbalize the confusion and fear they carry. It is necessary to learn the behavioral indicators of abuse.

Learn how to approach the topic, and learn how to offer support. Also, learn your legal responsibility for reporting suspicion of sexual abuse to the proper authorities.

Learn more by visiting Dr. Jim Hopper's site at http://www.jimhopper.com/abstats/ and the Pandora's Box site that has much information on the topic of sex abuse at http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/sitemap.htm.

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