PREVENTING CHILD ABUSE
What Parents Can Do
• Listen to your children. Pay attention if they tell you that
they don’t want to be with someone or
go somewhere.
• Take the time to talk with your children. Encourage open
communication and learn how to be
an active listener.
• Notice when someone shows one or all of your children a
great deal of attention or begins
giving them gifts.
• Never force your child to hug and/or kiss someone.
• Teach your children that they have the right to say NO
to an unwelcome, uncomfortable, or
confusing touch or actions by others. Teach them to immediately tell
you if this happens.
Reassure them that you’re there to help, and it is okay to tell you everything.
• Be sensitive to any changes in your children’s behavior or
attitude.
• Look and listen to small cues and clues that something may
be troubling your children,
because children are not always comfortable disclosing disturbing events or
feelings.
• If your children do confide problems to you, strive to
remain calm, non-critical, and
nonjudgmental. Listen compassionately to their concerns, and work with
them to get the help
they need to resolve the problem.
• Be sure to screen babysitters and caregivers. Many states
now have a public registry that
allows parents to check out individuals for prior criminal records and
sex offenses. Check
references with other families who used the caregiver or babysitter. Once you have chosen
the
caregiver, drop in unexpectedly to see how your children are doing. Ask your children how the
experience with the caretaker was, and carefully listen to the response.
• Provide oversight and supervision of your children’s
computer use. Know who they’re
communicating with online and where they might have access to computers.
Establish rules
and guidelines for computer use for your children.
• Be involved in your children’s activities. As an active
participant, you’ll have a better
opportunity to observe how the adults in charge interact with your
children.
• Work with your children’s school to institute sound
child-safety openly and honestly. There is
no substitute for your attention and supervision. Being available and
taking time to really know
and listen to your child helps build feelings of safety and security.
• Talk to your children about a “secret password”. Let them
select a word that they can
remember. Tell this word to only those family members or friends who are
allowed to pick up
the children from school or anyplace else. Then when someone attempts to pick them
up, the
children should ask the person what the password is. Children should not go with anyone who
does not know the password.
• Let your children know that any kind of abuse they may
experience is never their fault. If
children realize this, they may be more willing to talk about their
problem or situation.
• Each night ask your children about their day. Ask them what
good things happened, what bad
things happened and if they could change one thing about this
day, what would it be. This will
give children the opening they may need to talk with you.
• If your children spend time at one of their friend’s homes,
whether for a few hours or the entire
night, make sure you know the parent(s). Trust your instincts. When
your children return home,
ask questions about what they did, etc.
• Call our hotline at 1-800-468-8920 if you have questions or
need advice/assistance.
What Schools Can Do
• Make sure teachers, volunteers, and any one else with
access to children are properly
screened and trained. Implement and enforce a policy for reporting
child abuse disclosures
from children.
• Establish protocols and screening for school computer use.
Provide training for students and
teachers on the acceptable use of computers.
• Choose or develop child-safety programs for the school that
are based on accepted
educational theories; are appropriate for the children’s ages and levels of
education and
development; are designed to offer concepts that will help children build self-confidence
in
order to better handle and protect themselves in all types of situations; use multiple program
components
that are repeated several years in a row; and, use qualified presenters who
include role playing,
behavioral rehearsal, feedback, and active participation in presentations.
• Access your environmental structure and take every possible
step to make it safer for
children. Make certain children are properly supervised both in the
classroom and around
campus.
• Make certain campus security is in place so all visitors are
screened through the office and
unusual incidents/visitors are handled.
• Provide programs and roles for parents to make them a part
of their children’s safety and
security at school and while going to and from school.
• Talk to every parent regarding who may and may not pick up
the children from school.
• Create after school programs. Parents and others can
volunteer their time and talent to these
programs.
• Call our hotline at 1-800-468-8920 if you have questions or
need advice/assistance
What Communities Can Do
• Support local law-enforcement efforts to establish
neighborhood crime-watch programs.
Report suspicious persons/activities to local law enforcement.
• Support aggressive prosecution of child molesters within
local communities and have an
action plan and protocol in place to alert the community and assuage
their fears when a high
profile arrest is made.
• Mobilize community groups and child serving organizations to
help make your community
more “child safe”. Determine if available services and programs are
adequate to address the
needs of the community.
• Institute free child-identification programs in the
community to ensure that all parents have a
recent, clear and readily available photograph, set of fingerprints,
and DNA specimen of their
children.
• Advocate for meaningful legislative change with local
elected officials.
• Promote after school programs. These are especially
important for “Latch Key Kids”.
• Promote the Safe Place Program, especially for businesses
that are open 24/7.
• Call our hotline at 1-800-468-8920 if you have questions or
need advice/assistance.
What Children Can Do
• Before going anywhere, always check with your parents or the
person in charge.
• Check first for permission from your parents before getting
into a car or leaving with any one,
even someone you know.
• It is safer for you to be with other people when going
places or playing outside.
• Say NO if someone tries to touch you in a way that
makes you feel frightened, uncomfortable
or confused.
• Tell a grown-up if someone touches you in a way that is not
O.K.
• Trust your feelings and talk about your problems. You can
ask for help.
Email to kychild@kychildabuse.org