|
|
Child Sexual Assault
It is important to foster independence in young children by teaching effective ways of coping with potentially dangerous situations. Using role plays,
RCSGL's Child Assault Prevention project (CAP) empowers children and develops skills for assertive responses, ways of seeking peer support and validates the need for a child to tell a trusted adult.
Children are abused and assaulted because the offender perceives them as vulnerable. The CAP project and caretakers can reduce this vulnerability by moving the child from fear to confidence.
FACT: Parents cannot always be with and protect their children.
CAP gives information regarding how to handle all forms of assault. Programs which focus only on the "dangerous stranger" fail to prepare children for abuse by someone they know: another child, baby-sitter parent, relative, teacher, friend of the family, etc.
FACT: Over 80% of assaults and abuse against children are committed by someone they know or a family member.
"I expected the children would be given worthwhile information to help with their protection. The C.A.P. program exceeded my expectations."
Second Grade Teacher
Billerica, MA
THE C.A.P. APPROACH TO PREVENTION IS EMPOWERMENT THROUGH EDUCATION.
SCHOOL STAFF WORKSHOP
- Provides staff and teachers with current statistics on abuses
- Discuss and point out possible indicators of child abuse
- Discuss skills useful for communicating with children who might be or have been abused.
- Answer questions
PARENT WORKSHOP
- Offered separately in each school district prior to entering classrooms.
- Present states, information, and myths about child abuse and assault.
- Gives out resources available in the community for those needing help.
- Offers suggestions on how to discuss these issues in the home.
CLASSROOM/CHILDREN'S WORKSHOP
Within the safety of their own classrooms, children observe, then discuss three role plays where a bully, a stranger, and a known person take away their rights to be safe, strong, and free. After discussing possible solutions, role plays are once again performed with successful outcomes.
Children come out of a C.A.P. presentation with some tools to use and ways to resist assaults.
- Assertiveness
- Peer-support
- Self-defense techniques
- Tell (a trusted friend, an adult) Don't be afraid to ask for help!
Say No - Go - Tell!
WHAT CAN PARENTS AND TEACHERS DO TO HELP OUR CHILDREN
Really listen to children. Take time every day to sit and talk with your child . . . share feelings and opinions. Children then feel that you care and will listen if something does happen to them.
You can teach a child to be polite and respectful without encouraging "blind obedience°. 'Always mind, always be polite, always do what you're told" messages set children up to tolerate abusive behavior.
Discuss good touches, bad or confusing touches, good secrets, and bad or unhappy secrets.
Talk through "what could you do if"... scenarios.
BELIEVE THE CHILDREN!
Children doing the CAP Yell!
A True Success Story
Three children walking to school were approached by a stranger who offered them video games if one of them would come with him to help him take his dog to the vet. The children saw a small dog in the car but told him "No." They had learned in the CAP workshop to observe all they could about strangers who speak to them and so they memorized his license plate number and reported it to their principal. A trace through the local law enforcement agency revealed he lived forty miles away and had a criminal record for child molestation.
An Empowerment Philosophy requires us to strengthen children, not frighten them. Consequently, children leave CAP workshops feeling good about themselves and the things they have learned.
SOME RECENT STATISTICS FROM THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE AND THE NATIONAL VICTIM CENTER:
- Of reported cases of child abuse and neglect, 28% involved physical abuse, 16% involved sexual abuse, 43% involved neglect, 5% involved emotional maltreatment, and 10% other.
- Approximately 35% of women (on eout of three) and 20% of men (one out of five) in the United States were victims of sexual abuse as children.
- Most (approximately 85%) of child abusers are NOT strangers, but persons that the child knows and trusts.
- 29% of rapes in America occured when the victim was less than 11 years old.
- The United States Dept. of Justice conservatively estimated that there were 10,000 sexual assaults of males aged 12 years and older in the U.S. in 1990.
- Nationally, there are more than 3,000,000 cases of child abuse and neglect reported each year.
- More than 80% of all abuse cases involve a parent or step-parent.
- Almost 50% of all abused children are between the ages of 5-11.
- Statistics indicate that offenders come from a variety of occupations (lawyers, doctors, clergy, coaches, etc.) and from all socio-economic groups.
- One out of every four girls is sexually assaulted at least once before the age of 18.
- One out of every five to seven boys is sexually assaulted at least once before the age of 18.
- 50-80% of all incidents of sexual abuse go unreported.
- National statistics indicate that from 1990-1996, there was an increase of 18% in substantiated cases of abuse and neglect.
"I was hoping the issues of today would be addressed. The C.A.P. workshop went beyond my expectations."
Fourth Grade Teacher
Lowell, MA
"Truthfully, I didn't know what to expect but was very pleased with the topics that were presented and the way they were handled."
Kindergarten Teacher
Tyngsboro, MA
|
|
