Protection Against Childhood Sexual Abuse
What should I tell my child about predators and sexual abuse?
You should tell your child that the vast majority of people would never do anything to harm a child, but that there are certain individuals out there who will go out of their way to get sexual gratification from children. And that there is absolutely nothing good about that. And that they should always feel that they can come and talk to their parents about any suspicious individuals in their lives. That they should take precautions to not get too close to those individuals. And I think probably the best things that you can do is you can talk to your child on a regular basis about these kinds of issues. And you can work to make sure that your child has self confidence and self esteem, because individuals who prey on children look for children who don't have self confidence and don't have self esteem. There is definitely a profile of a child, much more than there is of the perpetrator, of the child who is ripe for sexual abuse. And it tends to be vulnerable kids, who tend to be loners, who don't have a lot of confidence in themselves, who don't really get out there and engage, and who are looking for somebody to connect with. And oftentimes those predators will -- they always seek out those kinds of kids. And once they find them, they hone in on them with a radar that would put anything that the government's ever put together to absolute shame.
Should I call the police if I suspect my child's been sexually abused?
If you suspect somebody is sexually abusing your child, absolutely. The authorities have to be brought in because that person, if in fact they are sexually abusing your child, has to be taken out of the system. We just cannot tolerate that as a society on any level whatsoever.
