February 6, 2012
Paul Tuthill
Springfield, MA (WAMC)
Listen here: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1901918/WAMC.New.England.News/Program.Trains.Adults..To.Stop.Sexual.Abuse..Of.Children
Sexual abuse of children is disturbingly prevelant according to experts. Dr. Stephen Boos, medical director of the Family Advocacy Center at Baystate Childrens Hospital in Springfield, says surveys have found 1 in 4 women and 1 in six men were sexually abused as children, but 80 percent never reported it.
"We have been talking about sexual abuse prevention for a long time in this country but the focus has been on training children to protect themselves: 'just say no,' or 'tell somebody.' That's a heavy burden to lay on a child, and when they fail, that just compounds the guilt and keeps them quiet. It's time for the adults to stand up and say 'We're the adults, it is our responsibility to make our society safe for these children."
Getting more adults trained to recognize the consequences of child sex abuse from a public health perspective, how to identifty abusers, and keep children out of potentially risky situations is the goal of the "Enough Abuse" campaign. The initiative involves training community leaders, particularly people who work for, or volunteer with, youth service organizations. These trainers are then expected to work at the grassroots with parents and other adults who have regular contact with children.
Dr. Boos says child sexual abuse can be prevented, but it takes diligence:
"If you are running a youth serving agency you need to set up your agency to look for this problem. You need to screen your employees, you need to set up your physical plan so that the environment is safe, you need to kind of have a buddy system so that everyone is looking at everyone, and you need to train your people so that they know that if you're the assistant coach your watching the coach, if you're the coach you're watching the assistant coach. Everyone is watching out for the children, the children come number one and protecting the program and the employees is not the first agenda, I think that's the lesson of Penn State."
Massachusetts Citizens for Children, the nation's oldest state-wide child advocacy organization, is leading the state-wide initiative to train more adults to prevent, recognize, and stop child sexual abuse. The effort is supported by a 1.2 million dollar grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is backed by dozens of community organizations. According to Eva Montibello communications director for the Enough Abuse Campaign:
"These are, not only people, but they're also community organizations that are taking a stand and fully committed to saying, 'you know what, enough child sexual abuse in our community.' You know, we want to do something to actively and proactively go out into the community and train as many people as we can in all different areas to prevent child sexual abuse."
Greater Springfield is the fourth area of the state to be introduced to the campaign. The pre-school program, Square One, is one of the campaign's local supporters. The organization's vice president of family services, Joni Beck Brewer, is hopeful for its success:
"We do take a lot of precautions about making sure that the kids are safe when they're in our care, and then concerns often will come up about whether the child is safe in their home and in their communities - so it really has to be a multi-pronged approach, you cant just look at parents or teachers, we really need the whole community to step up and really be aware of this - and that's what we're hoping to do here.
Other organizations supporting the child sexual abuse prevention campaign include Head Start, the Ms. Foundation, and the Springfield Housing Authority.
Reporting from WAMC's pioneer valley news bureau on the campus of Western New England University, I'm Paul Tuthill.
