Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
FOR HAPPY, HEALTHY & SAFE KIDS
The YMCA has partnered with numerous organizations to bring child abuse awareness and prevention to our communities. At the Summit Area YMCA, we stand committed to providing a safe environment for everyone who enters our doors or participates in our programs, most importantly the safety and well-being of children entrusted to our care. We have a series of measures in place to keep kids safe. Through training sessions, community resources, and workshops, the Y educates adults on how to recognize, prevent, and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse, emphasizing child safety and prevention is every adult’s responsibility. Our work is guided by the vision of a world free from child sexual abuse, where children can grow up happy, healthy, and safe.
The Summit Area YMCA takes pride in providing safe places for children to grow in skills and self-confidence. Learn more on how the Y keeps your children safeguarded against abuse through staff training, protocols, and ongoing knowledge of awareness and prevention here.
Upcoming Training(s):
Darkness to Light: Child Abuse Prevention Training
Date: Tuesday, April 25
Time: 6:30-8:30 PM
Location: Berkeley Heights YMCA
Darkness to Light: Child Abuse Prevention Training
Date: Thursday, April 27
Time: 6:15-8:15 PM
Location: The Learning Circle YMCA
The safety and well-being of children at the Y is, and always will be, our top priority. We know that today.
> 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys in the U.S. experience sexual abuse by the age of 18.
> 90 percent of children who are abused know the abuser.
> There are more than 42 million survivors of child sexual abuse in the U.S. Yet, many child victims may never disclose their abuse.
> 1 in 5 children is solicited sexually on the Internet before the age of 18.
Yet, when adults collectively understand the risks and red flags of child sexual abuse, we can do more to keep kids safe. When we all take action, abuse is preventable.
With your help, we strive to decrease these statistics and create a safer community and future for all, especially our children. If you have children, work with children or care about children, we encourage you to view the resources today!
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IS AN ADULT ISSUE
The 5 Steps to Protecting Children™ form a framework for preventing child sexual abuse. They can help you become aware of the scope of the issue, take actionable steps towards both preventing and responding to abuse, and create safer environments for the children in your life.
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KEEPING YOUR ATHLETE SAFE
With kids back in school, school and club sports are back in session and parents are meeting the challenges of supporting their young athletes. With all of the parent responsibilities to juggle, what can parents do to make certain their young athlete is safe and thriving in the sports and coaching environment? Read the article in the link below to learn how to ensure your child’s boundaries are respected in an athletic setting.
REPORTING ABUSE
Maybe you have a suspicion that a child is being abused based on something you’ve witnessed, or a child has told you that abuse is happening. Either way, it’s your responsibility to report it to the authorities. You do not need to have proof that abuse is occurring to make a report, only reasonable suspicion. Learn how to report suspected abuse.
TEACH KIDS ABOUT HEALTHY BOUNDARIES
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HOW TO KEEP YOUR TEEN SAFE ONLINE
Keeping teens safe is hard enough in the physical world, let alone the cyberworld of social media, texting, online gaming, and online predators. But you don’t have to stand by and hope for the best—you can take action to help keep your teen safe as they navigate the internet.
BEING THE SAFE ADULT
When a child discloses their sexual abuse to you, it means that they trust you. It’s important to react in a responsible way that’s reassuring to the child. Disclosure of sexual abuse means a child has chosen you as the person he or she trusts enough to tell. It is the moment when children learn whether others can be trusted to stand up for them.
ECONOMIC, SOCIAl & HEALTH IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE
The impact of child sexual abuse is devastating for survivors, but also affects those close to them, as well as the surrounding community. It is the root cause of many social and health issues and touches all of us in one way or another.
The health and social impacts of child sexual abuse on a survivor last a lifetime and affect us all socially and financially. The average lifetime cost per victim of child abuse is $210,012, costing the U.S. billions annually.
PARENT ENGAGEMENT VIDEOS
Parent and guardian education is very important. These videos review how abuse occurs, warning signs to be aware of, and how to respond.
Click on the links below to find Praesidium’s newest parent resource videos
KEEPING KIDS SAFE FROM GROOMING & MANIPULATION
Grooming allows offenders to slowly overcome natural boundaries long before sexual abuse occurs. On the surface, grooming a child can look like a close relationship between the offending adult, the targeted child and (potentially) the child’s caregivers. The grooming process is often misleading because the offender may be well-known or highly regarded in the community. As a result, it’s easy to trust them.
PARTNERS
About Darkness to Light
Darkness to Light is a nonprofit organization with the mission to empower adults to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction. Darkness to Light’s flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is an evidence-informed, award-winning training that teaches adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. More than 1.9 million adults have been trained using Darkness to Light trainings. For more information, visit www.D2L.org.
About Praesidium Inc.
At Praesidium, their mission is to prevent the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults and to preserve trust in respected organizations. For more than 30 years, Praesidium's experts have worked to prevent sexual abuse. For more information, visit www.praesidiuminc.com.
About Redwoods Group Foundation
The Redwoods Group Foundation supports programs that can change the world and helps them reach more people than ever before, through funding and backbone support. We currently focus on child sexual abuse prevention, drowning prevention, and growing the field of social entrepreneurship. For more information, visit www.redwoodsgroup.com.
Stewards of Children®
In part of Darkness to Light, this prevention training features real people and real stories about protecting children from sexual abuse. The framework of the training is built off the foundation of The 5 Steps to Protecting Children™. For more information, visit www.d2l.org/stewards-of-children.
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