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Regular Conversations Needed to Protect Kids from Sexual Abuse, Nonprofit Founder Says


Regular Conversations Needed to Protect Kids from Sexual Abuse, Nonprofit Founder Says

For any parent, child sexual abuse is a tough topic to even think about. But as uncomfortable as it might be, talking about sexual abuse with kids is one way parents can help protect them.

According to the CDC:

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  • About one in four girls and one in 13 boys in the U.S. are sexually abused
  • 91% of abusers are known by the child or child’s family
  • Female victims of child sexual abuse are at higher risk of sexual violence victimization in adulthood
  • All victims of child sexual abuse are at twice the risk for non-sexual intimate partner violence

Tania Haigh, co-founder and president of Parents Against Child Sex Abuse, started the nonprofit organization when her own family was affected. She says that conversations with children about their bodies should begin as soon as they can talk.

“Let’s say 2 years old — it starts out talking to them about their bodies,” Haigh said. “It’s about health and that’s really where we’re coming from here — marrying this concept of health and safety. A lot of the times that topic is uncomfortable for parents so they want to leave it to the school and that’s not enough.”

Haigh says that like any continuing conversation with kids, it’s important to keep revisiting the topic and making it age-appropriate as children grow.

“The conversation might start about their bodies and understanding what’s OK and what’s not OK, and then it starts having check-ins with them about the adults that are around the kid. Are you comfortable around this uncle? How is this coach? And you just meet them at that level,” Haigh said. “What we want to invite parents to do is to keep having conversations with them not just about themselves … but also start asking them about the people that are around them.”

Adults offering to spend an inordinate amount of time alone with their child should alert parents to ask more questions of their child, Haigh says.

“It impacts parents and kids. So if an adult is trying to isolate your child, meaning spend just alone time, it can seem so harmless sometimes … we want parents to be more protective, a little bit more into it,” Haigh advised. “Isolating the kid, and treating that kid as special, exploiting their vulnerabilities, are somethings to look out for.”


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