When I began working at Darkness to Light, I had very little knowledge of child sexual abuse as an issue. My background is in marketing, communication, and event planning. The extent of my applicable child knowledge centered around the fact that July 4th event goodies must be hidden from kids until the exact time they are to be handed out, or there will be mutiny on the pool deck.
Despite this, I’ve always cared very much about children’s issues, and so I was very excited to come on board as the organization’s communication manager in February of 2013. The first step for all staff members and interns is to take D2L’s award-winning Stewards of Children child sexual abuse prevention training. After taking the training, I can honestly say:
When people say Stewards of Children is life changing, they mean it.
I never knew the prevalence of child sexual abuse, and it had only affected one person in my life – or so I thought. Shortly after I began working at D2L, I learned that the issue was much closer. From friends to new acquaintances, when people found out where I worked, they trusted me with their stories.
It was a humbling experience.
Today, my husband and I are anxiously and excitedly awaiting the arrival of our own precious bundle. A few weeks ago, I began looking at local day care facilities – apparently, we should have begun the process about a year before we decided to have kids. Who knew day care enrollment was such a competitive process?
Before making an appointment to tour the facility, before meeting the director, before anything else, my first questions are – What do you do to protect children? What are your policies? They require me to step a little out of my comfort zone, but with 18 years to practice, I figure it’ll become second nature after a while.
As we await our baby’s arrival, we enjoy daydreaming about who he or she will be. Who will he take after? Will she love music, or sports, or both? Whoever he or she may be, I thank God every day that my career led me to an organization that showed me what I can do to help my little loved one enjoy a healthy, happy childhood.
For more information on preventing child sexual abuse in your community, visit The 5 Steps to Protecting Our ChildrenTM, or take D2L’s award-winning Stewards of Children® prevention training.
Beautiful article.