What does it say about us as a society that we get this riled up over the TSA screening procedures yet there is no overwhelming outrage over the sexual violation of our children. “I feel dirty” said one woman on the news this morning after experiencing a pat down by the TSA. So imagine being a 7 year old fondled by someone you thought you could trust. It’s happening every day to thousands of children. Check out the facts for yourself – here is a link to child sexual abuse statistics.
While we may not have a choice about the scanning procedures when we travel – we do absolutely have a choice when it comes to protecting our children from sexual abuse. We can keep it from happening. If you are reading this, then chances are you already get it and know that prevention is important. So please use your voice to speak up about it – write a letter to the editor, insist that youth serving organizations train their staff, talk to your school about prevention, talk to your friends.
With all of the outrage it’s probably a safe bet to predict that the TSA will change its procedures in some way. Maybe if we shout loud enough we can change our procedures as a society and start taking actions to protect our children and prevent child sexual abuse.
If you haven’t taken the prevention training you can learn more on our website. www.D2L.org/Stewards
I haven’t done a lot of research about this site but it seems you are on the right track. My church does background checks on every one working with children or youth. We always have two or more adults with the groups of children and teens. We also have windows in all the rooms of our church. I am sure we do more that I don’t know about. I am proud of my church and several others in our community of Bethel, Ohio that do the same. The place we need to watch are the private homes of our children, but I realize people need their privacy. We need trained people to watch the behavior of abused children and report it. Our public school teachers are a good line of defense but very often we miss those younger kids. It hasn’t been that long since a two year old was killed by his mother’s boyfriend and sent to prison. Too late for the boy, unfortunately. Since I am a survivor of sexual abuse I am very interested in your program. Thanks for allowing me to write. Frances J. Ginn.