Area professionals learned this week how to help a sexually-abused child as a county agency shed light on the subject.
Blair County (PA) Chamber of Commerce’s Growth and Relationships of Young Professionals program hosted the “Stewards of Children, Darkness 2 Light” child abuse training at the Devorris Downtown Center.
The Adams County Children’s Advocacy Center trained 90 people, said Jessica Meck, the chamber’s membership services and development vice president.
The program has been offered since 1997, Joddie Walker, the center’s executive director, said.
The nationally-recognized prevention program believes keeping kids safe from child sexual abuse is an adult’s responsibility, she said.
“Children are often taught how to keep themselves safe from sexual abuse – and that’s important for them to learn – but it’s no substitute for adult responsibility,” she said. “We make sure children wear seat belts. We walk them across busy streets. We store toxic household cleaners out of reach. Why, then, would we leave the job of preventing child-sexual abuse solely to children?”
To read the full article in the Altoona Mirror click here.
With the recent number of incidents involving students being sexually abused by teachers I think we need to take a long hard look at how these incidents are handled. If we do, it will be a sad day as we will find that the perpetrators are more protected than the innocents whose life they are destroying.
The following example illustrates this point. There is a case on Long Island where a level one sex offender was allowed to “retire” in between the time he was arrested and the time he pleaded guilty. Subsequent to his arrest, no real investigation was done to see if there are other victims. He now collects a nice NYS pension and is living off our tax dollars.
He recently has made some posts defending his position on the following blog:
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/baldwin-ny/TV895N58AO3LBKT1H
If offers a fascinating, albeit sick look into the minds of those whom our children are being left in the hands of. Maybe its’ time someone takes a really close look at how these incidents are handled in our state. I think there are 3 clear questions that arise from cases like this:
1) Are we doing enough to protect our children or do we need stronger consequences to predators who take jobs in the school systems to gain exposure to potential victims?
2) How is it legal for a perpetrator of any kind of child abuse, especially someone who used their job to gain exposure to victims, allowed to live off of tax payor money?
3) How is it legal for schools NOT to do a thorough investigation once a predator is found in their employ when some studies show child abusers can have over 100 victims?
4) Why do the media keep publishing stories about these incidents and never address these questions?
I hope at some point our society gains the strength to protect our children and answer these questions