If you find out or suspect that your child has been sexually abused by a family member, it can take a toll on you as a parent. It’s important to find a way to manage your feelings, so you can focus on creating a safe environment for your child that is free from harm, judgment, and blame. It is imperative that when your child discloses to you, you continue to repeat the following messages through both your words and your actions: I love you; What happened is not your fault; I will do everything I can to keep you safe. It is important to keep in mind that there is no one “right” reaction, and that all reactions and responses are normal. Having both you and your child talk to a professional about these thoughts and feelings can help sort through these issues. Professional support can also result in healthier long- and short-term results for both you and your child. Learn more: https://www.rainn.org/articles/help-parents-children-who-have-been-sexually-abused-family-members
What Is A Social Worker?
There are two main types of social workers: direct-service social workers, who help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives, and clinical social workers, who diagnose and treat mental, behavioural, and emotional issues. A social worker can work in a variety of settings, including mental health clinics, schools, hospitals, and private practices. A social worker helps people cope with challenges in every stage of their lives. They help with a wide range of situations, such as adopting a child or being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Social workers work with many populations, including children, people with disabilities, and people with addictions. A social worker acts as a client advocate, educator, coordinator of care, and an adviser. He or she will work as a liaison with the family, and will look at helping with finances, admissions, discharges, housing, follow-up appointments to outside services, and is sometimes the link to the courts and any legal procedures. Learn more about this career: https://www.sokanu.com/careers/social-worker.amp
What are Signs and Symptoms of Pedophilia?
According to Psychology Today, Pedophilia is considered a paraphilia, a condition in which a person’s sexual arousal and gratification depend on fantasizing about and engaging in sexual behavior that is atypical and extreme. Pedophilia is defined as the fantasy or act of sexual activity with children who are generally age 13 years or younger. Pedophiles are usually men and can be attracted to either or both sexes. How well they relate to adults of the opposite sex varies. An estimated 20 percent of American children have been sexually molested, making pedophilia a common paraphilia. Offenders are usually family friends or relatives. Types of activities vary and may include just looking at a child or undressing and touching a child. However, acts often do involve oral sex or touching of genitals of the child or offender. Studies suggest that children who feel uncared for or lonely may be at higher risk for sexual abuse. Learn more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/pedophilia
Tips on Healing and Loving Your Inner Child
Maxine Harley divulges insights on how to take care of ourselves mentally by taking care of our inner child. Rescuing and re-parenting the inner child will allow you to ‘fill in the gaps’ and enable you to live a more positive and rewarding life—with fun, laughter, spontaneity, authenticity, and most importantly, with love. Such as reminding yourself how special and wonderful you were as a child, or speaking kindly to your inner child each day, Remember that your inner child is a real part of your sub-conscious mind – a wounded child who needs your love, care and compassion…because no-one else can heal his/her pain and help him/her to make peace with the past. Read her insights here: https://lifelabs.psychologies.co.uk/users/3881-maxine-harley/posts/17933-how-to-heal-and-re-parent-your-inner-child
Understanding the Six Types of Neglect: SEEMED
In their book The Neglected Child, authors Ginger Welch, Laura Wilhelm, and Heather Johnson describe what they define as the six types of neglect: Physical Neglect or Deprivation of Needs Neglect Medical Neglect Supervisory Neglect Environmental Neglect Educational Neglect Emotional Neglect Neglect impacts the overall development and health of children, so it’s important that you do everything you can to recognize, respond, and prevent neglect. The authors of The Neglected Child recommend that educators memorize this statement: “If it SEEMED like neglect, report it.” Each letter in SEEMED stands for one type of neglect and will help you remember what to look for as you work with the children in your care. Learn more: https://www.kaplanco.com/ii/six-types-of-neglect
How Pineville, Louisiana Raises Awareness For National Child Abuse Prevention
Children’s Advocacy Network staff and supporters came together Monday to pray for victims of childhood sexual abuse. The agency organizes an annual prayer service for awareness every April, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. “My prayer today is not just for the children, it’s for those who come alongside,” Nathan Martin told people gathered around the flagpole by the Red River in Pineville. Martin, pastor of Christian Challenge Worship Center and Pineville City Council member, prayed aloud for people who will help defend children and help bring healing in their lives. He prayed for victims to experience restoration and for an end to abuse so that the important work of advocates is no longer needed. In eight Central Louisiana parishes alone, Children’s Advocacy Network serves more than 1,000 victims of abuse annually, said Executive Director Wade Bond at the prayer service. Read more: https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2018/04/02/what-community-doing-awareness-during-child-abuse-prevention-month/478202002/
The Start of National Child Abuse Prevention Month
Let us celebrate National Child Abuse Prevention Month for another year! As we recognize how important and beautiful children are, let’s also remember how the history of this month began. Increasing public awareness of the need to ensure the safety and welfare of children led to the passage of the first Federal child protection legislation, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), in 1974. While CAPTA has been amended many times over the years, most recently by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, the purpose of the original legislation remains intact. Today, the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal agency charged with supporting States, Tribes, and communities in providing programs and services to protect children and strengthen families. In the early 1980s, Congress made a further commitment to identifying and implementing solutions to child abuse. Recognizing the alarming rate at which children continued to be abused and neglected and the need for innovative programs to prevent child abuse and assist parents and families affected by maltreatment, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives resolved that the week of June 6-12, 1982, should be designated as the first National Child Abuse Prevention Week. They asked the President to issue a proclamation calling upon Government agencies and the public to observe the week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. The following year, April was proclaimed the first National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Since then, child abuse and neglect awareness activities have been promoted across the country during April of each year. The Office on Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN) within the Children’s Bureau coordinates Child Abuse Prevention Month, providing information and releasing updated national statistics about child abuse and neglect each April. Continuing learning more: https://web.archive.org/web/20100828085844/http://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/preventionmonth/history.cfm
10 Signs of Child Abuse
Safe Horizon’s 10 Signs of Child Abuse page offers 10 ways that individuals can learn to recognize child abuse and neglect, as well as a downloadable version of the signs. Source: 10 Signs of Child Abuse
Executive Director Letter 2017
Ladies & Gentlemen, Four years ago, my first year-end recap was more of a wish list for what I wanted to happen at HPF and I admit, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. We were new, we were finding our sea legs and we were trying to figure out how to create a community. We didn’t know what direction HPF was going, but we knew there was a need for what we were trying to accomplish. Now, that I have had some time to watch HPF grow, this letter has become my favorite part of the year. It has provided me with an opportunity to reflect on all the great things we are doing and where we are heading. I hope that you enjoy the ride as much as I have thus far. …Especially since some of those previously mentioned wish list items are coming to life and we are seeing the impact that HPF can have… 2017 was an interesting year not just for HPF, but also for the world as a whole. If you asked me to tie what HPF did as an organization this year with some of the global trends we saw, I would offer a one-word response…PLATFORM. This year we wanted to take a step back and look at some of groundwork that was laid and determine how to best bring that to life. We had a million initiatives and projects in the air that were in development, but only a handful of substantial outputs. We took the first quarter to focus on the strategic plan for the full year and I really believe it helped us focus our efforts. Coming out of our strategic planning quarter, we jumped right into April which some of you may know is Child Abuse Prevention Month (CAPM). 2016 was the first year that HPF participated in CAPM and 2017 was all about doing more. This year in addition to the annual 30 for 30 series, where we share one prevention post a day and the multiple speaking series we participate in, we also had six survivors or heroes as we like to call them, come forward and share there stories. The Hero series is one of the most impactful initiatives that we have conducted to date. When we started HPF, we wanted to provide a PLATFORM that would allow survivors to come forward and tell their story. This platform is a chance for those that were abused to get their voice out there. As fellow Co-founder Rhett Hackett said, “We know that when we tell the story, it doesn’t just help the person telling the story, but it helps those that are listening as well.” As we saw on a global scale, heroes everywhere were finding their PLATFORM this year. From all of those that shared their stories in the media, Hollywood, the workplace, or wherever, victims are now finding the strength to come forward and tell their story. This has had not only an impact on victims but on bystanders as well. The time of sitting back watching and not saying something is becoming a thing of the past and that is the first step in eradicating abuse. It is going to take a full fledge effort from everyone, not just those that have experienced it first hand. I would be remised if I didn’t mention Tristan during this…In 2010, when Rhett went on the Oprah Winfrey special 200 men molested, ten thousand miles away, Tristan’s mom was watching and attempting to deal with her own son’s recent abuse. After her and Rhett formed a relationship, the decision was made to send Tristan to the USA to stay with Rhett and his family. Tristan spent his time seeing some of the great sites on the East Coast, while also attending a few HPF speaking events. At these events Tristan had the opportunity to speak with counselors and also share his story with an attentive audience. I suggest watching some of Tristan’s recap videos for a first hand experience of how his trip went. Sticking with the PLATFORM theme, HPF also launched a one-stop location for victims, volunteers and caregivers to come and find the resources they are looking. This year we launched the HPF Pulse platform on our website, a resource directory that showcases the available resources in three key categories of Child Abuse, Domestic Violence and Bullying across the United States. A resource center was one of the first things that we wanted to build as an organization and we have done just that with HPF Pulse. The next step for HPF Pulse is to create a mobile friendly version that will be available to the masses. A team has just been finalized and we are already in the process of developing that application. We are looking to release the app in 2018; during you guessed it, Child Abuse Prevention Month. Where we are looking to release that app is during a very special event for us, The Orange Tie Affair. The Orange Tie Affair in April will be the first large-scale event that HPF hosts and is a great opportunity for us to showcase what we do as an organization to the masses. Stay tuned for more on this. We will also be revamping the Ambassador Program in 2018 and will look to collaborate with a handful of organizations to bring Operation Disabled to life (a wearable that allows non-communicative kids to share if something inappropriate may be happening to them). 2017 was a big year for The Humanity Preservation Foundation and I am proud to say that every year has gotten bigger and bigger. From the number of volunteers dedicating their time and efforts, to the number of supporters that we see promoting our cause, to the number of dollars that people are willing to donate to our mission. It is these efforts and this year over year growth that is going to help us prevent abuse in the future.
Spirit to Overcome is Alive and Well
As National Child Abuse Prevention Month comes to a close, HPF would like to thank our readers and contributors, but most importantly our survivors who were so brave in sharing their stories in order to help others. We would also like to remind everyone that every day is Child Abuse Prevention Day and we must do our part to reach out and help those in need. Yesterday in Florence SC superheroes disguised as runners came to the rescue and raised awareness for child abuse prevention as part of the sixth-annual CAPES for Kids 5K/10K/Kids Fun Run to benefit CARE House of the Pee Dee region in Florence. This event started six years ago, when Tylashia Grant, 3, a student at Carver Elementary School, died as a result of physical abuse and neglect. Her teacher, Meagan Johnson, started the event to raise awareness and honor her student’s memory. All funds from entry fees and sponsors go to help the CARE House, a child advocacy center (CAC) in Florence. It is a local nonprofit that serves abused children of the Pee Dee region through forensic interviews, therapy, advocacy and medical services. Read more: http://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_e9b55752-2d41-11e7-8b9e-4b1842dea985.html Photo by John D. Russell/Special To The Morning News 30/30