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How Safe Are Your Children? Bob says he has noticed a growing trend of sexual abuse by well-educated professionals such as church ministers, youth leaders, Sunday school leaders, public and private school teachers, and athletic coaches. According to the book Reducing the Risk II: Making Your Church Safe from Child Sexual Abuse, child sexual abuse is "an exploitation of a child's vulnerability and powerlessness in which the abuser is fully responsible for the actions." Child sexual abuse can be violent or non-violent, is criminal behavior for which children are not personally, socially or developmentally ready, and includes touching and non-touching behavior. As Bob became aware of more and more occurrences of child sexual abuse in churches and schools, he decided to do a little research. He hired a newspaper clipping service to send him articles on child sexual abuse anywhere in Alabama. Once he had eliminated duplicate stories, he had 30 different reports on child sexual abuse in a 30-day period. His research also showed that in most cases the perpetrators were people such as teachers and church workers who had free access to children. Concerned that too many churches were not equipped to prevent and detect child sexual abuse, Bob developed seminars to lead in congregational settings. Church ministers and lay leaders began to ask him many questions that he was not qualified to answer. Bob enlisted the help of Dr. Louise Green, director of special programs and a social work expert at the Children's Homes, and Rod Marshall, director of Pathways Professional Counseling, a family ministry of the Children's Homes. Together and individually, they have led about 130 "CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: Protecting Your Children, Your Community" seminars, beside conducting regional and national training for other child care professionals. Many church leaders have a difficult time believing that their
children are susceptible to child sexual abuse, Bob says. He cited
statistics showing that child molesters are typically people the
children know, are family members, or are friends of the abused
children's parents. The abuser is often a well-respected member of
the community who works with the children, not a homeless person on
the streets. "In many churches, there is a tendency to welcome a person into the membership and immediately allow him or her to begin working with the children on Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights without any criminal background checks," Bob comments. "The child sexual abuser is almost always the person you would least expect." Church growth leaders have found that parents' top concern when seeking a church is their children's safety. The "CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: Protecting Your Children, Your Community" seminar is a great way to prepare leadership to safeguard churches from accusations of child sexual abuse and to train children's workers to prevent child molestation. "Church leaders, particularly pastors, need to see that there is
potential danger if appropriate barriers are not put in place to
protect our children," said Bob. So the question is, "How safe are
your children?" |
and
church groups to prevent and help children cope with child sexual
abuse.
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