Child sexual abuse is predictable and preventable when we surround children with knowledgeable and outspoken adults. Whether you have ever stopped to acknowledge it or not, your children are surrounded by adults...but are they knowledgeable and outspoken about child sexual abuse on behalf of your children?
Although going through the Child Sexual Abuse Best Practices training yourself is essential, it's simply not enough. You need to surround your children with adults who are knowledgeable about how abuse happens and specifically aware of the boundaries you have put in place to reduce the risk of sexual abuse. This is a crucial component needed to stop child molesters in their tracks.
Accountability is essential to the success of the Child Sexual Abuse Best Practices program and is only achievable by training other surrounding adults on the established boundaries and engaging them in the enforcement process.
This Best Practice will teach you how to educate and empower the adults who surround your children. By doing this, you are not only creating a circle of safety around your children, you are acting as a role model which will encourage others to do the same. Together you are putting undetected offenders on notice that you're watching and your children are off limits!
There are four groups of surrounding adults (see below). The closer they are to your inner circle and your child, 1) the more influence you have over them, 2) the more responsibility you have to educate them and 3) the higher your expectations should be of them to engage in the process.
The way that you educate and empower these adults differs based on group but includes providing handouts and recommending and/or requiring training. TAALK provides the tools you need to engage members of your accountability team and your community at large, including . When you and the adults who surround your children take the same courses, you will ensure that you're all on the same page.
