Child Abuse Prevention Month: Responding to the Call to Action

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which recognizes the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect.

Child abuse is a complex and sensitive topic to discuss with kids. However, due to its prevalence, we can’t afford to not discuss it with them. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in seven children has experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year, and these figures are likely underestimated as many cases go unreported.

Weller Health Education at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital is taking an active role in child abuse prevention by bringing the Safe Touches program into second grade classrooms throughout the region.

“The question isn’t whether we should discuss child abuse with children, but rather how do we discuss it with them,” says Kristen Hoben, program manager, Weller Health Education. “The Safe Touches program provides us with a way to have this necessary discussion in an age-appropriate and engaging manner.”

“This program is designed to teach really big concepts for really little kids without overwhelming or scaring them,” says Hoben.

Developed by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC), Safe Touches is an evidence-based, age-appropriate child sexual abuse prevention program created for children in kindergarten through third grade. During this highly interactive, classroom-based workshop, specially trained facilitators use puppets to act out various scenarios in which a ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’ touch has taken place to help students distinguish the difference between the two types of touches and how to respond if they have been inappropriately touched.

“By identifying touches as safe, unsafe or confusing, students learn that no one should touch their body in a way that makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable,” says Hoben. “A major point this program drives home to students is to trust their feelings. If it feels icky, speak up.”

Another major point that this program emphasizes is that it is never the child’s fault if someone else violates safe boundaries. The program also helps them identify adults both at home and at school that they can talk to if they ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

Following the workshop, each child receives a My Body Belongs to Me activity booklet to bring home and complete with his or her parent or caregiver. The activity booklet reinforces the safety concepts learned in the workshop and facilitates conversations about body safety at home.

The Safe Touches program helps prevent abuse in several ways:

• By instilling children with the confidence to say no and report abuse, they are perceived as less vulnerable by abusers and are less likely to be victimized.
• Because most abuse gradually escalates over time, teaching kids to identify and report inappropriate behavior early helps prevent further or more severe abuse.
• It helps children already suffering from abuse to find the strength and the language to report it, as well as identifying who they can talk to about the abuse they’re enduring.

Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital is conducting its own research to measure the impact.

“Our health educators are tracking increases in abuse disclosures among the nearly 3,000 second grade students we are reaching this year through the Safe Touches program to help measure the program’s impact,” says Hoben. “Our hope is to use the results as a driving force to continue expanding the program and increasing child abuse awareness across the region next year.”

To learn more about the Safe Touches program and how it can be brought to your school or organization, please contact Weller Health Education’s program manager, Kristen Hoben, by email.