Five Days of Action: Protecting Kids from Sexual Abuse

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. As part of our commitment to protecting the children in our community, the South Shore YMCA is once again participating in the Five Days of Action® – a week-long campaign to increase awareness of child sexual abuse and empower and equip us all to prevent it. By taking part in this important campaign and implementing abuse prevention practices year-round, the South Shore YMCA is committing to the safety of all children in our community.

The Know. See. Respond. campaign is back this year, and together with Praesidium, Saprea, and Lauren’s Kids we are sharing valuable resources to support this campaign in our community.

Know

When evaluating camps, sports, and other activities for your child, do you KNOW what questions to ask about abuse prevention? As parents, caregivers, and trusted adults, we play a vital role in protecting children and teens from abuse. Learn the key questions to ask from Praesidium, the YMCA’s partner in child abuse prevention: praesidiuminc.com/6-key-questions-a-parent-should-ask-of-an-organization.

See

When we SEE grooming patterns—methodical, subtle, gradual, and escalating behaviors used to groom a child for sexual abuse—we can identify them, strengthen our intuition, and protect children. Learn the 6 grooming behaviors every parent or caregiver needs to know and what to do if you see them, from our partner, Saprea: saprea.org/blog/6-perpetrator-grooming-behaviors.

Respond

RESPONDing starts when a child or teen feels heard and is helped. How can you take action to prevent child sexual abuse? The Trusted Triangle (for younger children) and the Safety NETwork (for older youth) are strategies from Lauren’s Kids Safer, Smarter Families Family Safety Toolkit. These resources are designed to help families and caregivers teach personal and digital safety in a comfortable and accessible way.

• Grades K-2: safersmarterfamilies.org/grades-k-2
• Grades 3-5: safersmarterfamilies.org/grades-3-5

We pledge to protect the children we serve, and hope you will too! Download a printable version of the 2025 Five Days of Action Pledge Card!

 

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About Praesidium

The South Shore YMCA is working towards Praesidium Accreditation, which publicly demonstrates our commitment to safety and adherence to the highest standards in abuse Prevention.

Praesidium specializes in preventing sexual abuse in organizations that serve youth and vulnerable adults. For more than 25 years, the company has reviewed over 4,000 cases of abuse within organizations to determine the root causes of sexual abuse within organizational settings. Praesidium employs more than 40 staff, including licensed social workers, lawyers, psychologists, health care researchers, and other experts. The company has served over 5,000 clients with a broad range of products and services to aid organizations in preventing abuse, including online and instructor‐led trainings; organizational risk assessments; model policies and incident investigations. Having trained more than one million people online and hundreds of thousands in person, Praesidium is the largest and most comprehensive sexual abuse risk management firm globally.