5 Days of Action: Protecting Kids from Sexual Abuse

5 DAYS OF ACTION: April 24-28

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month! As part of our commitment to protecting the children in our community, we’re 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 through implementing abuse prevention practices year-round, the South Shore YMCA is committing to the safety of all children in our community. Five Days of Action is an initiative of the YMCA Champions for Child Protection, with support from YMCA of the USA.

The South Shore Y encourages adults and organizations to join in marking this special week as the entire South Shore comes together to make the community a safer place for children to live, learn, and play. As summer activities are just around the corner, now is the perfect time to bring attention to the simple ways we can all make the children in our community safer.

To that end, the South Shore YMCA will be focusing on the simple steps of KNOW. SEE. RESPOND. to help adults better protect children. When adults know how abuse happens, see the warning signs, and respond quickly to prevent abuse, they foster a culture of child abuse prevention. Together, we can bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities and have important conversations about how we can all work together to prevent it from happening.

“The children of the South Shore have the right to a happy and safe childhood, and it’s our responsibility as adults and organizations to stand up to protect that right,” said Paul Gorman, President and CEO, South Shore YMCA. “The South Shore Y is committed to the safety and protection of children. By joining in the Five Days of Action’s ‘KNOW.SEE.RESPOND.’ campaign, we hope to inspire other organizations and members of our community to create safe spaces that protect children from sexual abuse.”

 

South Shore YMCA, with support from the YMCA Guardians for Child Protection, YMCA of the USA, Darkness to Light, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Praesidium, and the U.S. Center for SafeSport have made materials available to help adults learn more about preventing child sexual abuse.

For more information about preventing child sexual abuse visit www.ymca.org/fivedaysofaction

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE STATISTICS – PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT

• One in ten children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.
• 90% of child sexual abuse victims know their abuser.
• Approximately 30% of children who are sexually abused are abused by family members.
• 60% of child sexual abuse victims never tell anyone.
• False reports are rare. Research shows that only 4 to 8% of child sexual abuse reports are fabricated.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU BELIEVE A CHILD IS BEING ABUSED – PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT

• You do not need to have proof that abuse is occurring to make a report, only reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion means that you have witnessed maltreatment or boundary violations, either in the child or adult, or both. Or, you have received a disclosure from a child about abuse, neglect, or boundary violations towards them.
• Child sexual abuse reports should be made to the police and/or state child protective services.
• Contact the Darkness to Light Helpline at 866-FOR-LIGHT or text LIGHT to 741741 to have questions answered by trained counselors at no charge.

---

About South Shore YMCA

The South Shore YMCA is a leading charitable organization dedicated to strengthening the community through programs that provide each person a path to well-being in spirit, mind, and body. Serving the communities of Quincy, Randolph, Holbrook, Weymouth, Braintree, Milton, Hingham, Hull, Cohasset, Scituate, Norwell, Hanover, and beyond, the South Shore Y provides the opportunity to grow, learn, and thrive through its services and programs. Financial Assistance is a Y community benefit available to all families in need, applicable to all Y programs and services. To learn more about the South Shore YMCA, visit www.ssymca.org. The South Shore YMCA. The Better You Belongs Here. ssymca.org

About Darkness to Light

Darkness to Light is a nonprofit organization with the mission to empower adults to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction. Darkness to Light’s flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is an evidence-informed, award-winning training that teaches adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. More than 1.9 million adults have been trained using Darkness to Light trainings. For more information, visit www.D2L.org.

About Redwoods Group Foundation

The Redwoods Group Foundation supports programs that can change the world and helps them reach more people than ever before, through funding and backbone support. We currently focus on child sexual abuse prevention, drowning prevention, and growing the field of social entrepreneurship. For more information, visit www.redwoodsgroup.com/about-us/redwoods-group-foundation.

About Praesidium

Praesidium specializes in preventing sexual abuse in organizations that serve youth and vulnerable adults. Over a period in excess of 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. For more information, visit https://website.praesidiuminc.com/wp/.

About the Monique Burr Foundation for Children

The Monique Burr Foundation for Children (MBF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by providing the best comprehensive, evidence-based prevention education programs. MBF prevention programs educate and empower children and relevant adults with information and strategies to prevent, recognize, and respond appropriately to the four types of child abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect), exploitation, bullying, cyberbullying, human trafficking, digital abuse, and other digital dangers. MBF is now a leader in prevention education with our programs having reached over 4.5 million children throughout Florida and the United States. For more information, visit https://www.mbfpreventioneducation.org/.