Recognizing and Preventing Child Abuse

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

1. Take steps to increase safety in your child’s environment – Understand that most sexual abuse occurs when a child is alone with an adult or older child. Consider minimizing situations in which your child is one-on-one with an adult (other than a parent or caregiver) or older child. Choose group activities or activities in public places when possible. Conduct background checks, interviews, and reference checks when choosing a childcare provider.
2. Know the facts about perpetrators – Many parents or caregivers already warn their children to be careful around strangers; however, sexual abuse is usually committed by someone that the child knows and trusts. Perpetrators are often family members or close friends of the child’s family. Perpetrators can also be older children or youth.
3. Talk to your child – It’s important to have conversations with your child about their body, about boundaries, and about sexual abuse. Make sure they feel comfortable coming to you if anything ever happened. Visit our page For Parents for more information and tips for talking to your child about these important topics.
4. Support your child’s participation in school-based safety and prevention programs – Many schools offer safety and prevention programs to children. You can increase the effectiveness of these programs by getting involved and talking to your child about what they have learned. The GCCAC teaches a prevention program called radKIDS and offers other trainings for teens. Visit our Community Outreach page to learn more.
5. Teach your child about internet safety – Teach your child about online predators who target children. Instruct them not to give out personal information or exchange photos over the internet. Teach your child that they should never take photos of their private parts. Monitor your child’s internet use and apply parental controls. Visit our page For Kids and Teens for links to websites for kids to learn about being safe on the internet.

Resources for youth-serving organizations

It is important for youth-serving organizations to have policies in place to keep children safe. See below for a good example of a policy and a link to free trainings that can be completed by those working with children to increase their knowledge of the signs of child abuse and how to report it.

Recognizing and Preventing Child Abuse trainings

Resources for those who might be at risk to offend

Reference

Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas. Prevention & Awareness Materials. Retrieved from https://www.cactx.org/prevention-awareness-materials.