Public awareness can save lives

A child in need

Two years ago, a report from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry noted that the sexual abuse of a child is reported up to 80,000 times a year. But the number, however horrifying it may seem, is likely only a small percentage of the actual incidents, the author of the report cautioned. Sometimes children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened, he said. They may have been told their families will be hurt or no one will believe them.

And they believe it.

Because an adult said it.

Two weeks ago, a crowd at the Anderson County Courthouse participated in a Three Ribbon Ceremony to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Prevent Child Abuse Month and Victims’ Rights Week, the last week of this month. It was a touching ceremony, with recognizable symbols of innocence: colorful balloons and 29 pairs of children’s shoes on the steps, representing the 29 South Carolina children who died of abuse in 2003.

Twenty-nine sounds like a small number until you think of it as more than a number. The shoes were a haunting reminder. It wasn’t the first time empty shoes were used to make a point, but the smallness of these shoes ... it seemed to only underscore how defenseless a child is and how much they depend upon us to look after them. That there is even a need for a place to help children who have been victims of a sexual assault and educate others about sexual abuse is painful enough.

To understand how many times that help doesn’t happen because the children - or their families - are afraid, is worse. Some time back, we wrote about the arrest of a teacher who had "a relationship" with an 11-year-old child. In that editorial, we acknowledged that the main thing parents could do was to talk to their children, "explain to them, in words they can understand, what is and what is not acceptable from anyone - another child, an older child, an adult, any adult, even a member of the family."

That’s not an easy task. But at Foothills Alliance, which is the umbrella under which Foothills Child Advocacy Center, Foothills Prevent Child Abuse and Foothills Rape Crisis Center live, there is information available that can at least get the conversation started. They have materials that can help parents or guardians explain, to even the very young child, how important it is that they tell a trusted adult if something happens that makes them uncomfortable or frightens them.

Information is available that tells one how to recognize the signs a child might be abused and gives advice not just in how to help the child but how to help other members of the family deal with what has happened. One will also learn what happens after the abuse is reported, what medical and legal steps are then necessary. (Call 231-7273 or 1-800-585-8952 for more information.)

It’s hard to write about child abuse. We can only imagine how hard it is to live with it.

And then we think of how often someone dies because of it. We remember a little girl named Stephanie who for many in our area has become the symbol of the tragedy that results when a child is physically abused so badly she can’t survive. You may not think of sexual abuse when you think of the death of a child. But there are more ways to die than in reality. Regardless of age, the death of spirit, of believing life is good and kind and fair, can be devastating. They know this at Foothills Alliance and similar groups of caring people, those who work with the victims directly and those dedicated community members who support their work. They all do what they do in the hope that the next child can be saved. For there is always a next child. And that’s the greatest tragedy of all.

Editorial
April 16, 2006

http://www.independentmail.com/and/viewpoints/article/0,1886,AND_8218_4625650,00.html
 

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