Keeping Children Safe Over the Holidays

Linda Crockett
Director, Safe Communities 

Children are at an increased risk for sexual abuse during the holidays.  Before you are caught up in the whirlwind of holiday preparations, take a minute to read this blog post.  It may help you save a child from a trauma that can have a lifetime impact.
 
First, it is important to know that sexual abuse includes a broad range of behaviors in which an adult or older child (or one with more social power) engages a child in sexual activity of any kind. This encompasses both touching and non-touching offenses.

Why does risk increase during the holidays?

• About  9 out of 10 children who are sexually abused know their abuser; most often, the perpetrators are family members, trusted family friends, relatives, neighbors, or authority figures.
• 4 out of 10 children who are sexually abused are abused by other children, often siblings, cousins, and friends.  The practice of sending  children off to play in another room while the adults enjoy eggnog elsewhere is not safe. Regardless of the age of the offender, the traumatic impact on the victim can last for decades. That’s a holiday legacy no child should have to carry.
• Most children do not disclose that they have been sexually abused right away, and some never disclose.

 

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