CityView Magazine

60 | April 2015 Fayetteville, North Carolina Join Hands... Become a Partner in Child Abuse Prevention! Visit ChildAdvocacyCenter.com to learn how. D A R K N E S S t o L I G H T ' S 5 STEPS TO PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN ™ A guide for responsible adults Below is a condensed excerpt from Darkness to Light: Stewards of Children, a national child sexual abuse prevention curriculum that the Child Advocacy Center utilizes in training sessions. 5 Steps to Protecting Children 1 Learn the facts. Realities, not trust, should influence your decisions regarding children. Experts estimate that one in 10 children are victims of sexual abuse. Sixty percent of victims were abused by someone the family trusts. 2 Minimize Opportunity. More than eight percent of sexual abuse cases occur in isolated, one-on-one situations 3 Talk about it. Understand why children are afraid to tell, know how children communicate, talk openly with your children and other adults to raise consciousness. Fewer than 30 percent of parents talk about sexual abuse with their children. Fewer, still, fail to mention that it could come from someone the child knows and trusts. 4 Recognize the signs that sexual abuse is occurring. Don't expect obvious signs when a child is being sexually abused. Emotional and behavioral cues are more likely to act as cues of abuse than physical signs. 5 React Responsibly. Don't overreact, offer support and report it to law enforcement, immediately. Disclosure of sexual abuse means a child has chosen you as the person he or she trusts enough to tell. It is the moment when children learn whether others can be trusted to stand up for them. Aer forensic interviews, children are given comfort bags, which are do- nated by members of the community. "e comfort bags provide children with some necessities like school sup- plies and hygiene items, but some fun things as well. ese are especially needed for children that are removed from their homes," said Humphries. In addition to comfort bags, children are given a colorful, so fleece blanket, generally handmade and donated by organizations in town. "Children just love the blankets. It lets them know that someone in the community is thinking of them," said Humphries. e Child Advocacy Center is the beneficiary of many exciting commu- nity events each year. Most notably, the CAC just hosted the 8th annual Ameri- can Girl Fashion show in the Crown Center Ballroom on March 21st and 22nd. e Kiwanis Club hosts the Care for Kids golf tournament, which will be held September 24, 2015 and the 2nd annual Pinwheel Masquerade Ball will be held at the Metropolitan Room on October 17, 2015. On Tuesday, April 28th, CAC will host an open-to-the-public child abuse conference at Fuller Recreation Center at 6627 Old Bunce Road in Fayetteville from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To learn more about how to prevent child sexual abuse or earning Part- ner in Prevention status, contact Faith Boehmer, Prevention/Volunteer Coor- dinator of the Child Advocacy Center at 910.486.9700 or visit their website at www.childadvocacycenter.com. CV

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