Preventing Sexual Abuse

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What strategies can parents and caregivers implement in their homes to help reduce the risk that their children may be sexually abused? Learn practical parenting tools from this conversation with Dr. Eliana Gil, the founder of the Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of trauma in children, especially those who have been sexually abused.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why should adoptive and foster parents and relative caregivers learn about the risks for sexual abuse of children in our community and how to prevent it?
• How can parents or caregivers tell the difference between normal childhood curiosity and behaviors that may signal a problem?
• What are some warning signs that might give parents or caregivers a clue to dig deeper into problematic behaviors they observe?
• If a child is showing some of these concerning behaviors, what are some practical and supportive ways caregivers can respond?
• Why is it preventative for parents and caregivers to use correct anatomical terms with kids?
• Can you offer a few practical suggestions for parents and caregivers to get more comfortable with correct terminology, if they find this an obstacle to equipping and educating their kids?
• What signs should parents and caregivers be on the lookout for – things that may suggest a child has been abused?
  • 5 categories: fear/anxiety, depression, sexual acting out, attachment
  • Emphasize that no single sign proves abuse but patterns and context matter.
• If a caregiver suspects abuse, what steps should they take?
• What is the parents’ or caregiver’s role once they have reported to the proper authorities?
• What are some everyday preventative practices families can put in place to keep kids safe while also allowing them to grow in healthy ways?
  • Protective, not paranoid
  • Open communication in the home
  • Supervision by safe adults
  • Safe boundaries in the home
  • Teaching consent and respect
  • Modeling healthy relationships
• Any last words of advice for adoptive parents, foster parents, or relative caregivers about protecting their kids from sexual abuse?

 

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