Protecting Your Child

From Sexual Abuse

Edgar A. Galvis, L.C.S.W.
Family Trauma Therapist
 Learning Objectives

• What is Child Sexual Abuse? [Educate]

• How to keep your child(ren) safe from Child Sexual Abuse? [Preventing]

• What are the signs of Child Sexual Abuse? [Recognize]

• How to react to disclosures and stop the abuse? [Responding]

Why is learning about Child Sexual Abuse
important?
 Child Sexual Abuse: About the Issue

One of the most prevalent public health issues of our time.

Child Sexual Abuse: About the Issue
Child Sexual Abuse: About the Issue
 Child Sexual Abuse: About the Issue

• It does not discriminate—prevalent across all neighborhoods irrespective of race,

education level, socio-economic class and religion

• One of the root causes of many social and mental health issues in our society

• Largely preventable through education and awareness

What is Child Sexual Abuse?
[Educate]
 Poll Question: Forceful Physical Touch Needs to
Occur For It to Be Considered Child Sexual Abuse?
 What is Child Sexual Abuse?

Any sexual act with a child for the sexual gratification of another person.

– Physical

– Non-Physical
 Physical Acts of Child Sexual Abuse

• Vaginal/anal penetration, kissing, and oral sex

• Sexual touching of any part of a child's body—clothed or unclothed

• Making a child touch someone else’s body parts or their own

 Non-Physical Acts of Child Sexual Abuse

• Exposing a child to pornography or flashing of private parts

• Taking videos or pictures of a child’s private parts

• Having inappropriate conversations or sexual acts that are intended to arouse the
perpetrator

• Sexual solicitations through the internet

 Poll Question: Who is most likely to sexually
abuse a child—a stranger or a well-known person
to the family?
 Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrators
Strangers; 7%

Family Members;
34%

Aquaintances;
59%
What is Grooming?
 Dynamics of Grooming

Selection

Concealmen
Engagement
t

Sexual Pushing
Abuse Boundaries
How to Keep Your Child Safe from Sexual Abuse?
[Prevent]
Poll Question: The best way to protect a child from
sexual abuse is by?
 What Can Parents & Caregivers Do?

1. Educate Yourself

2. Teach your child about their private parts, boundaries, and sexual abuse

3. Take steps to increase safety in your child’s environment—including the internet

 What to Teach?
• Agency and consent
– “Your body belongs to you.”
– “You always have the right so say No to being touched.”
– “It is never your fault.”

• Anatomically correct names for private parts

• Trusting their feelings, the difference between safe /unsafe touches, and secrets

• What to do if someone tries to gives them an unsafe touch?

The NYSPCC’s Four Safety Tools
 How to Have These Conversations?

• Pace yourself—it is okay to have “Bite-sized” conversations

• “What if” moments

• Choose a time when you and your child feel safe and relaxed
– Bath time or when you are dressing your child
– Car rides, going on a walk
– During a TV show or movie that features a relevant storyline
 Increasing Safety in Your Child’s Environments

• Eliminate or reduce one-on-one situations between your child and adults/older

children

• Make unexpected visits when the child is alone with an adult or another youth,
even if it is with a trusted family member

• If one-on-one situations are unavoidable:

– Do your best to ensure they are visible to others and can be easily interrupted
– Talk to your child after the outing and look for any changes in behavior/mood
 A Word About Online Safety

• Talk to your child about the dangers of being online

• Set rules for when and how your child can interact with others online—time
limits are just not enough
– Familiarize yourself with what they are using (websites, apps, video games)
– Make sure it is age-appropriate and prosocial

• Inform your child to never give any personal identifying information or send any
nude pictures/videos of themselves
• Child Empowerment
– Red flags
– What if situations
What Are The Signs of Child Sexual Abuse?
[Recognizing]
 Poll Question: If a child is sexually abused,
parents are more likely to find out because of
which type of signs?
Emotional & Behavioral Signs of Child Sexual Abuse
• Change in behavior:
– Eating or sleeping problems
– Isolation/withdrawing
– Sudden loss of interest in things they enjoy doing
– Unusual aggressive behavior towards friends and family
– More frequent temper tantrums
– Regressive behaviors
– Separation anxiety/fear of being alone
– Fear of someone they used to not be afraid of

• Early or developmentally inappropriate sexual behavior/knowledge

• Re-enactment
Emotional & Behavioral Signs of Child Sexual Abuse
• Emotional Signs:
– Fluctuating moods
– Increase level of anxiety/nervousness
– Sadness/depression
– Irritability

• **Be aware that in some children there are no signs whatsoever; physical,
emotional, or behavioral
 Physical Signs of Child Sexual Abuse
• Pain, swelling, or itching of genitals
• Urinary tract infections, STIs
• Excessive masturbation
• Difficulty walking or sitting
• Redness/rashes around the genital area
• Chronic stomach pain or headaches
 A Word on Sexually Appropriate Behavior
• Sexually playful behaviors is part of a normal and healthy development in kids
• What is normal?
– Infrequent, spontaneous, voluntary
– Playful, curiosity driven
– Children of the same age

• What should be concerning?

– Differences in power dynamics
– Not voluntary
– Clearly beyond a child’s developmental stage
How to React to a Disclosure and Stop the Abuse
[Responding]
 Why is it Hard for Survivors to Disclose Abuse?
Systemic/Societal Barriers
Perpetrator having power and admiration in the
Cultural norms and values
community

Relational Barriers
Worry about repercussions to the Feeling like not having a trusted
Fear of the perpetrator
perpetrator person to tell

Internal Barriers

Self-Blame/Guilt Confusion Shame Worry they won’t be believed

 How to React
• Try to stay calm and pay attention to your body language
• Support, believe, and listen
• Ask open-ended questions
• Express gratitude and reassurance
• Report the abuse to the authorities
• Seek out therapeutic help for you and your child
• Your response if the first step in ending the abuse and the beginning of the
healing process
 References
• Center for Disease Control
• Childsafe of Central Missouri
• Child Molestation Research & Prevention Center
• Darkness to Light
• Prevent Child Abuse Utah
• Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
• The Children Assessment Center **Book Resource List**
• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network ***Age-appropriate Sexual Behaviors**
• The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children **Four Safety Tools**
• The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children **Tips for Conversations**
Questions?