April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. In hopes of spreading awareness and to help educate our audience on ways to keep our children safe, we’ve teamed up with Kids House of Seminole for this month long series.
Kids House is Seminole County’s Children’s Advocacy Center. Its mission is to aid children who are victims of abuse by providing all necessary services for child abuse cases from report and investigation through treatment and prosecution in a child-friendly, non-threatening environment. Kids House is a nonprofit organization that exists because of the generosity of our community. If you would like to support them, please donate.
Click here to find a CAC near you. If you suspect a child you know is a victim of abuse, please call 1-800-96ABUSE.
What You Need to Know About Grooming
One of the ways we keep our kids safe is to be aware of who is around them. Unfortunately, there are people who on the surface appear trustworthy, but underneath may want to do harm to our kids. As caregivers, it is our responsibility to keep an eye out for these people and possible grooming behaviors. You may wonder what grooming is and how to recognize grooming behaviors.
Grooming is how an offender sometimes gradually convinces a child to trust them, lures them into a sexual relationship and encourages them to keep that relationship private – it’s just their secret.
Some possible grooming behaviors to be watchful of:
- Isolating a child from others.
- Providing the child with an unmet need. This may be an actual physical need or may be a child’s need for positive attention and acceptance.
- Meeting your family’s unmet needs. They may offer to help pay the bills, provide transportation, or help with other challenges you may be facing.
- Paying special attention to a child, perhaps providing special gifts or offering to take a child on special outings.
- Treating the child as if he/she was older.
- Slowly crossing physical boundaries that may become increasing sexual.
- Keeping the details of the relationship secret. This may be by telling the child no one would believe them or threatening someone the child cares about if the secret gets out.
While one or two of these behaviors by themselves may not mean that a child is being groomed for an inappropriate relationship, if you start to notice a combination of them occurring, it’s time to take a look at what’s going on and talk with your child. Most important – TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS – if you feel something is strange about the attention another adult is paying your child, intervene, ask questions. Your child is depending on you for their protection!
Click here for additional resources to understanding child abuse.
