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Protecting Children From Sexual Abuse
What Parents Need to Know

• Estimates show that on average 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys will be sexually abused
  by the age of 18.

• Approximately 70 to 85% of victims are sexually abused by a person they know or
  are related to. Every hour 17 children are sexually abused in the U.S.

• Males are reported to be the abusers in 80-95% of all cases of sexual abuse.
   

• Some SIGNS of SEXUAL ABUSE are:
  ~ Physical complaints
  ~ Sleep disturbances
  ~ Withdrawal from Activities
  ~ Anxiety
  ~ Discipline Problems
  ~ Passive Behavior
  ~ Self-destructive Behavior
  ~ Copying Adult Sexual Behavior
  ~ Persistent Sexual Play with other children, themselves, toys or pets,
     hints or indirect comments about abuse
   

• SEXUAL ABUSE can be:
  ~ Sexual touching
  ~ Exposing children to adult sexual activity
  ~ Exposing children to pornographic movies/photographs
  ~ Having children pose in a sexual fashion on film or in person
  ~ Peeping into bathrooms or bedrooms to spy on a child
  ~ Rape or attempted rape
  
  ~ Children often do not tell anyone about sexual abuse because they
          were threatened, are confused  or blame themselves ~

What You Can Do as a Parent

• Talk to your children about safe and unsafe forms of touching.

• Teach your children the proper names for body parts, so they can communicate clearly

• Teach and show your children that their bodies belong to them and nobody has
  the right to touch or hurt them.

• Encourage your children to report to you if any adult asks them to keep a secret.

• Teach your children to say "no" to requests that makret.

• Teach your children to say "no" to requests that make them feel uncomfortable, even from a close friend or relative.

• Keep calm if your children talk to you about abuse.

• Believe your child. In most circumstances children do not lie about abuse.

• Respect your child's privacy by not talking about the abuse in front of people who do not need to know what happened.

• Report an incident of possible sexual abuse immediately to the Division of Family
  and Youth Services.d Youth Services.