Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts

Monday, June 29, 2020

If You Suspect A Child Is Being Harmed


If you are concerned that a child is a victim of abuse, you may not be sure what to do or how to respond. Child sexual abuse is a crime that often goes undetected. No matter what your role is—parent or other family member, coach, teacher, religious leader, babysitter—you have the power to make a positive difference in this child’s life.

1. Recognize the signs

The signs of abuse aren’t always obvious, and learning the warning signs of child sexual abuse could be life saving. You might notice behavioral or physical changes that could signal a child is being abused. Some of these warning signs include:
  • Behavioral signs: Shrinking away from or seeming threatened by physical contact, regressive behaviors like thumb sucking, changing hygiene routines such as refusing to bathe or bathing excessively, age-inappropriate sexual behaviors, sleep disturbances, or nightmares
  • Physical signs: Bruising or swelling near the genital area, blood on sheets or undergarments, or broken bones
  • Verbal cues: Using words or phrases that are “too adult” for their age, unexplained silence, or suddenly being less talkative

2. Talk to the child

If you are concerned about abuse, talk to the child. Keep in mind a few guidelines to create a non-threatening environment where the child may be more likely to open up to you.
  • Pick your time and place carefully. Choose a space where the child is comfortable or ask them where they’d like to talk. Avoid talking in front of someone who may be causing the harm.
  • Be aware of your tone. If you start the conversation in a serious tone, you may scare the child, and they may be more likely to give you the answers they think you want to hear—rather than the truth. Try to make the conversation more casual. A non-threatening tone will help put the child at ease and ultimately provide you with more accurate information.
  • Talk to the child directly. Ask questions that use the child’s own vocabulary, but that are a little vague. For example, “Has someone been touching you?” In this context “touching” can mean different things, but it is likely a word the child is familiar with. The child can respond with questions or comments to help you better gauge the situation like, “No one touches me except my mom at bath time,” or “You mean like the way my cousin touches me sometimes?” Understand that sexual abuse can feel good to the child, so asking if someone is “hurting” them may not bring out the information that you are looking for.
  • Listen and follow up. Allow the child to talk freely. Wait for them to pause, and then follow up on points that made you feel concerned.
  • Avoid judgment and blame. Avoid placing blame by using “I” questions and statements. Rather than beginning your conversation by saying, “You said something that made me worry…” consider starting your conversation with the word “I.” For example: “I am concerned because I heard you say that you are not allowed to sleep in your bed by yourself.”
  • Reassure the child. Make sure that the child knows that they are not in trouble. Let them know you are simply asking questions because you are concerned about them.
  • Be patient. Remember that this conversation may be very frightening for the child. Many perpetrators make threats about what will happen if someone finds out about the abuse. They may tell a child that they will be put into foster care or threaten them or their loved ones with physical violence.

3. Report it

Reporting a crime like sexual abuse may not be easy, and it can be emotionally draining. Keep in mind that reporting abuse gives you the chance to protect someone who can’t protect themselves. Depending on where you live and your role in the child's life, you may be legally obligated to report suspicions of abuse. You can learn more about the laws in your state by visiting RAINN's State Law Database.

Before you report

  • Tell the child that you’re going to talk to someone who can help. Be clear that you are not asking their permission. 
The child may not want you to report and may be frightened, especially if the perpetrator has threatened them or their loved ones. Remember that by reporting, you are involving authorities who will be able to keep the child safe.
  • Ensure that the child is in a safe place. If you have concerns over the child’s safety, be sure to discuss them explicitly with authorities when you make the report. If you fear that the perpetrator will cause further harm to the child upon learning about the investigation, clearly communicate this to authorities.
  • If you are not concerned that the parents are causing harm, you can consult with them prior to making a report to authorities.
  • If you are a parent and are concerned that your partner or someone in your family may be hurting your child, this may be a very difficult time. It’s important to be there for your child, and it’s also important to take care of yourself. Learn more about being a parent to a child who has experienced sexual abuse and how to practice self-care.
  • Prepare your thoughts. You will likely be asked identifying information about the child, the nature of the abuse, and your relationship with the child. While anonymous tips are always an option, identified reporting increases the likelihood of prosecuting the perpetrator.

Where to report

  • If you know or suspect that a child has been sexually assaulted or abused you can report these crimes to the proper authorities, such as Child Protective Services. Reporting agencies vary from state to state. To see where to report to in your state, visit RAINN’s State Law Database.
  • Call or text the Childhelp National Abuse Hotline at 800.422.4453 to be connected with a trained volunteer. Childhelp Hotline crisis counselors can’t make the report for you, but they can walk you through the process and let you know what to expect.

After you report

  • You may not hear or see signs of an investigation right away. Depending on an agency’s policies and your relationship to the child, you may be able to call back to follow up after a few days.
  • If you are able to, continue to play the supportive role you always have in that child’s life. If making the report means that you can’t have this relationship anymore, know that by reporting you are helping that child stay safe.
  • Take care of yourself. Reporting sexual abuse isn’t easy. It’s important to practice self-care during this time.

To speak with someone who is trained to help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or chat online at online.rain



Tuesday, October 15, 2019

What To Do When Your Child Goes Missing

Colette Buck | KHQ Local News Producer 

SPOKANE, Wash. - There were over 424,066 entries for missing children in the FBI's National Crime Information Center database in 2018.

While it may be scary to think about, children go missing from their homes, classrooms and neighborhoods everyday across the United States.

According to law enforcement, the best way to make sure your child returns home safety is to be prepared and know what you need to do if your child goes missing.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children lists several steps you can take to ensure your child returns home safely.

The steps you should follow include:

Call law enforcement immediately. You are advised to call the police immediately before starting to search for your child yourself. Police are required to enter a missing child's name and information into the FBI's National Crime Information Center Missing Person File right away. There is no waiting period for minors under the age of 18.

Prepare to release vital information about your child, including photos. That includes their full name, their height and weight, their age, date of birth, what they were last seen wearing and any identifying features. Police advise you also include the names of their friends, locations of any frequently visited spots, any health issues they many have or any other relevant details.

Look in your immediate area. Police advise you start looking where you last saw your child. If it was inside your home, check all the beds, couches, piles of laundry, vehicles and inside your washer and dryer. If your child is older, make sure to ask police to investigate their social media for clues and remember to call the parents of your child's friends.

Make yourself available. The first 48 hours after your child goes missing are critical. While you may be inclined to help physically search for your child, your time is better served gathering and providing information to investigators. Check your home for any personal items that may be missing, and make sure to keep your phone handy in case police need to get in touch.

Inform the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. After you've contacted the police, contact the NCMEC by calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-(800)-843-5678). They can help you by putting you in touch with national non-profits that can help with the search.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, kidnapping cases are rare, but they do happen. Being prepared and knowing what to do when your child goes missing can help increase the changes that they are found safe, regardless of how they went missing.




Thursday, November 8, 2018

Child protection and education in crisis


REPORT from  ACTED

Published on 07 Nov 2018

From emergency to resilience: Protecting children in crisis contexts

When disaster strikes—be it violent conflict, economic downturn, pandemic or a natural event—children are among the most vulnerable to negative effects. Children may fall victim to any number of threats, including psychosocial distress, family separation, interruption in education, physical and emotional abuse, trafficking and neglect. Through our work in protection, education, resilience and risk reduction, ACTED places the safety and well-being of children at the centre of our programming.

PROTECTING CHILDREN, SUPPORTING RESILIENCE, REDUCING RISKS

Child and youth friendly spaces

To enhance the protective environment of children during emergencies, ACTED establishes mobile and static Child and Youth Friendly Spaces. These spaces provide at-risk children with a safe environment in which to learn, play, grow and socialize while developing physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Supervised recreational, educational and psychosocial support activities raise awareness of the risks to children and mobilize communities in enhancing their protective environment.

Education in Crisis

In crisis-affected zones, ACTED provides emergency education to support out-of-school children and youth and to sustain previous achievements. ACTED’s interventions aim to reach all school-age children and to support community committees of education structure schools and classes. Education in crisis programming also includes training for community teachers and child-friendly spaces animators, improving the quality of education and ensuring the long-term sustainability of educational programmes in crisis-affected areas.

Among other life-saving services provided immediately post-crisis, ACTED is innovating our services by including flash interventions with contingency education.

Crisis Protection Case Management

To help at-risk children develop the positive coping skills they need to become resilient, ACTED provides case management to individual children and their families. Case Management is a way of organizing and carrying out work to promote the well-being of children and their families in an appropriate, systematic and timely manner.

Through direct support and/or referrals—and in accordance with a project or program’s objectives— case management services help reduce protection risks and increase protective factors for children. ACTED’s case management strategy places the best interest of the child at the forefront of all decision making. This case-by-case approach strengthens both the child and the family’s resilience to risks and stressors.

Capacity Building

ACTED is focused on supporting local communities increase their capacity to protect and support children. Through child safety audits, child protection mainstreaming, training, mentorship, awareness raising, outreach and community mobilization, we are working to ensure a safer future for vulnerable children.

CHILDREN ARE MOST AT RISK AND CONSIDERED TO BE A VULNERABLE GROUP BECAUSE:

Children are comparatively less physically/mentally/emotionally capable or resilient than adults

Children, from birth to adulthood, go through a process of total dependence to independence in which they are exposed to risks.

Children are most at risk of abuse, exploitation, neglect and violence at the hands of adults due to their vulnerability

Depending on the stage of childhood development, children have different levels of language, literacy, knowledge, resources, skills, capacity which determine how they can and cannot interact with adults and seek support

ENHANCING POSITIVE COPING MECHANISMS

Safe spaces for disaplced children in Iraq

For ACTED in Iraq, child protection is one of the core sectors of intervention.

1.4 million children have been displaced within the country since 2014, causing widespread vulnerabilities like psychosocial trauma, family separation, injury and more. That is why ACTED implements several child protection projects which aim at providing both case management and psychological support, non-formal education and recreational activities to displaced boys and girls, living in and out of camps in Iraq.

In Mosul, for example, ACTED’s Child and Youth Friendly Spaces support 3,500 conflict-affected children and youth, providing access to the psychosocial support and education they need to cope, recover and thrive.

Emergency education in Central African Republic

ACTED supports emergency education activities in CAR for children who have dropped out of the school system due to conflict and displacement.

In Obo, ACTED is renovating classrooms and training parents in basic pedagogy. This August, 650 children – from displaced or non-displaced families and from different religious and ethnic groups – returned to school in Obo. ACTED’s educational programming builds social cohesion while allowing children in conflict-affected communities to continue their studies in a safe and structured environment. As part of ACTED’s mission to support the sustainable development of vulnerable communities, the emergency education program in CAR provides youth with the tools they need to become the future leaders of resilient communities.

More on ACTED’s work to protect children during crises:








Friday, March 1, 2013

Sequestration Puts Children at Risk:

impact


Michael Piraino




Sequestration is a scary word. Outside of Washington, D.C., it has the sense of seizing property or isolating juries. But the D.C. definition -- a general cut in funding -- carries a real likelihood of danger. Danger to children.
Many programs that keep children safe, educated and healthy are supported at least in part through federal discretionary spending. An eight percent reduction in those funds may not sound like an overwhelming amount. But it comes on top of already large cutbacks for children. In recent years, 31 federal programs for children have been entirely eliminated, and another 71 saw their funding reduced, affecting everything from child safety to health and education. 


It's not as though these programs aren't sorely needed. One of the programs, cut back by nearly 77 percent, was for violence prevention in schools. It's too bad it takes an awful incident in an elementary school for people to realize how important this funding is. Do children have to die before we think about investing in their safety?
Recent funding cutbacks have already threatened to interfere with core commitments our nation made to children. Among the most vulnerable are children who cannot live safely at home due to abuse and neglect. They are under the care of state child welfare systems -- which are already reeling from previous federal and state cutbacks. Yet funding for the four child abuse programs in the Victims of Child Abuse Act were targeted for elimination in the last two Administration budgets. Congress did step in and preserve funding, though at hugely reduced levels. These levels may be reduced even further through sequestration this Friday.
These federal funding trends would be of less concern if private charitable giving was helping to fill in at least part of the need. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. Charitable giving for human service organizations declined last year. Over the last five years, the number of new donors giving to human services has gone down.
It is downright expensive not to make investments in good programs that help children. For example, a foster youth who is connected to a trusted advocate and mentor is more likely to carry with her a varied set of protective factors. Research shows that this will lead to more positive outcomes. And the consequence of not doing right by a foster youth? Tens of thousands age out of that system every year and are at high risk for homelessness, unemployment and criminal behavior. The median cost of a single incarceration was $31,000 in 2010. We would all save money, and feel safer, if we invested that money in young people rather than wasting it on prison cells.
Politicians are fond of referring to every parent's dream of a better life for their children. If we believe in our children's safety and well-being, then budget decisions need to be based on a real understanding of the connection between funding and those dreams for our children.



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Thursday, February 21, 2013

CAMPANELLA: School choice and kids’ safety: Preventing bullying:

The Washington Times


Educational freedom not just about academics

By Andrew Campanella

When people think of school choice, they think of parents selecting new, rigorous, challenging schools for their children.

For some parents, though, the need for choice isn’t just about academics. It’s about the safety — both physical and emotional — of their children.

Through my work, I’ve met parents who fall into every camp — parents who yearn for more academically challenging schools for their children, parents who want to remove their children from persistently violent schools and parents who recognize that without switching schools for their kids, their children will be emotionally tortured — bullied — by mean kids.


Robust school choice can help children escape bullying, and it’s time for people who are engaged in our national discussion about this issue to embrace meaningful, bold and unrestrained school choice for all families.

Parents should have the option to send their children to a great traditional public school, a public charter school, a private school, a magnet school or an online academy. The bottom line is this: No children should ever be forced to attend schools that don’t work for them. Even if a school works for 99 percent of the students attending it, if it doesn’t work for your child — you deserve options.

When parents can select the right schools for their children, they can put their children in a caring, nurturing, safer environment. They can make it clear to school administrators that they want their children looked after, treated with respect and dignity. In the process, as schools begin competing for children, administrators will be forced to address the concerns of parents more quickly on issues that directly impact the well-being of young people, like bullying or violence.

School choice doesn’t just help kids who are being bullied. It can actually provide a lifeline for kids who are, for whatever reason, mistreating others. I’ve heard from families about how taking a seemingly violent child out of one school and providing him or her individualized attention in another environment can change a child’s life and encourage kindness and compassion.

Is school choice the only solution to bullying or to school violence? No. Still, it is one solution.

Ruthanne Johnson’s story is what made me think about this issue anew, and made me realize that bullying isn’t just the latest Hollywood issue du jour.

Ruthanne spoke recently at National School Choice Week’s whistle-stop tour event in Toledo, Ohio. She spoke eloquently and poignantly about how she was bullied by a cadre of mean kids. Ruthanne is a sweet, beautiful girl with a loving family. She’s outgoing and friendly. For some reason, she was targeted.

My heart broke for Ruthanne and her mom. In reality, she and her family don’t need or want pity. They’re tackling this challenge — the need to end bullying and empower children to stand up for themselves — together. Ruthanne took her experience and created a nonprofit, the Be You Foundation, to educate and inspire other children who are facing tough times at school, and to speak out in favor of educational choice for families.

Aside from their own unique courage and ability to turn around a challenging situation, what kept hope alive for Ruthanne’s family was the fact that they had sway over their school, and their school’s administration, because of Ohio’s robust and diverse school choice policies. Ruthanne’s parents could have switched schools for her, but her situation got better — because her parents had leverage.

Now, Ruthanne is speaking out, empowering kids and families, and supporting an expansion of school choice for children. As Ruthanne says, it’s hard to “be you” if you’re in a school that doesn’t work for you. I couldn’t agree more.
There are hundreds of thousands of children who are bullied in our country, who aren’t treated by their classmates with the dignity and respect that every human being deserves.

When parents have greater power over the schools their children attend, kids have hope. With empowered parents come empowered children like Ruthanne, who are willing to take obstacles, overcome them and empower others. For the sake of our future, America needs more Ruthanne Johnsons. We need more adults who are willing to recognize that robust school choice can provide an essential solution to a crisis that plagues many families. We have no greater calling.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/21/school-choice-and-kids-safety-preventing-bullying/#ixzz2La0la3Lp



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Friday, October 19, 2012

FBI - "Safe Online Surfing" - Podcasts and Radio:

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Safe Online Surfing

10/19/2012
Mollie Halpern: The FBI launches a new website where students can learn about cyber safety through games, videos, and other interactive features.
Scott McMillion: It’s a fun learning environment so that they will understand the keys to keeping themselves safe as well as participating in good cyber citizenship.
Halpern: I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau, and this is FBI, This Week. The free web-based initiative is called Safe Online Surfing, or SOS. It teaches kids in third through eighth grades how to recognize and respond to online dangers such as cyberbullying, online predators, and identity thieves. Scott McMillion is the unit chief of Violent Crimes Against Children.
McMillion: The FBI Safe Online Surfing initiative is designed to meet all federal and state Internet safety mandates so that students and teachers can use this as part of their curriculum in the classroom.
Halpern: Schools can compete with each other on a national level. Schools with the highest scores will earn an FBI-SOS trophy. To register, visit sos.fbi.gov.


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