In my book “Father Figure – my mission to prevent child sexual abuse”, I tried to make the point that prevention means taking preemptive steps “before” something bad can happen. That would mean avoiding situations that could “possibly” lead to abuse. If one waits to see if a certain situation would for sure lead to abuse or not, then it might just be too late. We must all remember that even one instance of child sexual abuse can scar the victim for the rest of his/her life.
Some people at times get concerned that they might be over-reacting, and therefore, decide not to do anything – but it’s not ‘prevention’ if one waits to do something ‘after’ an abuse has already happened. Over-reacting is not a bad thing when it comes to protecting children from possible abuse.
A good example I often give to people is about home safety. Every stranger knocking on our front door is not a burglar or someone with a definite criminal intent. But that does not mean that we should keep our doors unlocked or wide open at all times. We know that the majority of the people coming to knock on our doors do not have any criminal intent, but, someone might, and to prevent that possibility the right thing to do is to keep our doors locked and protected. That is what prevention is all about.