Child sexual abuse is a horrible crime that must be stopped and must be prevented. The responsibility for prevention falls squarely upon all the adults around the children. We all are responsible and must work hard and stay focused on prevention.
First of all, there is still a hesitation to talk about it openly. I have been to some school officials’ conferences where the organizers thought that it would be a good idea to speak about this topic. However, it turned out that very few of the school officials were interested in attending the session, apparently because some of them felt that it was too serious a topic, while some others apparently felt that they really did not need to know much about it. Either way, it demonstrates an unwillingness to get involved in this effort. However, I certainly appreciated the efforts by the organizers to include this topic.
I must however admit that there were also many other school officials’ conferences where the attendance was excellent, and in one case, it was even overflowing. So clearly, there are people who take this very seriously and want to remain well informed. But it is important for us to continue this effort so we can get more and more adults to take this topic seriously.
Once people are well informed, they will become more comfortable in keeping an eye open for possible red flags and in promoting prevention.