Earlier this year I had spoken at a conference (National conference on bullying and child victimization) in Orlando, FL, about prevention of child sexual abuse. This was based on my second book titled: “Father Figure – My mission to prevent child sexual abuse”. I was glad to note that the session was attended by several child care providers as well as by some law enforcement professionals. I was most encouraged by the comments made by one law enforcement officer – he confirmed that many of the undesirable observations that I had described in my book were actually happening in other states as well and that we needed to continue talking about it.
Over the years I have had a lot of interactions with professionals working for organizations like the Child Protective Services and Law Enforcement. I found all those professionals to be extremely dedicated and hard working. The organizations however do not seem to have the preventive mindset. Many believe that it is primarily a budget issue. Well, I guess we will need to keep talking about these needs until something changes in the organizational budgeting process.
I do however believe that in spite of the budget issues, the organizations can still try to cultivate more of a preventive mindset in prioritizing their activities.