One of the positive things about making presentations at professional conferences regarding prevention of child sexual abuse is that you get to meet a number of professionals across the country who are interested in this topic and are dedicated to work on this objective. It gives you hope and reassurance that things will likely change in the future if we continue the battle.
Unfortunately, this is one topic that many individuals in general do not really want to talk about. Yet we must talk about it so we can make the changes necessary to protect our children. I remember that when I was going through elementary and middle school, the same thing was happening about bullying. Most school officials were not willing to admit that there were significant bullying issues and they were not willing to take responsibility and do something about it.
However, today, most schools acknowledge the existence of bullying and actively try to do something to prevent it. Many schools have bullying prevention programs that have been put in place to discourage bullying. Although there are still many bullying incidents happening regularly around the country, it is fair to say that at least it is recognized as something that should be prevented and that school officials and parents have a responsibility in this regard. We probably still have a long way to go, but at least we have moved in the right direction.
I am hoping that it does not take us 20 plus years to get to a point when we can talk freely and openly about prevention of child sexual abuse and work together aggressively to make appropriate changes in our systems to protect our children.