Adults in US Learning to Identify and 'Out' Sexually Abused Children

Residents to be trained to identify child sex abuse

COOS COUNTY, Oregon -- Thousands of adults in Coos County will become Stewards of Children, trained to identify and report child sexual abuse.

The Kids Hope Center recently received a $105,000 grant from the Ford Family Foundation and will be one of 10 Oregon pilot sites offering the training program.

The goal is to train 5 percent of Coos County residents -- nearly 2,000 people in total.

Last year, more than half of all child abuse cases in Coos County involved sex abuse.
"There's clearly a lot of need,” said JoAnne Shorb, Program Director at the Kids Hope Center.

“Us being the Child Abuse Intervention Center for the county, we see all of the cases of child abuse, and when we keep seeing these repeated instances of childhood sex abuse, and talking to parents who had their children victimized, they say, ‘If only I knew. If only I was aware of this. If only I knew the signs and symptoms.’"

The 2-hour training is free of charge.

Classes will begin in April throughout the county.

Coos Bay, Oregon

Enough Abuse Campaign launched to prevent child sex abuse

Las Vegas, Nevada (KTNV) -- About 50 people packed into a room inside the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters for the Enough Abuse Campaign.

It's a movement to educate adults on how to recognize child sex abuse when it's happening. 

"You know, I think the problem is worse than people realize," said Danielle Dreitzer, executive director of the Rape Crisis Center. No kidding!

The Rape Crisis Center is making this campaign happen, along with Prevent Child Abuse Nevada and a two-year grant from the Englestad Family Foundation.

"It's actually way too late to be taking action," said Dreitzer. "We actually should have taken action decades ago, but you know, every journey starts with a first step, right?"

Friday's meeting was mostly to bring together case workers, church leaders, educators, and more people who work with kids every day and may be able to speak up when our youngest victims can't.

"Each year, we have about 5,000 substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect," said Amanda Haboush-Deloye, Ph.D. and director of programs at Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. "Out of that, about 5.3-percent are actually confirmed for child sex abuse. And only about one in ten victims actually report cases or instances of sex abuse."

But what if more adults didn't just know the signs, but knew tactics to get kids who may be victims to open up? That's another goal of this campaign. And it's why these experts say it's going to take professionals and parents from all over the valley and more discussions like the one on this day.

"We would love the community to get involved and learn this information and learn how to spread it because it takes a whole community to be able to implement these prevention efforts," said Haboush-Deloye.

For more information on the campaign or on how to get involved, call the Rape Crisis Center at 702-366-1640

Las Vegas, Nevada