By Tori Miller

Crime Victim’s Resource Center

Everyday children are being sexually abused. It may be happening to a child next door, your niece, nephew, grandchild, or even your son or daughter. What if it was happening to a child you knew right now? What are the signs to look for, and how can we empower children to stand up for their rights?

During the month of April, Crime Victims Resource Center in Austin will teach Mower County second-graders about sexual abuse prevention in order to help prevent and identify sexual abuse.

The sexual abuse education the agency provides to second-graders is a valuable tool to ensure they have a voice.

At the Crime Victims Resource Center, we teach children that strangers as well as people they know — teachers, daycare providers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and yes, even parents — may hurt them. Are you teaching your children that they have the right to say, “No,” if they don’t like the way someone is touching them? Have you told your child to tell an adult they trust if someone is touching them in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable?

The Crime Victims Resource Center has been providing this second-grade prevention education since 1998. We chose second grade as the target audience because they are better able to understand the concepts we are teaching.

We explain what inappropriate and appropriate touches are, we identify adults that they trust and discuss telling that adult if something is happening to them. The goal is to empower children and keep them safe.

Before and after the presentations the children participate in informational sessions with their school social workers and teachers.

For more information about this second grade Sexual Abuse Prevention Education Program, or child sexual abuse call Crime Victims Resource Center at 507-437-6680.