A greater effort to protect children in the Lafayette area is underway.
Stewards of Children is a training program aimed at changing people’s actions and attitudes toward child sexual abuse.
Jennifer Hall is the executive director of the Greater Lafayette Sexual Assault Prevention Coalition, which is cosponsoring the event with Heartford House. She says the program educates community members about prevention.
“90% of child victims of sexual abuse know their perpetrator. So it’s somebody in the family, it’s a family friend, it’s a coach, it’s a teacher. So we really want to equip the adults in our community to figure out, ‘How can we protect our children?’”
The issue has received national attention recently, but Hall says it also is a problem locally. Many cases go unreported, and she hopes Stewards of Children will help reverse that trend.
“Child sexual abuse is something, most people, we don’t want to think about it. We don’t want to talk about it, because it’s so horrible. But bringing it to light… is one of the ways that we can prevent it.”
Sessions will be offered on a monthly basis, with the first one coming Tuesday, February 28th at the YWCA. The sessions are free thanks to a donation from Wabash National.
For more information, click HERE.