Transcript Spiritual Communities Action Team Keeping Our Children Safe What is the Spiritual Communities Action Team?  A group of individuals who dedicated 18 months to looking at.

Spiritual
Communities
Action Team
Keeping Our
Children Safe
What is the Spiritual Communities
Action Team?
 A group of individuals who dedicated 18 months to
looking at ways to prevent sexual abuse of children.
 We were from various perspectives including: victim
advocates, prevention advocates, faith leaders, public
health professions, and others.
 This initiative was part Minnesota’s Five Year State Plan to
Prevent Sexual Violence.
 Our work is informed and supported by research and
information from spiritual communities.
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Is Sexual Abuse A Real Problem?
One of every three girls and one out of
every seven boys will have a sexual abuse
experience before they are eighteen
years old.
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Sexual Abuse Happens in Every
Ethnic and Socio-economic Group
 Rich or poor: Poverty, which contributes to violence in
many communities, is not seen as a risk factor for child
sexual abuse.
 Race matters: African-American women are less likely
than white women to involve police in cases of child
sexual abuse.
 Boys are also abused: About 14 percent of all young
victims of sexual assault are male, according to police
reports.
*No Secrets, No Lies: How Black Families Can Heal From
Sexual Abuse by author and journalist Robin D. Stone
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Long Term Health
Consequences of Sexual Abuse
 Depression
 Chemical Dependency
 Obesity
 Lung Disorders
 Heart Disease
 Liver Disease
http://www.cdc.gov/ace/findings.htm
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That doesn’t even begin to explore the
emotional impact of sexual abuse.
 Social isolation
 Difficulties with trust
 Anxiety
 Post-traumatic stress
 Relationship problems
 Guilt and shame
 Anger
“Social and Emotional Outcomes of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Review of Recent Research” by Kimberly Tyler, 2002
http://www.dcrcc.org/support_counseling/adult_survivors_of_child_sexual_abuse/C121/emotional_effects1/
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We only need to worry about
strangers anyway, right?
Who are most perpetrators of sexual abuse?
 Trusted family/friends: over 90% of sexually abused
children are victimized by someone they know and trust.
 Relatives: 35% of sexual abuse is by biological family
members. This is not to say that sexual
abuse is biologically caused.
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But there are no sexual
perpetrators in our community?
• Male or female
• Young or old
• Any economic group
• Any ethnic group
• Any religion
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People who sexually offend are
usually adults, right?
 50 % of adult sexual offenders began in
childhood and continue into adulthood.
 Early intervention is the best prevention.
 Every perpetrator was someone’s child.
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Family Contribution to Sexual
Health – Based On Current Research
 Adequate resources – both financially and people wise
 Secure attachment and positive emotional bonds
 Limiting exposure to sexual content and context
 Defined family structure
 Protecting children from sexual abuse and assisting with
children’s recovery from sexual abuse
 Responding to sexually unhealthy behaviors among family
members
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Family Contribution to Sexual
Health - Based On Experiences
 Showing appropriate models for physical affection
 Discussing morals and ethics as they relate to
sexuality
 Clear generational roles
 Good balance between autonomy and family unity
 Ability to change attitudes as children develop
sexually
 Egalitarian gender roles
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Family Factors Contributing to the Sexual Abuse
of Children Within or Outside the Family –
Retrospective Studies
 Poor relationship between child and parent – this is a
strong effect
 Parents in conflict with each other
 Communication between parents and child
 Lack of appropriate sex education
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Family Enhancement Center
Prospective Information
 Mother being sexually abused as a child
 Stressful life events more common among the
families in which sexual abuse occurred
 Families who report less social support have
an increased risk for sexual abuse of their
children
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Family Enhancement Center
GOALS
 Open the discussion on how we can keep all children safe.
 Share the work of our Spiritual Communities Action
Team.
 Get your feedback
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Why should it be my responsibility?
 Families look to their spiritual community for guidance.
 There are both victims and perpetrators among your
congregants.
 You can have an amazing impact of prevention.
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Putting it All Together Valley of Peace Lutheran Church
 Relationships:
 Cherish Our Children, Advocates for Human Rights, local
grade school
 Policies:
 Safe church policies, Safe Harbor law
 Education:
 Internet safety, “Safeguarding God’s Children”
 Spiritual practices:
 Prayer for all children and young people, ages birth to 25,
sermons, financial giving
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Your Spiritual Community
Your Feedback…
 Is this model helpful? Why or why not?
 Would you use it? If so, how?
 What part is most useful?
 What’s missing?
 What barriers are there to using this model?
 If you are already engaged in prevention
activities, how would you start using this
model?
 How would you engage others in using this
model?
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Thank you!
 Would you like to be a
pilot congregation?
Contact person:
 Lessons from a Tree
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Experiences with the Tree
Number of congregations contacted for focus group: 3
Number of congregations that agreed to meet for focus
group: 3
Types of congregations:
 Nondenominational
 Lutheran
 Catholic
Number of focus group members: 8 to 14
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Experiences with the Tree
Church of New Life
Richfield, MN
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Experiences with the Tree
St. Thomas More Catholic Parish
St. Paul, MN
Valley of Peace Lutheran Church
Golden Valley, MN
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Spiritual Roots
 Many focus group members responded that there
are spiritual roots in their religious tradition that
support the concept of keeping all children safe.
 Many mentioned passages from spiritual texts.
 Others mentioned ceremonial practices like baby
naming.
 Others described holding regular services which
feature children in some way.
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The Tree Model for Prevention
Participants said:
 The tree made the topic
comfortable.
 The tree helps organize a
complex topic.
 The tree could be used to
increase awareness.
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What are these congregations are
already doing to address prevention?
No congregations were addressing all
“branches”.
 Youth programming on healthy
relationships
 Policies on how to hire safe staff
 Children’s programming to support families
 Train staff about mandated reporting
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Focus Group Members
brought up issues to think about
 Congregations need concrete steps to get
started.
 Congregations need to balance members
privacy with addressing abuse issues.
 There is a need to teach parents how to
be safer parents.
 Need to create ways to address parents
when they have concerns about a child.
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More issues…..
 Parents need to feel it is safe to
come to the church for help.
 Need to address issues related to
offenders who want to attend
church.
 There is a need for on-going
groups of parents to get access to
information and support.
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Ideas for Improving the Tree
 Tree website with clickable links
to resources
 Tree website that would include
links to spiritual communities
that use the tree
 Tree could be used as a symbol
for prevention training
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Next Steps…
 Training for those who want to use the
Prevention Tree with spiritual communities
 Training/facilitation with spiritual
communities directly
 ????????
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