Stewards of Children is a 2.5 hour group prevention-education program, developed by Darkness to Light, Inc, and presented locally by Lampion Center. The training provides adults with important facts about the prevalence of child sexual abuse, how to prevent it, and how to get help for those already affected. It highlights steps necessary to protect children. The SOC program is evidence informed and proven to help adults reduce, prevent, and respond to occurrences of child sexual abuse.
One of our services is to provide essential counseling and healing for children who have experience trauma. We have become the experts out of need. In addition to treating children who have experienced other types of traumatic experience, we see an incredibly and tragically high number of children who have suffered from sexual abuse. The number of children ages 3 - 18 that we see for intensive trauma therapy is staggering and heart-breaking. And, preventable. As soon as we learned of the S
The events that occur in our community and make the nightly news are ever increasing. Parents, caregivers etc seem more ready than ever to take a stand and learn and know more on how to prevent child sexual abuse. It is essential that we continue to have the means to provide this training program to our community. We cannot expect professionals, parents, etc. to intuitively know screening tools, proper procedures, grooming behaviors common for abusers, and how to respond to abuse.
90% of those abused are abused by someone they know; frequently by a trusted adult. 'Stranger Danger' is not the biggest threat. We know that abusers seek out vulnerable places and organizations, and pray on opportunity. Training is needed for all adults, but especially for sports leagues, churches, and youth serving organizations that might have poor screening, poor training, and unsupervised access to children.
