Parents and Caring Adults
What we all can do right now for our children
Top 5 – Tips for Parents & Caring Adults
- Empower your child to trust their feelings/instincts, tell you, and avoid anyone they are not comfortable with.
- Make a list (draw a picture with Early Learners) of the top 3 Safe Adults both you and your child trust.
- Teach your child the proper names of all their body parts and explain that the parts covered by their bathing suit are private. Tell them that private means that something is not for everyone to see. If something is private, they need to ask a parent or 2 Safe Adults for permission to share it.
- Give your child permission to get away fast and tell the first person they see if anyone, even a Safe Adult, is inappropriate about private parts, scares, or hurts them.
- Use real-life moments to show, talk, and practice how to be brave and be safe.
Start sharing our joyful approach to teaching children what they can do to be brave and safe right now with these free tools.
For additional age-appropriate tips, BRAVE Activities, and recommended reading visit the student pages.
A few reasons to bring the BRAVE Initiative to your school community
CHILDREN ARE THE #1 VICTIMS OF ALL VIOLENT CRIME OF ANY POPULATION GROUP
1 in 4 – 5 girls
and
1 in 7 – 10 boys
are sexually abused before the age of 18 in the U.S.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
30%+ of child victims are abused by family members.
U.S. Dept. of Justice, BJS,”Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported”
In 2018, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported the following:
Approximately 31% of attempted abductions happened when the child was going to and from school or school related activity.
34% occurred between 2:00-7:00 pm; the time frame when children are out of school and are least likely to be supervised.
35% of the children are between the age of 10-14 years old.
68% of attempted abductions involved the suspect driving a vehicle.
29% of the children reported using verbal and/or physical resistance (e.g. yelling, kicking, pulling away, or attracting attention).
Teachers
Empowerment for educators on the front lines
Top 5 – Tips for Teachers
- Understand that you are in the best position to empower our most vulnerable young people with age-appropriate knowledge and realistic skills to be brave and be safe.
- Uninterested and abusive parents put their children at the highest risk of victimization. Every child deserves to know that no one has the right to hurt them and it is never their fault if someone does or tries. Every child should be given permission to tell adults they trust if they are ever uncomfortable, afraid, or in danger.
- Create a culture for safety in your classroom by modeling how to establish and enforce personal boundaries among students.
- Download, share, and discuss our BRAVE Skill-Building Activities & Resources with your colleagues and administrators.
- Review and enhance the school’s protocol for reporting problematic, inappropriate, and/or predatory behaviors among adults on campus.
Knowledge is power! Start sharing our joyful approach to teaching children what they can do to be brave and safe right now with these free tools.
For additional age-appropriate tips, BRAVE Activities, and recommended reading visit the student pages.
A few reasons to bring the BRAVE Initiative to your school community
- According to a US Department of Education-commissioned report, 10% or 4.5 million students experience adult sexual misconduct by an employee of a school between Kindergarten and 12th grade.¹
- As of January 2020, only 12 states have enacted or proposed laws mandating standards to screen prospective employees and prohibit schools from hiding adult sexual misconduct by using confidentiality agreements that then enable accused employees to secure positions in other schools.²
- Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act with a specific provision to prohibit federal funding for schools that do not follow new standards to prevent adult sexual misconduct in schools.²
- Shakeshaft, C. (2004b). Educator sexual misconduct: A synthesis of existing literature. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Under Secretary, Policy and Program Studies Service.
- https://www.enoughabuse.org/educator-misconduct-abuse.html
- http://www.missingkids.org/ourwork/ncmecdata
CHILDREN ARE THE #1 VICTIMS OF ALL VIOLENT CRIME OF ANY POPULATION GROUP
90% OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IS PERPETRATED BY SOMEONE THE FAMILY KNOWS AND TRUSTS
In 2018, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported the following³:
34% of attempted abductions happened between 2:00-7:00 pm; the time frame when children are out of school and are least likely to be supervised.
35% of the children are between the age of 10-14 years old.
29% of the children reported using verbal and/or physical resistance (e.g. yelling, kicking, pulling away, or attracting attention).
Community Partners
Serving our most vulnerable youth and teens
Top 5 – Tips for Youth-Serving Professionals
- You can help protect and empower our most vulnerable youth with age-appropriate knowledge and realistic skills to be brave and be safe. Uninterested and abusive parents put their children at the highest risk of victimization. The young people you serve need your agency to provide Safe Adults they can trust to give them the resources, services, and help they may need.
- Every child deserves to know that no one has the right to hurt them and it is never their fault if someone does or tries. Every child should be given permission to tell adults they trust if they are ever uncomfortable, afraid, or in danger.
- Create a culture for safety in your agency by modeling how to establish and enforce personal boundaries among students.
- Download, share, and discuss our BRAVE Skill-Building Activities & Resources with your colleagues and administrators.
- Review and enhance the agency’s protocol for reporting problematic, inappropriate, and/or predatory behaviors among adults on campus. When in doubt, report suspicious or potentially predatory behaviors to local authorities. As we teach children, if the first report does not solve the problem, keep telling until the children are safe.
Start sharing our joyful approach to teaching children what they can do to be brave and safe right now with these free tools.
For additional age-appropriate tips, BRAVE Activities, and recommended reading visit the student pages.
BRAVE Adult Education for Child Protection Presentation
Education, Training, and Keynote addresses empower adults to cultivate BRAVE communities that better protect children from abuse.
BRAVE Workshops through Community Partners that Serve High-Risk Youth Only
Donations make it possible for The Joyful Child to provide free BRAVE Workshops to our most vulnerable children. Learn about BRAVE Workshop Instructor Training for your Youth-Serving Community Organization.
Donate to sponsor a child’s BRAVE workshop ›
Connect with other BRAVE adults to share comments, questions, and ideas.
Joyful BRAVE Stories
Read and share inspiring stories from our BRAVE Community of volunteers, teachers, students, and parents.
Become a Joyful Child Friend
and get the first look at our new tips, tools, and events.
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